Notify me of follow-up comments by email. He is not just one God in three divine Persons. In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost: the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son. It is from the fire. It is possible that the Church has misunderstood John’s meaning of monogenes for the first 1900 years of her existence. In other words, Time began when God created the universe. In it, the writers described the Trinity and the relationship among the Persons of the Godhead. The world has not known You, but I have known You – John 17:25, …Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress. – Jonathan Edwards, “Essay on the Trinity”. The light comes from the fire but is part of the fire; they are one. They are two different, but complimentary, acts. What does it mean that Jesus is Begotten? Jesus says he is in the Father. . “Begotten” does not speak to his being born, but his Relationship with the Father and his Nature.
He had to be born, and he had to die. Here Edwards makes out what it means for the Son to be begotten from the Father.
At his trial when Pilate said to Jesus: Art thou a king then? Now both logs have the same fire. And the difference is this. When you beget, you beget something of the same kind as yourself. In other words, before Time began, the Son is begotten or “generated” by the Father (hence the term “Eternal Generation”). They knew that the Son was one with the Father. . The Son is the deity [eternally] generated by God’s understanding, or having an idea of Himself and subsisting in that idea. He was born at a specific time, to a specific set of parents, in a certain place. It is in the second meaning God caused a part of himself to be brought forth and was called his only begotten Son. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him. The idea of being begotten in the life of God is not that Jesus ever did not exist. He is outside of Time. In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost: the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son. They are the same. To produce as an effect or outgrowth: CAUSE. These dual events are precipitated by who Jesus is: true God and true Man. Until then He was Word, then He became flesh! Here is an illustration that might help: You have a fireplace with two logs in it. Today, the idea of “begotten” encompasses the human conception of being born. This is the way that Scripture refers to this divine relationship (see Jn 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18 as examples). He begets Him. But when you make, you make something of a different kind from yourself. God is before Time and He is after Time. One God. Most modern day scholars teach that the Greek word “Monogenes” (mono-gan-ace’) means “unique” or “only.” So, most English translations say “only” or “unique” wherever monogenes is found (John 1:14; 1:18; 3:16; 1 John 4:9). If he is a clever enough carver he may make a statue which is very like a man indeed. – John 14:7, … no one knows the Son except the Father. In attempting to express this relationship of Father to Son within God we say that the Son is “begotten” of the Father. Without light, there is no fire and without the fire, there is no light.
Time is what we are currently experiencing; Eternity is everything outside of Time. He was begotten eternally. The teaching that Jesus was begotten is called the doctrine of Eternal Generation. 1. They are One. Put them back together; you still have the same fire with two logs together. Jesus answered, To this end was I BORN, and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth.
Scholars and teachers are determined to affirm, intentionally or otherwise, that Jesus was not created.
The light was there from the beginning. So “begotten” here is not the same as “being born.” That is why the Church, in the Nicene Creed, continues this way: “[The Son is] begotten, not made, one in being with the Father.” Let’s turn our attention to that other great mystery of our faith, the Incarnation.
In Eternity, God begat Jesus.
To understand what it means for Jesus to have been begotten, we need to go back to the original Koine Greek.
It cannot breathe or think. Scripture affirms that Jesus is both “the Son of Man” (Mt 12:8) and “the Son of God” (Mt 8:29). His being born this way was a historical event, able to be examined in the record of time. Now that is the first thing to get clear. What Does it Mean that Jesus is Begotten? Here, the Church Father Augustine might shed some light. When you separated the logs, you did not remove fire from the first log. I think that perhaps C.S. The Son is the image of the Father eternally. The early Church Fathers understood Koine Greek much better than any modern scholar. Since the Son is eternal, he was begotten, is being begotten and will continue to be begotten forever. The Father is unoriginated and prime. Let’s tweak this illustration. This is the mystery of the Trinity.
By saying that Jesus is begotten from the Father, we are saying that Jesus is fully God and not a creation of God (Arianism), nor is the Son of God simply a mode or action of God (Sabellianism). If you wish to discuss anything further my email address is below. So “begotten” here is not the same as “being born.” That is why the Church, in the Nicene Creed, continues this way: “[The Son is] begotten, not made, one in being with the Father.”. As we encounter God in history, through his relation with and revelation to man, we see that God acts in three distinct Persons, though he is one unique and singular whole. Lewis described it best in Mere Christianity: We don’t use the words begetting or begotten much in modern English, but everyone still knows what they mean.To beget is to become the father of: to create is to make. However, in the last century, scholars shifted and most now say the term comes from “mono” and “genos” (kind). They share a single essence. Separate the logs.
Separate persons. Beget has two meanings. – A. The term begotten when applied to the Son is not speaking of birth but of Relationship and Nature: the Nature of the Son and the Relationship between the Son and the Father.
Your email address will not be published. So the Son is not “begotten twice.” He is begotten (“caused to be”) after the manner of his Father. It is often used as synonymous with “to be born” but it really means “to cause to be.” Even though the Son is eternally existent, the Father “causes him to be.” God is the cause of his own existence. They understood the Son to be eternally begotten. It is not an “event” closed by time, but a way of being within God himself. The first log gave fire to the second log but it did not lose fire to give fire to the second log. They understood monogenes to mean begotten. Jonathan Edwards is the most prominent thinking preacher in American history.