by jimwalton » Wed Jan 24, 2024 2:58 pm
Jesus is eternal. John 1.1 teaches that Jesus was in the beginning with God, meaning that He had no beginning. Jesus's statement in John 8.58 also makes a claim to having been eternally existent.
As far as Psalm 2.7 is concerned, in the ancient world it was believed that the king (any given king) was adopted by the god to be his seed, making the king semi-divine. It's not speaking about physical birth but more so about this king being a representative of god on Earth.
Kings in David's line also held their kingship by divine adoption, a view that was celebrated on the coronation day. This "adoption" metaphor was rooted in the covenant relationship between YHWH and the David kings. In seeing this text about the coming messiah (Jesus), then, it's a claim that the messiah would be God's representative on Earth, rooted in the covenant relationship between Him and God (and therefore also the people and God). It doesn't really speak to the issue of whether or not Jesus is eternal.