The Only Begotten

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

Some time ago we were at a family gathering where the host said, we are here as family and friends to enjoy each other’s company and have a good time, but he said, we will not discuss either politics or religion. We know that politics and religion can be two of the most contentious subjects at any time, often leading to heated debate and arguments, even among family and friends.

Now politics are basically abstract, having no set guidelines other than the individuals own convictions, which are oftentimes moulded by conditions of economics and times. Politics tend to change with each generation, becoming more liberal as time goes by, with less restraint and or moral convictions.

The Christian religion is the exact opposite in that it has rock solid guidelines, which the believer can and must adhere to, and those guidelines are all to be found in God’s infallible Word, the Holy Bible. We may not change it to suit our own ideas, we may not add to it in order that we may advance an idea of our own. It is God’s Holy Inspired Word, written from beginning to end, for our benefit and ultimate salvation when we as believers follow and are obedient to all that is spoken of in that Holy Word of God. But here is the rub, people still tend to take the Bible and mould it according to their own fancy, and neglecting that which does not fit in their perceived religious convictions. There are hundreds and hundreds of churches and denominations throughout our land, all believing and adhering unto the same Bible and worshipping the same Lord and Saviour, and yet they all are at odds with each other and cannot see eye to eye on most things, dogma being the greatest stumbling block. Then there are those individuals who will reject an indisputable Bible truth, despite irrefutable evidence to its Biblical truth.

Over the years I have come across a number of individuals, who, despite being devout Bible believing Christians, dispute and deny the Deity of Jesus Christ, stating that if He is the begotten Son of God, He, Christ, needs to have been created and thus as a created being cannot be truly God. They stumble on the phrase “begotten”, and are unwilling to accept the numerous passages in the Bible that do in fact point to the Saviour’s Godship or Deity. It is mainly to these individuals that I direct this article. In order to establish the Deity of Jesus we should first establish the identity of the God of the Old Testament, the God of Creation, the One who talked to Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob, the One who talked to Moses in the burning bush, the One who inspired the Prophets.

When we read the Creation story in Genesis we read where God says “let us”, indicating right in the beginning that there is more than one person or personalities involved. The first being the Great God of the universe, in whom is contained all power in Heaven and Earth, and secondly there is the God of Creation, who made all things pertaining to this Earth and all things in it and on it, in and through the powers contained in the first. This fact is born out in the New Testament Book of Hebrews where we read, “God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;…And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands:” (Heb. 1:1,2,10). Furthermore in Psa. 45 we read, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; the scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness; therefor God, thy God, hath anointed thee with oil of gladness above thy fellows.” (Psa. 45: 6-7). So we can, by these verses readily establish that God the Father, the God of the universe, recognized the second person of the Trinity, His Son as God, without reservation.

In Psa. 110:1 David said, “The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” So who was or is the Lord of David? It is the same Lord that was known throughout the Old Testament as “Jehovah, Elohim”, the same Lord that told Moses, “I AM THAT I AM” (Ex. 3:14), and also the same Lord that told the Jews in John 8:58, “Before Abraham was I AM”. With that statement Jesus is laying claim to the title.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness overcame it not…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-5,14). John is in these verses emphasizing that the Word made flesh is the same Word, “God”, that was before time, way, way back in the beginning, from before the time of the Creation. In Hebrews 2:16 we read that Jesus took (take note here) that He took it Himself, He took on Him the seed of Abraham in order that He could be called a true Israelite. He, Jesus was born of Mary, that through her lineage He would be from the tribe of Judah, the tribe that brought forth the true anointed Kings of Israel.

In this sense we can consider Jesus Christ, begotten, but only in the physical sense, when He took upon Himself the seed of Abraham to become, albeit temporarily, a man, in order to be the ultimate propitiation for the sins of His people.

It is evident in both the Old and New Testament that Scripture supports the Deity of Christ. Let the gainsayers beware lest they incur the wrath of God, for Jesus said “I and my Father are one”, (John 10:30) and in 1John 2:23 it tells us “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father”. “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiment of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Col. 2:8-9)

After His death and Resurrection, Christ, in His visible body ascended into Heaven, for all those present to see, He returned from whence He came, but He will again return to Earth, not as the meek and gentle Jesus, but as the roaring Lion of Judah, the Conquering,

KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS.