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NASB | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
Bible Question: What does the word Begotten mean? |
Bible Answer: This is a great word study. The Greek Word is "monogenes" from "mono" and "genes". Mono obviously means "One". You would recognize the word Genus from Biology-Genus, Phylum, Species... So, basically this word means "one of a kind", "unique", or, as I like to put it, "wholly unlike any other". In the Septuagint, it was used of Isaac. Now Isaac was NOT the only son of Abraham or even the first born (Ishmael), but he was unique. How was he unique? His conception was miraculous and he was the child of promise. Likewise, Jesus is not God's "only" son, since we too are also called "sons of God". However, He is unique in His Sonship--wholly unlike any other child of God--in that He is divine, eternal, Creator, etc. We are born into God's family and adopted as well, but He is eternally the Son of God and is divine in His essence. |