| Subject: "Begotten" When? |
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Theo Book
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Date Posted: 09:46:01 03/30/08 Sun
Author Host/IP: cpe-72-184-206-15.tampabay.res.rr.com/72.184.206.15
MEANING OF "ONLY BEGOTTEN" -
New Testament Connection:
God makes a decree, that is, speaks it into prophecy:
"I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto me, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee." [Psalm 2:7]
The prophecy is not fulfilled at the birth of Jesus, but rather at his resurrection: "God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." [Acts 13:33]
"For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?..." [Heb 1:5]
And the Hebrew author ties the resurrection to the priesthood of Melchizedek: which REQUIRED the death and resurrection of Jesus, not just his birth: "So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee." [Heb 5:5]
And it is by the resurrection of Jesus that Christians are "begotten" of God, unto a hope of life eternal; "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," [I Pet 1:3]
Jesus is God's firstbegotten in one sense only: "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the firstborn of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,"[Rev 1:5]
John, writing over sixty years after the event, recalls the simplicity of the fulfillment of the concept in God's mind, coming to fruition among men: "And the logos was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. -John 1:14
This "beholding of glory as of the only begotten of the father," COULD NOT HAVE BEEN prior to the resurrection, for it was "this day" says the Psalmist, "I have begotten thee." If God "begot" Jesus on the day of the resurrection, he was not "begotten of God" by virtue of his birth, but rather, by virtue of his being resurrected from the dead.
Jesus was not "in the bosom of the father" until after the ascension. Again, John points us to the resurrection as the time of which he writes. Though he tells us of events in the life of Christ, it is from a perspective of looking back on the life of Jesus, after he is alrready ascended to be with the father. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, (requiring the resurrection) which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." -John 1:18
And when John speaks of God sending his "only begotten son" it is with full knowledge that Jesus is the "only begotten from the dead." "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, (having been resurrected - "This day I have begotten thee") that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." -John 3:16
John could not have written this of the pre-mission Jesus, because there was not sufficient evidence to cause one to believe in the name of the only begotten son of God at this point in the gospel account, UNLESS the account is looking back on the events. "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." -John 3:18
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. -1 John 4:9
What scripture tells us is that Jesus is God's first "begotten" "Begotten" on the day and event of his resurrection- not his firstborn. And Jesus is the "firstborn" from the dead.
© 2001 Theo Book
Theophilus Book
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