What is truly meant by the term "Son of God"?

[Ryukil]

Obviously it's not implying that Jesus is the LITERAL Son of God, as in God's wife gave birth to him.
Why then does the Bible use the term SON? And I just realized, the Bible refers to Jesus as God's only BEGOTTEN SON. The term "begotten" usually refers to an actual child brought about by sexual reproduction.

I've always been a bit confused about this. Why does the Bible use the word SON? Is it just to make it easier to understand for humans?

 

[ToBeBlessed]

This is the answer I found.

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 its meaning in Hebrews 11:17 when 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 of monogenes in 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 in John 3:16 (see also John 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 uses monogenes 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 by adoption (Ephesians 1:5). Jesus is God’s “one and only” Son.

Read more: What does it mean that Jesus is God's only begotten son?
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[Marvin Knox]

The Bible appears to use the term "son" to indicate any person created by a direct act of God.

Adam was a son of God. His offspring are not.

The angels are sons of God. Even fallen angels like Lucifer are sons of God.

All us born again, new creations by the Spirit of God, are sons of God.

Jesus is a son of God.

The fact that He is "begotten not made" seems to indicate his special creation. This particular direct creation is not a case of a person being simply directly fashioned by God or even that they are created in the "image" of God. It seems to indicate that He is of the exact nature and substance as God as well as that He was created directly through an act of God. He is very God of very God - one of a kind.

 

[Ryukil]

This is why everyone who is interested in the Bible, Christian or not, should learn Greek. Haha.

 

[topcare]

What is truly meant by the term "Son of God"?

That Christ is the Son of God just as the phrase says

 

[~Anastasia~]

We need to be careful of the words we use.

It is difficult to understand, perhaps. But then again, it shouldn't surprise us that the transcendent God is difficult (or in some ways impossible) for humans to understand.

Jesus WAS NOT CREATED by the Father.

If He were, that would make Him a creature, and He could not possibly be God.

He was begotten, in an eternal sense. Not at a moment in time. The Son and the Holy Spirit have always existed, but the Son is begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father.

The Nicene Creed is clear on that point ... And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages; Light of Light, true God of true God; begotten, not made, of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were made.

We need to be especially careful of making Christ into a created being who is not God with our human understanding of the words "son" or "begotten".

 

[ebia]

Obviously it's not implying that Jesus is the LITERAL Son of God, as in God's wife gave birth to him.
Why then does the Bible use the term SON? And I just realized, the Bible refers to Jesus as God's only BEGOTTEN SON. The term "begotten" usually refers to an actual child brought about by sexual reproduction.

Is it?
Is son-ship about mechanics of creation, or about relationship and inherentence?

Of course like many biblical phrases it starts life very much as a metaphor. "Son of God" refers to Israel, and by extension to Israel's representative King.

 

[Cappadocious]

We don't call Him God the Son because He is somehow like the son of a human father;

Rather, we call human sons "son" in virtue of their being somehow like God the Son.

We are made in God's image, not the other way around.

 

[Inkfingers]

The matter raised in this thread is further evidence of how the Bible is NOT divinely protect against corruption of the text; that extra word in the KJV is a cause of so much confusion.

 

[hedrick]

A common view in NT scholarship is that the phrase in the NT started out from a couple of OT tendencies:

• the Hebrew tendency to use “son of” as a way of formulating adjectives. There are many odd phrases like “son of bravery,” (1 Sam 14:53), “son of thunder” (Mark 7:13), “son of wickedness (Ps 89:22), “son of death” (1 Sam 20:31), “son of rebellion” (Num 17:10), “son of stripes” (Deut 25:2), etc. Hence Son of God can mean a godly man.
  
• but it came to be used specifically of the King, with a somewhat stronger meaning, Ps 2:7 (“you are my son&#8221

Hence Son of God starts out as someone who is godly, but based on the uses for the King, it’s stronger than that. One view in the ancient world of a King is someone who represents God. Ps 2 certainly seems to show that.

More controversial, it may have been influenced by pagan stories of God having human children. However I've never been a fan of that approach.

So the intrinsic meaning of the word is probably someone who represents God. But it becomes a consistent term for Jesus, and takes on a specific meaning for him. What that meaning is you’ll have to get from other passages, not from anything inherent in the term.

As you may know, a lot of modern theology sees the incarnation as functional, or in another view, a matter of identity, more than ontological. Hence it would start from the concept of Jesus as representing God, with the fullness of God present in him, and bring in the idea of John 1 and the preexistence passages, that the role he played was an eternal attribute of God. One of the best examples of this approach that's available online is from N T Wright, http://ntwrightpage.com/Wright_JIG.htm. This paper argues that the NT sees Jesus as taking on roles such as Wisdom, Law and Temple, basically all the ways in which God is present with his people.

 

[hedrick]

The matter raised in this thread is further evidence of how the Bible is NOT divinely protect against corruption of the text; that extra word in the KJV is a cause of so much confusion.

Yes, the KJV is wrong to use "only begotten" there. The Greek is best translated as "only." But that mistranslation is not the source of the Christian idea that Christ is a son begotten from God. It'd there in the Nicene Creed, which is well before the KJV. Indeed it's more likely that the KJV used that phrase because it was already there in Christian theology.

In fact Ps 2:7 uses it of the king. This was a key Christological text. So the issue isn't that begotten is a mistaken introduction. It's Biblical. Rather, we need to understand what Ps 2 meant by "begotten." Hint: it wasn't physical.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Admin Hat...

This thread has been closed pending review.

Mark
CF Admin.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Admin Hat...

This thread has undergone a small cleanup and has been moved to a more appropriate forum from Traditional Theology.

Happy Posting.

Mark

CF Admin.

 

[AvgJoe]

Obviously it's not implying that Jesus is the LITERAL Son of God, as in God's wife gave birth to him.
Why then does the Bible use the term SON? And I just realized, the Bible refers to Jesus as God's only BEGOTTEN SON. The term "begotten" usually refers to an actual child brought about by sexual reproduction.

I've always been a bit confused about this. Why does the Bible use the word SON? Is it just to make it easier to understand for humans?

Perhaps this may help~~~> http://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-Son-of-God.html .

 

[Job8]

Why then does the Bible use the term SON? And I just realized, the Bible refers to Jesus as God's only BEGOTTEN SON. The term "begotten" usually refers to an actual child brought about by sexual reproduction.

ONLY BEGOTTEN SON MEANS UNIQUELY BEGOTTEN SON. That's is what the Greek word monogenes means. So that phrase is extremely important, but it has been expunged from most modern bible versions. Christ is NOT the "Only Son" but He is "the Only BEGOTTEN Son". That tells us immediately that:

1. There is a mysterious Father-Son relationship within the Godhead

2. That this Sonship was eternal

3. That this Sonship is not the same as a human Father-Mother-Son relationship since it does not represent human procreation

4. That the Father is the Head of the Son, yet they are both God equally

5. That this is essentially a mystery, and cannot be fully understood by humans

6. That the Father is IN the Son, and the Son is IN the Father

7. That the Son is an exact replica of the Father, and whoever has seen the Son has seen the Father

8. That God the Father is always invisible, but the Son reveals God to humanity by taking human form (before and after His nativity)

9. That no man can come to the Father except through the Son

10. That the Father has given all power and authority to the Son, and one day the Son will hand over the Kingdom of God to the Father.

Originally Posted by hedrick

Yes, the KJV is wrong to use "only begotten" there. The Greek is best translated as "only." But that mistranslation is not the source of the Christian idea that Christ is a son begotten from God.
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Sorry to disagree, but that is incorrect. The Greek word is monogenes which means "only-born" or "only begotten" or uniquely begotten and applies exclusively to Christ (Strong's 3439).

Strong's Concordance

monogenés: only begotten​

Original Word: μονογενής, ές
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: monogenés
Phonetic Spelling: (mon-og-en-ace')
Short Definition: only, only-begotten, unique
Definition: only, only-begotten; unique.

HELPS Word-studies
3439 monogenḗs (from 3411 /misthōtós, "one-and-only" and 1085 /génos, "offspring, stock") – properly, one-and-only; "one of a kind" – literally, "one (monos) of a class, genos" (the only of its kind).


So it is not the KJV that has the "mistranslation" but the modern versions.

 

[Job8]

Originally Posted by hedrick

Yes, the KJV is wrong to use "only begotten" there. The Greek is best translated as "only." But that mistranslation is not the source of the Christian idea that Christ is a son begotten from God.
​

Sorry to disagree, but that is incorrect. The Greek word is monogenes which means "only-born" or "only begotten" or uniquely begotten and applies exclusively to Christ (Strong's 3439).

Strong's Concordance

monogenés: only begotten​

Original Word: μονογενής, ές
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: monogenés
Phonetic Spelling: (mon-og-en-ace')
Short Definition: only, only-begotten, unique
Definition: only, only-begotten; unique.

HELPS Word-studies
3439 monogenḗs (from 3411 /misthōtós, "one-and-only" and 1085 /génos, "offspring, stock") – properly, one-and-only; "one of a kind" – literally, "one (monos) of a class, genos" (the only of its kind).


So it is not the KJV that has the "mistranslation" but the modern versions.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Obviously it's not implying that Jesus is the LITERAL Son of God, as in God's wife gave birth to him.
Why then does the Bible use the term SON? And I just realized, the Bible refers to Jesus as God's only BEGOTTEN SON. The term "begotten" usually refers to an actual child brought about by sexual reproduction.

I've always been a bit confused about this. Why does the Bible use the word SON? Is it just to make it easier to understand for humans?

According to mainstream Christian teaching (what you'll find taught in Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, (etc) churches) when we say Jesus is the Son of God we refer to a relationship between Father and Son. We say the Son is eternally begotten. That is, there was never a time when the Son came to be, as the Son has always been. The word translated as "only begotten" in Greek is monogenes, the latter part of the word the root of the English generation, genetics, generator, etc. So we mean that the Son is generated of the Father, but this generation of the Son is without beginning or end; the Son is always from and of the Father. In other words as long as there has been a Father there has been a Son. God never became Father, He has always been Father; and thus has always had the Son who is of His own essence and being (in other words, the Son is God even as the Father is God, only one God).

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity asserts that God is simultaneous One and Three.

God is One because there is only one God, God is of one substance, essence, and being. There is a single undivided What.

God is Three because there are Three which are this one God: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

As such we say the Son is eternal, uncreated, and God. He is called Son because He is from the Father, He is "begotten" of the Father without being born, He always was, always is, and always will be.

Further Christian teaching says that the Son united Himself with our humanity in the womb of Mary, a virgin from Nazareth, and was born of her womb. He is Jesus Christ, and as He is God from all eternity (being the Son of God) and also human from the womb of His mother (thus also being the Son of Man) He is the God-Man. The God-and-Man.

He is not called "Son of God" because of His birth from Mary; He is human, and thus Mary's child because of His birth from Mary. He is Son of God because, from all eternity, He is only-begotten Son of the Father, without beginning, uncreated, wholly Divine.

He is called Son of God because He is God.
He is called Son of Man because He is man.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[hedrick]

μονογενής is an ordinary term for an only son or daughter. It is used this way in Luke 7:12, 8:42, 9:38. By translating "only begotten," the KJV gives an incorrect impression that the phrase somehow emphasizes being begotten.

TDNT suggests that the term emphasizes uniqueness. In contrast "mono" means simply one. The difference between calling someone one son of a father, and the monogenes of a father is that one doesn't precluded having another son, whereas monogenes is unique. Because John says that we can all become children of God, using monogenes of Christ makes it clear that Christ is the Son in a unique way, different from us. However since it is an ordinary term for only son, I wouldn't push this interpretation very far.

 

[faroukfarouk]

I would treat this important subject as a revealed - and glorious - fact in the Bible, and not something to speculate about. It's not something that supposedly becomes true or otherwise, because I presume to agree or not.

 

[ToBeBlessed]

μονογενής is an ordinary term for an only son or daughter. It is used this way in Luke 7:12, 8:42, 9:38. By translating "only begotten," the KJV gives an incorrect impression that the phrase somehow emphasizes being begotten.

TDNT suggests that the term emphasizes uniqueness. In contrast "mono" means simply one. The difference between calling someone one son of a father, and the monogenes of a father is that one doesn't precluded having another son, whereas monogenes is unique. Because John says that we can all become children of God, using monogenes of Christ makes it clear that Christ is the Son in a unique way, different from us. However since it is an ordinary term for only son, I wouldn't push this interpretation very far.

I would very much disagree. Begotten is the key word here. He was His Only Begotten Son.

Which is why He was the ONLY one who could die for our sins.

I don't see why we as Christians need to always put our own human terms into Christ. If God created all the world, the universe and all there is, why do we question that He could have only one begotten Son?

We read in the Word that Jesus was sent by the Father. When He was here on earth He did His Father's will.

It is easy for me to believe that Jesus was very special. Looking at the Word in a more complete way, we see that Jesus was the ONLY one who could have come. Why?

Because He is the Only Begotten Son.