The answer
We have said that Christ Jesus is the Son of God, because we have seen in Him the unseen God. He is also the Son of God, because He is in His divinity of the same nature and essence as God. There is also no other expression in human language than “the Son” that can express the exact identity of the Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.
For this Christ, to Whom be glory, said to His disciple Philip, “[H]e that hath seen Me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9).
We relate to God as children in a sort of honorary fashion that is bestowed to us out of the abundance of His love for us.
In other words, we call humans children of God only because of the love and providence of God for them. This love overcomes the gap between the Creator and the creature, but does not remove it.
To summarise:
The sonship of Christ is by essence. Our sonship is honorific.
The sonship of Christ is eternal. Our sonship is temporal.
His Holiness Pope Tawadros II
Pope Tawadros II, My Faith: A Series of Dialogues on the Creed (Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, 2014), 47.
The page in the book (47)
