God is before Time and He is after Time. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! He has always been and will always be. The events are of a different order. What is the Biblical Promise of "By His Stripes we are Healed". The doctrine of Eternal Generation is defined as follows: an eternal personal act of the Father, wherein, by necessity of nature, not by choice of will, He generates the person (not the essence) of the Son, by communicating to Him the whole indivisible substance of the Godhead, without division, alienation, or change, so that the Son is the express image of His Father’s person, and eternally continues, not from the Father, but in the Father, and the Father in the Son. It is from the fire. The debate is whether the theological doctrine of the Eternal Generation of the Son of God is valid. This light does not take away from the fire. You light one of the logs on fire. What God begets is God; just as what man begets is man. the whole Divine essence does truly and distinctly subsist both in the Divine idea and Divine love, and that each of them are properly distinct persons. Soon, both logs are lit; you have a fire going. When John uses the term monogenes, he is saying something specific about the relationship of Jesus to the Father. Jesus also said to the Jews Ye are from beneath, I am from above, Ye are of this world, I am not of this world. Jonathan Edwards is the most prominent thinking preacher in American history. This would be the Church Fathers’ understanding of John’s use of monogenes. Here is an illustration that might help: You have a fireplace with two logs in it. 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. The other took place in plain view, as a sign to all of us, at a specific time and place, within God’s creation. Does that mean that he was created? But we also know that God is not given to change or alteration; he is perfect in his nature. The Confession explains that the Father is unbegotten and not proceeding. Before creation, since, as John notes, the world was made through the Word [the Son]. His being born this way was a historical event, able to be examined in the record of time. These Persons also exist in relation to one another. How can the Son be generated or begotten and still be eternal? To use the term begotten for Jesus would seem to mean that he did not exist but then came into existence at some point in time. 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. (ESV), Formerly, “monogenes” was understood to mean “only begotten.” However, that began to change in the last century. They are the same. One God. They understood that only the Son was begotten and only the Spirit proceeds. Certainly, you have heard the term, “Jesus is the only begotten of the Father.” It’s in songs sung, sermons preached, and found in some Bible verses. The Father is unoriginated and prime. – Jonathan Edwards, “Essay on the Trinity”. They knew that the Son was one with the Father. The New American Standard (NASB) and King James (KJV) use the term “begotten.” Hence, John 1:18: No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. 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. begotten: 1 adj (of offspring) generated by procreation “naturally begotten child” Synonyms: biological of parents and children; related by blood They also understood that these things occurred in eternity. To beget is to become the father of: to create is to make. Jesus is begotten. I think that perhaps C.S. Hence, changing “begotten” to “unique” or “only” teaches us that Jesus is one of a kind. This might seem confusing to us. Scripture affirms that Jesus is both “the Son of Man” (Mt 12:8) and “the Son of God” (Mt 8:29). Was there a time when Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, did not exist? The early Church Fathers understood Koine Greek much better than any modern scholar. Without light, there is no fire and without the fire, there is no light. I think that perhaps C.S. He begets Him. The light was there from the beginning. Hence, monogenes went from meaning “only begotten” to “one of its kind” or “unique.”. Don’t worry; this won’t be a long lesson in Greek. The first log gave fire to the second log but it did not lose fire to give fire to the second log. It was the act of God alone. The teaching that Jesus was begotten is called the doctrine of Eternal Generation. These dual events are precipitated by who Jesus is: true God and true Man. Let me start by saying begotten is the past participle of beget. They understood monogenes to mean begotten. He says he and the Father are one. Separate the logs. Here Edwards makes out what it means for the Son to be begotten from the Father. The Son is generated by God’s idea of Himself. It may be difficult for us to comprehend fully the Father begetting the Son. – John 14:7, … no one knows the Son except the Father. God’s life is immutable and independent of anything. A bird makes a nest, a beaver builds a dam, a man makes a wireless set—or he may make something more like himself than a wireless set: say, a statue. The light comes from the fire but is part of the fire; they are one. In Eternity, God begat Jesus. In other words, Time began when God created the universe. He is outside of Time. He had deliberated upon this also. 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. Let’s turn our attention to that other great mystery of our faith, the Incarnation. However, the short answer really isn’t sufficient for anyone who is thinking deeply about this. If he is a clever enough carver he may make a statue which is very like a man indeed. This is the way that Scripture refers to this divine relationship (see Jn 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18 as examples). It is possible that the Church has misunderstood John’s meaning of monogenes for the first 1900 years of her existence. Before the Creation, there was no Time. And the difference is this. In it, the writers described the Trinity and the relationship among the Persons of the Godhead. While this is true, I’m not sure we should mistranslate the original Greek meaning to make our own points. How does the Father give this life to the Son? 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.”. That is why we say that the Son is “eternally begotten” of the Father. How can God beget a son? Time is what we are currently experiencing; Eternity is everything outside of Time. God is as he is throughout and apart from time. Join our list to receive our emails FREE! So the Son is not “begotten twice.” He is begotten (“caused to be”) after the manner of his Father. He is eternally the Father, eternally the Son, and eternally the Spirit. But we also see something else in God. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Scholars previously believed that monogenes derived from “mono” meaning one and “gennao” meaning beget.

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