It appears Christ was only begotten by God at his baptism. Please respond.<\/p>\n\t
The Greek word translated as “only begotten” is monogenes<\/i>. It is a compound word meaning \u201cthe only one of a race\u201d or \u201cthe only born.\u201d In literature, it is used to refer an only child and it can be seen translated as such in Luke 7:12; 8:42; 9:38; and Hebrews 11:17. In the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, it is used in describing Isaac (Genesis 22:2, 12, 16) and Jephthah\u2019s daughter (Judges 11:34). Isaac was technically not an only child, but he was the unique child of promise to Abraham. Just as an only child is treasured by his parents, the Greek word monogenes<\/i>\u00a0also carries the connotation of someone beloved.<\/p>\n
When applied to Jesus, the word means that Jesus is the only one of his kind, which he was since he alone has God as his father — not in an indirect sense, but literally. It also indicates his heritage; he is the Son of God and thus is himself deity. In this way, he is completely unique. “And the Word became 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<\/em>” (John 1:14). Notice that John calls Jesus the only begotten of the Father because the Word (God – John 1:1) became flesh. Thus, it is by his birth, not his baptism that made him the only begotten of the Father. Jesus’ baptism did not make him unique as others were baptized before and after him.\u00a0 “Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God<\/em>” (John 5:18).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: It appears Christ was only begotten by God at his baptism. Please respond. Answer: The Greek word translated as “only begotten” is monogenes. It is a compound word meaning \u201cthe only one of a race\u201d or \u201cthe only born.\u201d In literature, it is used to refer an only child and it can be seen…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[73,76],"class_list":["post-7711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-jesus","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":37857,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-john-118-have-son-or-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":7711,"position":0},"title":"Should John 1:18 have “Son” or “God”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello! I've been studying with Jehovah's Witnesses hoping to be a light and share the truth.\u00a0 As I am sure you know, the biggest obstacle is the deity of Christ.\u00a0 One thing in my research is John 1:18 - the Greek that I have references to the word translated\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25328,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-jesus-was-dying-on-the-cross-and-called-out-father-why-have-you-forsaken-me-how-could-jesus-be-god-at-this-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":7711,"position":1},"title":"When Jesus was dying on the cross and called out Father why have you forsaken me, how could Jesus be God at this time?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was given a question that I really don't know how to answer or at least the young man doesn't want to accept my answer. 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