What is meant by the Only Begotten Son of God?

[FreeinChrist]

So what do you think the Scripture mean when it speaks of the Only Begotten Son of God? Many Christians (myself included) believe it speaks of The Word becoming flesh of when The Word was incarnated in the flesh and became the man Jesus.

But yet most believers believe than the Word was begotten of the Father sometime before the world was created yet He still had no beginning. If I remember right this what is stated in the Nicene Creed.

[Guest]

When the plan was made by the Trinity (GOD is ONE) on how GOD the Father would save mankind, GOD the Son said that when GOD the Father needed Him (Christ) to, Christ would place Himself under the authority of GOD the Father and become HIS Son in order to come into the World to be GOD the Father's living Sacrifice. In essence, Christ committed to changing His role, becoming subservient to GOD in order to carry out the planned Will of the Trinity (GOD is ONE).

[missmuffet]

Question: "What does it mean that Jesus is God's only begotten son?"

Answer:The phrase “only begotten Son” occurs inJohn 3:16, which reads in the King James Version as, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The phrase "only begotten" translates the Greek wordmonogenes. This word is variously translated into English as "only," "one and only," and "only begotten."

It's this last phrase ("only begotten" used in the KJV, NASB and the NKJV) that causes problems. False teachers have latched onto this phrase to try to prove their false teaching that Jesus Christ isn't God; i.e., that Jesus isn't equal in essence to God as the Second Person of the Trinity. They see the word "begotten" and say that Jesus is a created being because only someone who had a beginning in time can be "begotten." What this fails to note is that "begotten" is an English translation of a Greek word. As such, we have to look at the original meaning of the Greek word, not transfer English meanings into the text.

So what doesmonogenesmean? According to theGreek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature(BAGD, 3rd Edition),monogeneshas two primary definitions. The first definition is "pertaining to being the only one of its kind within a specific relationship." This is its meaning inHebrews 11:17when the writer refers to Isaac as Abraham's "only begotten son" (KJV). Abraham had more than one son, but Isaac was the only son he had by Sarah and the only son of the covenant. Therefore, it is the uniqueness of Isaac among the other sons that allows for the use ofmonogenesin that context.

The second definition is "pertaining to being the only one of its kind or class, unique in kind." This is the meaning that is implied inJohn 3:16(see alsoJohn 1:14,18;3:18;1 John 4:9). John was primarily concerned with demonstrating that Jesus is the Son of God (John 20:31), and he usesmonogenesto highlight Jesus as uniquely God's Son—sharing the same divine nature as God—as opposed to believers who are God's sons and daughters by adoption (Ephesians 1:5). Jesus is God’s “one and only” Son.

The bottom line is that terms such as "Father" and "Son," descriptive of God and Jesus, are human terms that help us understand the relationship between the different Persons of the Trinity. If you can understand the relationship between a human father and a human son, then you can understand, in part, the relationship between the First and Second Persons of the Trinity. The analogy breaks down if you try to take it too far and teach, as some Christian cults (such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses), that Jesus was literally "begotten" as in “produced” or “created” by God the Father.

Read more:http://www.gotquestions.org/only-begotten-son.html#ixzz3fKC3vYCL

[MorningGlory]

So what do you think the Scripture mean when it speaks of the Only Begotten Son of God? Many Christians (myself included) believe it speaks of The Word becoming flesh of when The Word was incarnated in the flesh and became the man Jesus.

But yet most believers believe than the Word was begotten of the Father sometime before the world was created yet He still had no beginning. If I remember right this what is stated in the Nicene Creed.

 

Jesus is the only man, born of a woman  (begotten), who God declares is His son. 

[Willa]

Col. 2:9 declares that In Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form.  

Amplified:  For in Him the whole fullness of Deity continues to dwell in bodily form---giving complete expression to the divine nature.    

Wuest Expanded Translation:  Be ever on your guard lest there be someone who leads you astray through his philosophy, even futile deceit, which is according to the tradition of men, according to the rudimentary teaching of the world, and not according to Christ, because in Him there is continuously and permanently at home all the fullness of absolute deity in bodily fashion.  

 

God does not change.  He can never stop being God.  The Word created the worlds and spoke them into existence.  He was the I AM, YHWH, GOD who spoke to Moses in the burning bush.  He became flesh and dwelt among us and was named Jesus.   Jesus claimed to be I AM in John 8.   He was crucified, buried and resurrected, seen by man, ascended and glorified.  

 

I AM is a state of being verb.  He always was God and always will be God.  He was, He is, and He is to be.  He preexisted with Father God together with the Spirit.  They are one eternal God.  God can never stop being God.  He can change His appearance and His station.  He was once equal to His Father, but when He became man He give up that equality as well as His good Name, and chose to limit Himself to the restriction of humanity while obeying His Father perfectly.  He took the appearance of a man and the form of a servant,

but nowhere does it say that He ceased to be God.  Jesus, while in the flesh, claimed to be I AM, God Jehovah, (in John 8), which is why they tried to stone Him to death.  He also stated  æUnless you believe that I AM you shall die in your sins."  Translators added the word He which was not in the Greek.

 

The ancient creeds expressed this, each more precisely as heresies arose.  The Athanasian creed:   Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly to the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For the right faith is that we believe and confess that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;  God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before all worlds;  and man of the substance of His mother, born in the world;   Perfect God and perfect man subsisting.  Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood; who, although He is God and man, is not two but one Christ;---

 

This ancient creed was not just a Roman Catholic creed but a universal catholic creed that was assented to by the protestants as well.  It is still held by many protestant denominations.  

This topic may belong in apologetics.  It may also be helpful to review George's soapbox debate on the Trinity.  This subject has come up a lot lately and there seems to be a lot of confusion. Confusion is not from God, but from the enemy.    

[Retrobyter]

Shalom, 19Duggarfan.

 

So what do you think the Scripture mean when it speaks of the Only Begotten Son of God? Many Christians (myself included) believe it speaks of The Word becoming flesh of when The Word was incarnated in the flesh and became the man Jesus.

But yet most believers believe than the Word was begotten of the Father sometime before the world was created yet He still had no beginning. If I remember right this what is stated in the Nicene Creed.

 

I wouldn’t be Retrobyter if I didn’t give you a different answer than do others.

 

I believe that it is summed up in the decree quoted in Psalm 2:

 

Psalm 2:1-12

1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed (His Messiah, His Christ), saying,

3 "Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us."

4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.

5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

6 "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

7 I will declare the decree: 'the Lord hath said unto me, "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."'

10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."

KJV

 

So, what day was that?

[Ezra]

So what do you think the Scripture mean when it speaks of the Only Begotten Son of God? Many Christians (myself included) believe it speaks of The Word becoming flesh of when The Word was incarnated in the flesh and became the man Jesus.

But yet most believers believe than the Word was begotten of the Father sometime before the world was created yet He still had no beginning. If I remember right this what is stated in the Nicene Creed.

Both of the above ideas are incorrect.  Because the eternal Word is indeed God (Jn 1:1-3) we must not apply the concept of human procreation to the Only Begotten Son.  Not only is Jesus "in the bosom of the Father" (Jn 1:18) but He says "I am in the Father, and the Father in me" (Jn 14:11).

 

The word that has been translated as "only begotten" is the Greek monogenes which literally means uniquely begotten.  The issue is how do we apply "begetting" to (a) one who is God Himself who is the Creator, with no beginning and no end, and (b) where there is no mother involved, when clearly human begetting requires both father and mother as well as conception. 

 

If we say that Christ become "only begotten" at His supernatural conception within Mary's womb, we deny that He has existed as the Son, the Word, from eternity.  If we say that His begetting occured only sometime before creation, then we deny that He is God who has existing from everlasting.

 

The anwser lies in the eternal Sonship of Christ and the eternal Fatherhood and Headship of God the Father.  The one true and living God has eternally existed as the Godhead with three distinct Divine Persons.  Therefore Genesis 1:1 has the Hebrew word Elohim (a plurality within a unity) for God.  Since God has always existed (I AM THAT I AM)  then the unique sonship (Father-Son relationship, intimacy, love, and union) of Christ has also existed for all eternity.  The apostle John ties the two together (Jn 1:1-3, 14): In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

 

If we focus on "the same was in the beginning with God" and then go to "the only begotten of the Father", we see the connection immediately.  Had John said "the same was from eternity with God" is would have been completely correct.  Therefore it is an eternal Sonship unique from any other kind of sonship.

[thereselittleflower]

 

So what do you think the Scripture mean when it speaks of the Only Begotten Son of God? Many Christians (myself included) believe it speaks of The Word becoming flesh of when The Word was incarnated in the flesh and became the man Jesus.

But yet most believers believe than the Word was begotten of the Father sometime before the world was created yet He still had no beginning. If I remember right this what is stated in the Nicene Creed.

Both of the above ideas are incorrect.  Because the eternal Word is indeed God (Jn 1:1-3) we must not apply the concept of human procreation to the Only Begotten Son.  Not only is Jesus "in the bosom of the Father" (Jn 1:18) but He says "I am in the Father, and the Father in me" (Jn 14:11).

 

The word that has been translated as "only begotten" is the Greek monogenes which literally means uniquely begotten.  The issue is how do we apply "begetting" to (a) one who is God Himself who is the Creator, with no beginning and no end, and (b) where there is no mother involved, when clearly human begetting requires both father and mother as well as conception. 

 

If we say that Christ become "only begotten" at His supernatural conception within Mary's womb, we deny that He has existed as the Son, the Word, from eternity.  If we say that His begetting occured only sometime before creation, then we deny that He is God who has existing from everlasting.

 

The anwser lies in the eternal Sonship of Christ and the eternal Fatherhood and Headship of God the Father.  The one true and living God has eternally existed as the Godhead with three distinct Divine Persons.  Therefore Genesis 1:1 has the Hebrew word Elohim (a plurality within a unity) for God.  Since God has always existed (I AM THAT I AM)  then the unique sonship (Father-Son relationship, intimacy, love, and union) of Christ has also existed for all eternity.  The apostle John ties the two together (Jn 1:1-3, 14): In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

 

If we focus on "the same was in the beginning with God" and then go to "the only begotten of the Father", we see the connection immediately.  Had John said "the same was from eternity with God" is would have been completely correct.  Therefore it is an eternal Sonship unique from any other kind of sonship.

 

 

That was very well said.  

[FreeinChrist]

When the plan was made by the Trinity (GOD is ONE) on how GOD the Father would save mankind, GOD the Son said that when GOD the Father needed Him (Christ) to, Christ would place Himself under the authority of GOD the Father and become HIS Son in order to come into the World to be GOD the Father's living Sacrifice. In essence, Christ committed to changing His role, becoming subservient to GOD in order to carry out the planned Will of the Trinity (GOD is ONE).

Agreed!

 

 

So what do you think the Scripture mean when it speaks of the Only Begotten Son of God? Many Christians (myself included) believe it speaks of The Word becoming flesh of when The Word was incarnated in the flesh and became the man Jesus.

But yet most believers believe than the Word was begotten of the Father sometime before the world was created yet He still had no beginning. If I remember right this what is stated in the Nicene Creed.

 

Jesus is the only man, born of a woman  (begotten), who God declares is His son. 

 

Love this definition so simply yet so Truthful.

 

 

Shalom, 19Duggarfan.

 

So what do you think the Scripture mean when it speaks of the Only Begotten Son of God? Many Christians (myself included) believe it speaks of The Word becoming flesh of when The Word was incarnated in the flesh and became the man Jesus.

But yet most believers believe than the Word was begotten of the Father sometime before the world was created yet He still had no beginning. If I remember right this what is stated in the Nicene Creed.

 

I wouldn’t be Retrobyter if I didn’t give you a different answer than do others.

 

I believe that it is summed up in the decree quoted in Psalm 2:

 

Psalm 2:1-12

1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed (His Messiah, His Christ), saying,

3 "Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us."

4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.

5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

6 "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

7 I will declare the decree: 'the Lord hath said unto me, "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."'

10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."

KJV

 

So, what day was that?

 

I think we agree, as this is a passage along with Galatians 4:4 that I often think of with the Incarnation Sonship of God, which is also explain in John 1:1-18

 

 

So what do you think the Scripture mean when it speaks of the Only Begotten Son of God? Many Christians (myself included) believe it speaks of The Word becoming flesh of when The Word was incarnated in the flesh and became the man Jesus.

But yet most believers believe than the Word was begotten of the Father sometime before the world was created yet He still had no beginning. If I remember right this what is stated in the Nicene Creed.

Both of the above ideas are incorrect.  Because the eternal Word is indeed God (Jn 1:1-3) we must not apply the concept of human procreation to the Only Begotten Son.  Not only is Jesus "in the bosom of the Father" (Jn 1:18) but He says "I am in the Father, and the Father in me" (Jn 14:11).

 

The word that has been translated as "only begotten" is the Greek monogenes which literally means uniquely begotten.  The issue is how do we apply "begetting" to (a) one who is God Himself who is the Creator, with no beginning and no end, and (b) where there is no mother involved, when clearly human begetting requires both father and mother as well as conception. 

 

If we say that Christ become "only begotten" at His supernatural conception within Mary's womb, we deny that He has existed as the Son, the Word, from eternity.  If we say that His begetting occured only sometime before creation, then we deny that He is God who has existing from everlasting.

 

The anwser lies in the eternal Sonship of Christ and the eternal Fatherhood and Headship of God the Father.  The one true and living God has eternally existed as the Godhead with three distinct Divine Persons.  Therefore Genesis 1:1 has the Hebrew word Elohim (a plurality within a unity) for God.  Since God has always existed (I AM THAT I AM)  then the unique sonship (Father-Son relationship, intimacy, love, and union) of Christ has also existed for all eternity.  The apostle John ties the two together (Jn 1:1-3, 14): In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

 

If we focus on "the same was in the beginning with God" and then go to "the only begotten of the Father", we see the connection immediately.  Had John said "the same was from eternity with God" is would have been completely correct.  Therefore it is an eternal Sonship unique from any other kind of sonship.

 

 

Sorry Ezra, I know you have explain this very well but having trouble understanding this, probably no problem with your explanation just my slow learning.

 

[Ezra]

Sorry Ezra, I know you have explain this very well but having trouble understanding this, probably no problem with your explanation just my slow learning.

19Duggarfan,

We are trying to comprehend the Mystery of God, so just like the Deity of Christ and the Trinity of the Godhead, the eternal Sonship of Christ is ultimately a Divine mystery. The quickest and simplest way to understand it is to say that "the Only Begotten Son" means a unique and eternal Father-Son relationship within the Godhead.