@rainerann ok I can see where you're coming from. what you're essentially saying is the 'son of God' was more a reference to the incarnation than the Logos itself.
let me explain how this theme fits in my understanding which is also, a sufi theme. I've explained this before.
The idea of the logos is akin to a universal ocean...and a human spirit is akin to a drop in that ocean. Yet there is this idea of a special person in whom the entire ocean is contained, ie 'the ocean in a drop'. Though such a thing is not exactly part of mainstream islam, it is a deeply spiritual theme that of course would be very challenging to many people who do not understand (spiritually) the meaning of this term.
It is basically the ultimate enlightenment.
However where you're wrong, is that the Son of God IS the Image of God..and the Image in the context was the precise thing/level which the jewish philosophy Philo used to incorporate the concept of logos into jewish spirituality.
This of course led to Jesus Christ. It was a universal theme, why do you think Zoroastrians knew about Jesus when he came? people were awaiting this 'ocean in a drop' for a while.
Jesus Christ the individual, the incarnation, is the flesh, the son of David, the messiah etc.
The problem with using the term 'son of God' in the context is, it's like when I was a young boy (went to a christian school), the songs they sang of Jesus..the images..what I had in my simple mind was that this baby was meant to be the literal SON of God..and our headteacher used to be very specific in pointing to this image of the baby in the manger and saying 'he is the ONLY BEGOTTEN son of God'.
This is why for a long time i had no interest in christianity or the NT. It wasn't until i got older and began to take serious interest in the metaphysical themes,I read ibn arabi's views of the Kalaam (logos/word of God) and realised these themes were entirely referenced throughout the NT.
For example, when Paul said that the Son is the Image of the INVISIBLE Father
it actually completely put into context the theme of the Essence of God vs the manifest/attributes of God. Ie the Essence is invisible/hidden reality of the Transcendent God, but it is through the expression (the logos) that the attributes/qualities of God are made known.
This is a lengthy topic in it's own right so I won't get into it. However you should at least know that personally i've studied these themes in islam and in hinduism in depth and found that the NT helped me too because each of these seemingly random statements made me realise my understanding was consistent with the whole./
There are many truths that you may not directly know about.
For example...
In hinduism, it teaches that there are 3 types of qualities (gunas) that dominate all of nature, not just humans but animals too.
Sattva/purity, rajas/passion..and tamas/darkness.
Similarly in islam, there is islam, hawa and jahilliya.
The hindus go into depth explaining these 3 qualities and what they collectively produce in society. They have a dietry system, meditations, mantras etc in order to keep a person remaining in sattva nature.
An example, imagine a really pious God-fearing person, that person is in Sattva.
Now rajas/passion has it's merits, for example if you want to be physically active, workout etc, you have to have some rajas. Rajas is what moves us, the word Hawa means 'air' and is basically part of our sexual energy (the etheric lifeforce) so it's also important. When people enter into tamas, that's when the world becomes a dark place, full of murder, cannibalism, homosexuality etc.
Now back when I first came to learn about this theme. I began observing the way us muslims eat day to day. Despite the teachings of islam. For example in islam it is severely disliked for us to eat meat on consective days. it is considered excessive, greedy, arrogant, wasteful etc. It is also bad for us.
YET for me to look my physical best, i have to eat a lot of protein in my diet. so it's fair to say day to day i am in a deep state of rajas/hawa.
The 'qualities' this state collectively produces for us all, is that our actions then reflect. Which is why people are sex obsessed for example, there is simply too much of that rajas/hawa/passion. Do you understand so far?
Now a combination of rajas with tamas, ie an athiestic civilisation that forgets God and is driven by lusts..what is their end state? as i said, you see murders, homosexuality, cannibalism (eventually)..all types of evils are produced.
Yet the hindus, having a dietry system related to all of this, at least have ways of us having a yardstick ie if you are attracted to certain types of foods, it shows what level you're at.
So i realised from this, clearly this planet, regardless of religion/culture, we are mostly dominated by rajas and tamas. Even if we claim to believe in God, most of us are not true to God.
Anyway....then I read Romans 1 and i think 'man Paul was ON POINT'
I found that a lot with Paul's teachings, much of what i was coming to understand he would just say..and what appear to be random teachings have deep significance.
I like certain aspects of hinduism simply because it is such an old religion, so they've delved deep into these truths better than most religions.
Another topic
in my religion there is a saying of the prophet SAW where he said 'when you sleep, your soul returns to Allah'.
In another instance he said 'my eyes sleep but my heart never sleeps'.
To me what this indicated back when i was young and knew nothing..was that clearly he had acheived this state of consciousness even in the deepest sleep state. That got me looking into the whole beta/alpha/theta/delta brainwave states.
I have never seen any muslim, ever.......talk about this.
Yet it intrigued me and I wanted to try and at least understand this theme. That directly leads to hinduism. Read up on this
http://anaditeaching.com/turiya-the-absolute-waking-state/
it reminds me of when Jesus said
the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. He told his disciples to remain AWAKE.
Why was that so important over sleep?
See the hindus, you've got to respect them..they have this in their religion, in depth. They have a system for it, meditations, yogas.
btw the word Yoga just means path. So for example, if you have love in your heart, be it for Jesus or God or even your own family...that is called Bhagti Yoga..and this type of yoga on it's own, can take you to enlightenment when it's expanded.
Similarly there is a type of yoga where you just serve people.
now when i look at islam..it is a different system to theirs, but it does encorporate many of the same ideas in it's own right. for example when we read the salat, those movements are a yoga in their own right. This is something many hindus themselves have observed/appreciated about islam and likewise muslims have acknowledge this as a yoga.
The point im trying to get at is, to me, the angles i'm coming at you from, are to understand all these themes from a universal perspective...seeing how they all link to other religions in a way that makes perfect sense.
To you, this does not matter, but i think you'd agree that despite everything you think you know, there's a lot more to know...
personally, i've found the NT full theme after theme that on it's own is an expanded theme outside of christianity, just like ive found themes that are part of islam but not expanded on by muslims (like turiya consciousness).
Btw check this out
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo's_view_of_God#The_Logos
Philo wrote that God created and governed the world through mediators. Logos is the chief among them, the next to God, demiurge of the world. Logos is immaterial, an adequate image of God, his shadow, his firstborn son.