John 3:16 is one of 6 scriptures that verifies that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. He is the only Son that was sired by God. Adam was not sired by God, he was formed from the mud of the earth, and the breath of life brought him to life. Therefore God is not my mortal father or my mortal grandfather to any degree. Adam is, but not God the Father. It is a biological thing.
Jesus is the only begotten (biological) Son of God in the flesh. see Romans 9:8.
From this we can see that the word can mean
“only” one [Luke 7:2, 8:42, 9:38 KJB], but it can also mean the special child of Promise, of Faith and Love, being
“the beloved” [Genesis 15:4-6, 17:4-8,15-19,21, 18:10-14, 21:1-3 KJB], as Isaac was [Hebrews 11:17-19 KJB], since Abraham already had through human effort/works, a previous son, Ishmael, through Hagar, Sarah's maid [Genesis 16:4,10,11,12,15,16, 17:20 KJB].
Abraham would represent, in type, the Father, and the Sarah, the woman/wife, would typify the “church”, and/or the people of God, and through the at-one-ment of the two, by the Spirit, the “only begotten”, “the beloved”, even Jesus Christ, the eternal Son, God manifest in the flesh [1 Timothy 3:16 KJB], would come forth in the flesh of man-kind. Consider:
Isaiah 9:6 KJB - For
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Luke 2:11 KJB - For
unto you is born this day in the city of David
a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Hebrews 2:10 KJB - For it became him, for whom
are all things, and by whom
are all things, in bringing
many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Revelation 12:1 KJB - And there appeared a great wonder in heaven;
a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
Revelation 12:2 KJB - And
she being with child cried,
travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
Revelation 12:3 KJB - And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
Revelation 12:4 KJB - And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before
the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
Revelation 12:5 KJB - And
she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and
her child was caught up unto God, and
to his throne.
Revelation 12:13 KJB - And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted
the woman which brought forth the man child.
Was Isaac, Abraham's only son? Not in the sense of being an only child of Abraham, for we see that Ishmael was born unto him by Hagar [the bondwoman; Genesis 21:10; Galatians 4:23,30,31 KJB] and God does acknowledge him [Genesis 22:13 KJB], yet notice what God says of the special child of promise, the child of Faith and Love, Isaac [Genesis 22:12 KJB], the child of Abraham & Sarah [the free woman; Galatians 4:23,30,31 KJB]:
Genesis 22:2 KJB - And he said, Take now
thy son, thine only [Hebrew: “יחידך”; Transliterated Hebrew “yâchı̂yd”]
son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
Side note, in the so-called LXX [
*Septuagint, the work of Origen in his Hexapla, not the work of 70 or 72 Jewish scholars from the twelve tribes, and definitely not written before AD 100].
Genesis 22:2 LXX
* - “καὶ εἶπεν Λαβὲ
τὸν υἱόν σου τὸν ἀγαπητόν, ὃν ἠγάπησας, τὸν Ισαακ ...”
Re-translated to a harsh and strict semblance of English, says:
“And now take thy son,
thy son the beloved,
whom ye have loved, the Isaac ...”
Genesis 22:12 KJB - And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing
thou hast not withheld thy son,
thine only [Hebrew: “יחידך”; Transliterated Hebrew “yâchı̂yd”]
son from me.
Genesis 22:12 LXX
* - “...καὶ οὐκ ἐφείσω τοῦ υἱοῦ σου
τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ δι᾿ ἐμέ.”
Re-translated to a harsh and strict semblance of English, says:
“... and ye have not withheld thy son,
thy beloved, from me.”
Genesis 22:16 KJB - And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and
hast not withheld thy son,
thine only [Hebrew: “יחידך”; Transliterated Hebrew “yâchı̂yd”]
son:
Genesis 22:16 LXX
* - “... καὶ οὐκ ἐφείσω τοῦ υἱοῦ σου
τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ δι᾿ ἐμέ.”
Re-translated to a harsh and strict semblance of English, says:
“... and ye have not withheld thy son,
thy beloved, from me.”
We can see that Isaac was
“thy beloved” [
“τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ”] son of Abraham, even as Christ Jesus is the
“my beloved” [
“ο αγαπητος”] of the Father, and that this is intimately connected with the phrase
“the only begotten” [“
τον μονογενη”]:
Matthew 3:17 KJB - And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is
my beloved [“
μου ὁ ἀγαπητός”] Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Matthew 17:5 KJB - While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is
my beloved [“
μου ὁ ἀγαπητός”] Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
Mark 1:11 KJB - And there came a voice from heaven,
saying, Thou art
my beloved [“
μου ὁ ἀγαπητός”] Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Mark 9:7 KJB - And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is
my beloved [“
μου ὁ ἀγαπητός·”] Son: hear him.
Luke 3:22 KJB - And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art
my beloved [“
μου ὁ ἀγαπητός”] Son; in thee I am well pleased.
Luke 9:35 KJB - And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is
my beloved [“
μου ὁ ἀγαπητός·”] Son: hear him.
Luke 20:13 KJB - Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send
my beloved [“
μου τὸν ἀγαπητόν·”] son: it may be they will reverence
him when they see him.
2 Peter 1:17 KJB - For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is
my beloved [“
μου ὁ ἀγαπητός”] Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Further examples of the word
“μονογενῆ” may also be witnessed in the so-called LXX
*, Greek:
Psalms 22:20 KJB - Deliver my soul from the sword;
my darling [Hebrew: “יחידך”; Transliterated Hebrew “yâchı̂yd”; Greek LXX
* Psalms 21:21:
“τὴν μονογενῆ μου”] from the power of the dog.
[This passage [Psalms 22:20 KJB] is quoted in the context of Psalms 22:1-31 KJB, [“[[To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.]]
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
why art thou so far from helping me,
and from the words of my roaring?” [Psalms 22:1 KJB], which is a reference to Jesus in Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34 KJB]
Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions,
my darling [Hebrew: “יחידתי”; Transliterated: “yâchı̂yd”; Greek LXX
* Psalms 34:17:
“τὴν μονογενῆ μου”] from the lions. Psalms 35:17 KJB
[This passage [Psalms 35:17 KJB] also speaks of Christ Jesus and is similar to that of Psalms 22:20 KJB.]
Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I
am desolate [Hebrew: “יחיד”; Transliterated: “yâchı̂yd”; Greek LXX
* Psalms 24:16:
“με ὅτι μονογενὴς ”; in other words, 'all alone', or 'the only one left'] and afflicted. Psalms 25:16
[This passage [Psalms 25:16 KJB], we can compare to Isaiah 63:3, “
I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.”]
In Greek LXX
* Judges 11:34, we further see that
“μονογενης” even carries a definition of 'singularity', 'one and only':
And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and
she was his only [Hebrew: “יחידך”; Transliterated Hebrew “yâchı̂yd”; Greek LXX
*:
“μονογενης”]
child;
beside her he had neither son nor daughter. Judges 11:34
In
Zechariah 12:10 KJB, we see the 2nd Advent of Jesus Christ foretold, and the word
“only” and has a connection the word
“firstborn” [Please see the study upon the “firstborn” texts]:
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and
they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and
they shall mourn for him,
as one mourneth for his only [Hebrew: “יחידך”; Transliterated Hebrew “yâchı̂yd”]
son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness
for his firstborn. Zechariah 12:10