What Does Begotten Mean When Used In The Bible?

What does the Bible mean by the used “begotten” when it is used in the Bible?

The Early References

Some of the earliest references to Jesus as the only begotten Son of God are found in the Psalms and one in particular in Psalm 2:7 says “I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you’” and “this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you” (Acts 13:33). Clearly the “begotten one” that the Bible speaks about with reference to the “Son,” which is a capitalized version of the word meaning it is a proper noun, is Jesus Christ. Even though God created the angels the author of Hebrews asks “For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son” (Heb 1:5) and even as the high priests of the Old Testament never exalted themselves, “So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you” (Heb 5:5). He is the High Priest and not just “a” high priest. So what does it mean that Jesus was the only begotten Son of God since He is also God and as such, eternal and has always existed? God cannot be born can He?

The Meaning of Begotten

We can read a passage in the Book of Job to know what begotten means and this is from Job 38:28 which says “Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?” So a begotten one has parents but with Jesus it was much different. Jesus always referred to God as Father because Jesus submitted to Him, not because the Father was His biological father as we know Mary was the biological mother of the Man, Jesus Christ, or of His humanity because when He was born of a virgin, He was both God and Man…the God-Man.

Jesus and the Father

Jesus said that He and His Father were one (John 10:30). Not the same Person but one in essence; that is they are both divine and fully God. Jesus prayed before the disciples in what is the longest prayer in the Bible; the High Priestly prayer where Jesus prayed, “Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” (John 17:21). No one has ascended up to heaven and ever came back down but Jesus came down from heaven down to earth and ascended again up to heaven. Just before He ascended up to heaven He told the disciples “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:8-11). Jesus will come again, but this time, not as Savior but as Judge. He will rule with those who are now in the kingdom by the new birth (John 3:3, 7) but judge those who refused to believe in Him (Rev 20:12-15).

Jesus Before His Human Birth

Jesus clearly spoke about being in the presence of the Father before coming down to earth by being born of a virgin so obviously He existed prior to His earthly birth through Mary. In one place He said “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38) and the One Who sent Him was the Father. Only Jesus has been with the Father because as He said to Nicodemus “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven–the Son of Man” (John 3:13). God the Father is the One Who sent the Son into the world down from heaven as we read in John 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” and the reason is so that He can “do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34). Further, He said “I seek not to please myself but him who sent me” (John 5:34) and for us He says “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:29).

Conclusion

People still question and always will question Jesus as God, not believing in His divinity, just as the religious leaders once said “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’”( John 6:42) but for those who believe in Him, they know that He is the begotten Son of God and the word means that He is the only one and unique Son of God. Not in the biological sense but in doing the will of His Father as any child would hopefully do for his or her own father. If you have repented and believe in Christ, then He is also your father and you are His child.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon.