Jesus the only begotten son

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Permalink Reply by Stephen King on April 14, 2013 at 1:21pm

Women (mothers) bear children while men (fathers) are said to beget children.So the Son of God is the begotten of the Father. Jesus is the only one Son of God. The Son of God is from the beginning, yet Jesus has brothers and sisters who have a beginning. 

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Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on April 14, 2013 at 3:06pm

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

Answer: The phrase “only begotten Son” occurs in John 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 word monogenes. 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 does monogenes mean? According to the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (BAGD, 3rd Edition), monogenes has two primary definitions. The first definition is "pertaining to being the only one of its kind within a specific relationship." This is the meaning attached to its use in Hebrews 11:17 when the writer refers to Isaac as Abraham's "only begotten son." Abraham had more than one son, but Isaac was the only son he had by Sarah and the only son of the covenant.

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 in John 3:16. In fact, John is the only New Testament writer who uses this word in reference to Jesus (see John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9). John was primarily concerned with demonstrating that Jesus was the Son of God (John 20:31), and he uses this word to 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 through faith.

The bottom line is that terms such as "Father" and "Son," that are descriptive of God and Jesus, are human terms used to 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.

Recommended Resources: Logos Bible Software and Jesus: The Greatest Life of All by Charles Swindoll.



Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/only-begotten-son.html#ixzz2QTSE1oCZ

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Permalink Reply by Captain Coltonoro on April 14, 2013 at 4:53pm

Thank you Stephen and David

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Permalink Reply by Tammy on April 14, 2013 at 5:07pm

Begotten—from “beget” meaning to bring into being

A. Applied to Christ:

Predicted Ps. 2:7; Acts 13:33
Prefigured Heb. 11:17
Proclaimed John 1:14
Proffered John 3:16
Professed Heb. 1:5, 6

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Permalink Reply by bg on May 1, 2013 at 1:47pm

Jesus is God,in the New Testament he says that before Abraham,I Am. Jesus was in the Father,he is forever eternal. Through Jesus all things were made that was made.

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