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NASB | John 1:14 ¶ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 1:14 ¶ And the Word (Christ) became flesh, and lived among us; and we [actually] saw His glory, glory as belongs to the [One and] only begotten Son of the Father, [the Son who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, who is] full of grace and truth (absolutely free of deception). [Is 40:5] |
Bible Question:
am not sure what is ment by "only begotten son" Did Jesus exist before The Father set Him in Marys womb? I am confussed on this as I understand Jesus was with God at the beginning, I have heard many things He was the master worker, he was the archangel Micheal , He was in God as we all were in HIM before we were. .. I have excepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour I just have some things that are not clear in my mind. Thank you ,, confussed |
Bible Answer: Dear IIW, "Monogeneis" is what we commonly see translated as "only begotten." John is the only writer in the New Testament to use this title associated with Christ. (It only appears one other time in Hebrews.) It literally means "sole born." However, as Brad aptly points out, we cannot take it in this strictly literal sense. In fact, if I were going to translate the word -- and remember that I'm not an expert, so this is just opinion -- I would have used the phrase "utterly unique one." Of course, that doesn't quite capture it either. :-( Athanasius (297-373) has some great things to say about this. As you probably know he's been called the Father of the Nicene Creed (325). He wrote, "The Holy Scripture very plainly makes [a distinction] between begotten and made or created. It declares the Son of God to be the former, and that He has no beginning of existence, but is eternal. And, on the other hand, it asserts the creature to have had such a beginning, and that the being and substance of creatures are wholly external and foreign to the divine nature." You see, Jesus Christ is eternally begotten of the Father. As "very God of very God" He has no origin, and yet is eternally begotten. The word monogeneis is not an easy word to define. But then, how can we possibly capture all that is Christ Jesus in just a word? In Him, Doc |