“Begotten”

   There are some Christians who believe and teach that “begotten” referring to Christ having been begotten (born) of the Father is incorrect, that the word "begotten" shouldn’t be used, but "begotten", "born" or "birth" is the only logical choice that the translators of the Bible could have chosen, Not only is there no good reason for changing God’s word, there are specific instruction against any changes, "Do not add to His words, that He may reprove you and you be found a liar." (Proverbs 30:6), "I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever; nothing is to be added to it and nothing is to diminish from it. And God does this so that they fear before Him." (Ecclesiastes 3:14). I looked into this matter years ago, but after a recent conversation with someone who supported not using "begotten" for the Son of God's entrance into existence, I decided to dig deeper into the Greek and Hebrew text of the J.P. Green Interlinear Bible.

    The Greek word translated as “begotten” is #3439 (Strong's Concordance number) “monogenes” only born, i.e. sole: - only (begotten, child). Some uses of this are listed below, all refers to procreation from a parent or parents, and important to note is that the same #3439 "begotten" that is used for the Son of God, is also used for the sons of men, "And the word became flesh and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, glory as an only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14), and the same Greek word (#3439) is used for the son of Abraham, "By faith, being tested, Abraham offered up Isaac; and he receiving the promises was offering up the only-begotten." (Hebrews 11:17). Isaac was his "only-begotten" from his only wife, Sarah.

  The Old Testament Hebrew word (“yalad” #3205) has a host of meanings: begat, birth, born… too many to list, but it is used for both men’s sons, "And the days of Adam after he fathered Seth were eight hundred years. And he fathered sons and daughters." (Genesis 5:4) and for God’s Son, "I will declare concerning the status of Jehovah: He said to Me, Today I have begotten You." (Psalm 2:7). The three words in "bold letters" are all #3205. “begotten” is consistent in the Old and the New Testaments to describe the manor in which humans and Michael (Jesus) were brought forth from their respective parents or parent, showing the process is comparable and similar in result. Bear with me on all these verses and please check this out for yourself. The important point is that Michael (Jesus) was born (begotten), just as we are born (begotten) of our parents, the result being, we are like our parents, in that we are all “mankind” (male & female), we have the same traits and make-up of our parents, so Michael has the same make-up as His parent, brought forth from God Almighty, Jehovah. Christ is as His Father in every sense and perfect as His Father, God, Jehovah. Adam was truly a created being, by our Father, Jehovah, "And Jehovah God formed the man out of the dust from the ground, and blew into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7), but Adam's off-springs are not created in the same manor as Adam, having no childhood, but they are brought forth from Adam and Eve from the womb by the design and power of God, as Michael was brought forth from His Father, Jehovah (the process isn't explained but the word "begotten" #3205 was used). When Christ was born (begotten), from Mary, this changed Michael to be the "Son of man", Jesus, which is how He mostly referred to Himself during His first advent, "And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere He may lay His head." (Matthew 8:20). Christ referred to Himself as the "Son of God" only twice during His first advent, but He was speaking first of the future, at His second coming, "Truly, truly, I say to you that an hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and the ones hearing will live." (John 5:25) and secondly of the past, "...for he has not believed into the name of the only-begotten Son of God." (John 3:18).

   The Son of God was begotten (brought forth) and Christ Himself tells us this, "I will declare concerning the statute of Jehovah: He said to Me, You are My Son. Today I have begotten (#3205) You." (Psalm 2:7). Also, an Old Testament statement of Christ, "Jehovah possessed Me in the beginning of His way, from then, before His works." (Proverbs 8:22), "Before the mountains were settled; before the hills, I was brought forth;" (Proverbs 8:25). According to the system that Jehovah has set up from the very beginning, the father has authority over the son and Christ's Father, Jehovah, has all authority over everything and every one, because He is the Creator of all existence, except His only-begotten Son, whom He "brought forth" (begotten). The Almighty God Jehovah has all sovereign authority, but He delegated some authority to His Son, now named Jesus, His Christ, "For even as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave also to the Son to have life in Himself. And He also gave authority to Him to execute judgment, for He is the Son of man." (John 5:26,27). This makes Jesus equal with Jehovah in make-up, but not in authority. This confirms to me the deity of Jesus, but not as “Almighty God”, or part of a triune god, because His Father existed before Michael, the Son, and has the supreme authority, being the Father. It is also mentioned in the Bible that Jesus was given authority to forgive sins, meaning this wasn’t His until His Father gave authority to Him, "God has exalted this One as a Ruler and Savior to His right hand, to give to Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins."  (Acts 5:31). To toss out the word "begotten" seems impossible to me, and what could possibly be a replacement that would make any sense?

   I reason, the most important verse is, "that this God has fulfilled to us, their children, raising up Jesus; as also it has been written in the second Psalms, 'You are My Son; today I have begotten You.'" (Acts 13:33), which uses #1080 to record Jehovah saying that He begat His Son. #1080 gennao, to procreate, to regenerate: - bear, begat, be born, bring forth, conceive, to deliver of, gender, make spring. This was also used to record the multitude of human births mentioned in the New Testament. It seems to me, beyond a reasonable doubt, “Begotten” is being used as God intended, to describe the birth (entrance) of Michael (the Christ), at some point before earth was created by Jehovah (look at Exodus 20:11 in an Interlinear Bible for the correct wording, "For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth..."). Another reason I’m assured that "begotten" is correct, is if Jesus was always with Jehovah from eternity (co-eternal, as some Christian describe the Trinity), then calling one a Son and one a Father would be deceptive and incorrect, and I must believe Jehovah is not deceptive. God used "begotten" to show His relationship with Michael, who He sent to be the "Son of man", with the name Jesus, The Christ we know, was the Son of God from before time started its count and became the Son of God was sent to become the "Son of man" for the purpose of establishing our salvation with His blood sacrifice. The mainstay of Christianity is our belief that Jesus was and is the Son of God, "But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name." (John 20:31) and "And answering Simon Peter said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God... And I also said to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church..." (Matthew 16:16,18). The rock being the truth that Jesus is the Son of God, bringing truth from the Father for us, and that Christianity is based on the belief that Jesus is the Son of God, divine but not God because Jehovah is the one and only almighty God, "Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah." (Deuteronomy 6:4).

   Below is a list of some verses where “begotten” is used in the New Testament and the Old Testament, which shows that all is consistent throughout both Testaments.

New Testament Verses

   Matthew 1:2-16 is a listing of begets starting with “Abraham

begat Isaac…end with Joseph the husband of Mary, the mother

of Jesus.” all the human begets used #1080.

   John 1: 13, 14 & 18 “who were born not of bloods, nor of the

will of flesh, nor of the will of man but were born of God.” (this

use is #1080 referring to us being delivered).

Verse 14 “…glory as of an only-begotten, from the Father…”

(uses #3439 leaving no question of it’s meaning) & verse 18

“…the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father,

He reveals Him,” (uses #3439 also)

   John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His

only-begotten Son…” (here #3439 is used) (#3439 is also used

in verse 18 referring of the Son.)

   Acts 13:33 “You are my Son, today I have begotten You.”

he refers to Psalms 2:7 (which uses the Hebrew #3205) and

uses #1080 (begotten) to quote God Jehovah. This connects

the Greek #1080 with the Hebrew word #3205 (Strong’s

Concordance Hebrew Dictionary with a host of definition;

begotten, bear, birth, bring forth…and many more).   

  1 Corinthians 4:15, “…for I (Paul) fathered you in Jesus

Christ…” Paul uses #1080 (begotten, fathered) to describe

those baptized or born again).

    Philemon 1:10, Paul uses #1080 (begotten) to describe

“fathering“ (Literal translation) (KJV uses begotten) “my

child Onesimus, whom I fathered in his bond”.

  

   Hebrews 1:5, uses # 1080, Paul asks; “to which of the angels

did God say, You are My Son, today I have begotten you?”

And of course the answer are none, even though Jesus may

sometimes be referred to as an Angel, but only because He

was a messenger for God, not because He was a created being

as the other angels.

   

   Hebrews 5:5, quoting God again (Psalms 2:7), he uses

#1080 (begotten) to describe how Christ came into being,

“…You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.”

   

   Hebrews 11:17 "By faith, being tested, Abraham offered

up Isaac; and He receiving the promises was offering up the

only-begotten." #3439 was used to describe Abraham offering

up Isaac, the same word that was used referring to God’s

only-begotten, Jesus in John 3:16 (listed above).

   

    1 Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord

Jesus Christ, He according to His great mercy having

regenerated us to the living hope…” The translators used

"regenerated" #313 “anagennao” to beget or (by extens,)

bear (again): begat  (bear) x (again), a word not listed

referring to us, the KJV uses "begotten"

   1 John 4:9 “…because the Son, the Only-begotten, God has

sent…” uses #3439 “monogenes” only-born e.i. sole or only

(begotten, child), to describe Jesus, Son of God.

   1 John 5:1 “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ

has been born of God. And everyone who loves Him who begets

also loves the one who has been born of Him.”  #1080 (begotten)

is used all 3 times.

    

   1 John 5:18 "…everyone having been born of God does not

sin, but the one born of God guards himself…” #1080 is used

both times.

   

      Revelation 1:5 “and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness,

the Firstborn from the dead…” uses #4416 (first-born,

first-begotten) describing Jesus as the first to be resurrected

from the dead.

Old Testament Verses

   Genesis 5:3 the same word #3205 was used to describe Adam fathering (“begat” in the KJV) Seth and in Genesis 6:10 Noah fathered (#3205) three sons and the list would multiply if I would go further.

   Psalms 2:7,8 “I will declare concerning the statute of Jehovah,

He said to Me, You are My Son. Today I have begotten You.

Ask of Me and I will give the nations as Your inheritance…”

# 3205 is also used in Gen. 5:3 (above) and In Deut. 23:8 and

Job 38:28.