BEGOTTEN

be-got'-'-n (yaladh; "to bear," "bring forth," "beget"; denotes the physical relation of either parent to a child, Genesis 3:16; Genesis 4:18): Used metaphorically of God's relation to Israel (Deuteronomy 32:18) and to the Messianic king (Psalm 2:7); (gennao, "to beget," or "bear"): generally used of a father (Matthew 1:1-16); more rarely of a mother (Luke 1:13, 57); used metaphorically of causing or engendering moral and spiritual relations and states (1 Corinthians 4:15 Philemon 1:10); of the new birth the Holy Spirit (John 3:3). Men who obey and love God as sons are begotten of Him (John 1:13 1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:9; 1 John 4:7; 1 John 5:1, 4, 18; compare 1 Peter 1:23). Used especially of God's act in making Christ His Son: "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee" (Psalm 2:7) quoted in Acts 13:33 in reference to His resurrection (compare Romans 1:4). The same passage is cited (Hebrews 1:5) as proving Christ's filial dignity, transcending the angels in that "he hath inherited a more excellent name than they," i.e. the name of son; and again (Hebrews 5:5) of God conferring upon Christ the glory of the priestly office.

Commentators differ as to whether the act of begetting the Son in these two passages is

(a) the eternal generation, or

(b) the incarnation in time, or

(c) the resurrection and ascension.

The immediate context of Hebrews 1:5 (see Hebrews 1:3) seems to favor the last view (Westcott). The first view would not be foreign to the author's thought: with Hebrews 5:5 compare Hebrews 6:20, "a high priest forever" (Alford). The author of Heb thinks of the eternal and essential sonship of Christ as realized in history in His ascension to the "right hand of the Majesty" (Hebrews 1:3). And what is emphatic is the fact and status of sonship, rather than the time of begetting.

T. Rees

ONLY BEGOTTEN

on'-li be-got-'-'n (monogenes): Although the English words are found only 6 times in the New Testament, the Greek word appears 9 times, and often in the Septuagint. It is used literally of an only child: "the only son of his mother" (Luke 7:12); "an only daughter" (Luke 8:42); "mine only child" (Luke 9:38); "Isaac.... his only begotten" (Hebrews 11:17). In all other places in the New Testament it refers to Jesus Christ as "the only begotten Son of God" (John 1:14, 18; John 3:16, 18 1 John 4:9). In these passages, too, it might be translated as "the only son of God"; for the emphasis seems to be on His uniqueness, rather than on His sonship, though both ideas are certainly present. He is the son of God in a sense in which no others are. "Monogenes describes the absolutely unique relation of the Son to the Father in His divine nature; prototokos describes the relation of the Risen Christ in His glorified humanity to man" (Westcott on Hebrews 1:6). Christ's uniqueness as it appears in the above passages consists of two things:

(a) He reveals the Father: "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (John 1:18). Men therefore behold His glory, "glory as of the only begotten from the Father" (1:14).

(b) He is the mediator of salvation: "God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him" (1 John 4:9 John 3:16); "He that believeth not (on him) hath been judged already" (John 3:18). Other elements in His uniqueness may be gathered from other passages, as His sinlessness, His authority to forgive sins, His unbroken communion with the Father, and His unique knowledge of Him. To say that it is a uniqueness of nature or essence carries thought no farther, for these terms still need definition, and they can be defined only in terms of His moral consciousness, of His revelation of God, and especially of His intimate union as Son with the Father.

See also BEGOTTEN; PERSON OF CHRIST; SON OF GOD.

The reading "God only begotten" in John 1:18 the Revised Version margin, though it has strong textual support, is improbable, and can well be explained as due to orthodox zeal, in opposition to adoptionism. See Grimm-Thayer, Lexicon; Westcott, at the place

T. Rees