A bird and a tree have a lot in common. They both have DNA. They are made up of cells containing nuclei and organelles. Many metabolic pathways are similar. And they both live and die. Human beings share 41% of our DNA with bananas. Birds and trees have a lot of similarities. But this is not like the question about the relationship between the Father and the Son.
Would you remind me which Bible passages contain the bolded words?
John 1:18
18. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is
in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
John 1: Emph Bible Rotherham)
18 No one, hath seen, God, at any time: An Only-Begotten God,
The One existing within the bosom of the Father, He, hath interpreted [him].
John 17:5
5. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
John 17:8
8. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that
I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
JFB
“they ... have known surely that
I came out from thee”
John 8: “
The Greek New Testament “ Kurt Aland
42 Jesus said to them, “If God was your father you would love me [unconditionally], for
I came out of God and I am here; for I have not spoken of myself but rather of that one, who sent me.
John 8 (JM-NT)
42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you folks would have been loving Me, for I came forth and am arrived here from
out of the midst of God. For neither have I come from Myself (on My own initiative), but rather that One sent Me away with a mission (commissions and sends Me forth as an Emissary: an Apostle).
Vincent's Word Studies
John 8:42
“…Ἑξελθεῖν ἐκ, here, emphasizes the idea of
essential,
community of being: “
I came forth out of.”
John 16:27-28
LITV
27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that
I came out from God.
28
I came out from the Father and have come into the world; I leave the world again and go to the Father.
Vincent's Word Studies
John 16:28
From the Father (παρά)
The best texts read, ἐκ,
out of.
Alvah Hovey Commentary on the Gospel of John
“I came forth from the Father.
More precisely, I came out from the Father; not from the Father’s side (para), but as it were, out from (ek) the inner being, the very life and love of the Father. The language is exact, and strong enough to be appealed to in proof of the essential unity of the Father and the Son, or at least of the Father and the Word.”
Sabbath School Lesson Study, 4th quarter 1936
The direct statement of Jesus, "I came forth from the Father," reads literally, "
I came out of the Father." Putting with this, His testimony in John 10:38, "The Father is in Me, and I in Him," we have His personal witness that He truly was "begotten of the Father," as John says in 1:14.
Word pictures in the new testament A.T. Robertson
John 16:28
I came out from the Father (exēlthon ek tou patros). Definite act (aorist), the Incarnation, with repetition of ek (out of), while in John_16:27 we have (para tou patros exēlthon) with no practical distinction between ek and para in resultant idea.
Early Christian statements:
Theophilus of Antioch
“God, then, having
His own Word internal within His own bowels, begat him, emitting him along with His own wisdom before all things" (Autol. 2.10)
Athenagoras (133 – 190 AD)
“A Plea Regarding Christians”
“There is one God and
the Logos who proceeds from him, the Son. We know that the Son cannot be separated from God.
Theophilus 180 AD
“God then having
His own Word internal within His bowels, beget Him, emitting Him along with His own wisdom before all things.”
