I have been wrestling with the doctrine of the Son being eternally begotten according to the Nicene Creed. Aside from being difficult philosophically, there are Bible passages that say Christ was begotten at a specific time (Psalms 2:7; Acts 13:33; Hebrews 1:5; Hebrews 5:5).
So I'm asking for help in understanding it philosophically, as well as exegesis of the passages listed above. Thanks in advance;
Michael
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I wholeheartedly agree with the eternal Deity of Christ, the Word of God, and that Jesus Christ is the Word of God. My question revolves around the idea of His being "begotten of the Father before all ages", which is the Nicene Creed. How does this line up with Psalms 2:7 and it's usage in the NT? Sorry for not being more clear originally.
The Son was begotten before time, not in time.
I was actually discussing this issue with my high school friend, who is Muslim, and she was debating with me how being the Son of God is the same thing as being God. I first quoted C.S. Lewis on what it means to be begotten in the following:
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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. And the difference is this. When you beget, you beget something o the same kind as yourself. A man begets human babies, a beaver begets little beavers and a bird begets eggs which turn into little birds. But when you make, you make something of a different kind from yourself. 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. If he is clever enough carver he may make a statue which is very like man indeed. But, of course, it is not a real man; it only looks like one. It cannot breathe or think. It is not alive. Now that is the first thing to get clear. What God begets is God; just as what man begets is man. What God creates is not God; just as what man makes is not man. That is why men are not Sons of God in the sense that Christ is. They may be like God in certain ways, but they are not things of the same kind. They are more like statues or pictures of God.” (Mere Christianity)
Very good explanation in my opinion, I couldn’t find one better. So, to beget is to bring forth another of the same kind. So, unless you're Adam or Eve, you were begotten by a man and conceived by a woman, thus you are a human after the likeness of your father. This is important to understand, because "
Son" doesn’t mean that God created another deity, nor does it mean that his Son is a lesser deity.
Now, if God is self-existent, eternal, unchanging, all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, and infinite, then we must agree that it is utterly impossible for him to create another such being, otherwise it wouldn’t be self-existent, eternal, unchanging since it went from non-being to being. Nor would it be all-powerful if it came out of another, neither all-knowing if at one time it didn’t know anything, etc, etc. We find a passage in Isaiah that speaks of such a thing:
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Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me" (Isaiah 43:10)
This is a most true statement. There can only be one God who is in essence eternal and perfect in all his attributes. If God were to create, as mentioned in the quote above, it would be made into something entirely different than himself. It would be a part of his creation, rather than something of his essence. You aren’t a part of God, you are a creature of made by God, created as another kind of being than himself.
However, when we encounter words from the Lord Jesus who says he is the only begotten Son of God, and that he was before Abraham, and that he shared in the glory with his Father before the world existed, then we are to understand that he isn’t something created. Remember, a creature is not the same kind as the Creator, but if God has begotten another it would be conclusively the same kind as himself. What does this actually mean then? If God is eternal of his kind, then the Son is in essence eternal in his kind. If God is perfect, then so must his begotten be perfect. If God is one God, then his Son must be of that one. As stated before, God cannot produce another God. It must then be that the Son is
Very God as his Father is
Very God. Yet, because there is a relationship between the two, it must mean then that they are two subsist of the same divine nature.
If you follow the line of thinking behind Jesus’ words, he is essentially saying, “I am God of God, the same in essence and power and being as my Father, eternal and not made.” You cannot interpret his words in any other way. A son shares the same kind of nature as his Father, and if his Father is the One God, he must necessarily be the One God. Here are some passages that draws this out:
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Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does his works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, or else believe on account of the works themselves’ (John 14:8-11).
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So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.’ The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God’ (John 10:24-33).
Eternal Generation has no beginning, because the relationship had no beginning.
Jesus was made, but not begotten according to his humanity; begotten, but not made according to his divinity.
I hope this helps.
