Off and on for months I have posted poems from the book that help us gain insight into The Gospel of John. Last week I posted a word study from John Chapter 1. Again this week I am sharing a word study. Next, I will post a short short story with the same purpose. I pray that God will bless you as I give tastes of John’s Gospel in my blog posts.
Only Begotten
The Only Begotten, ὁ μονογενὴς, monogenes
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father,
full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14
“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side,
he has made him known.”
John 1:18
The word translated “the only son” in verse 14 and “the only God” in verse 18 is the word “only begotten.”
There is a sense in which this translation as well as the N.I.V., and others is more nearly accurate. The word means unique or incomparable. The K.J.V used “only begotten.” and the N.A.S.B.1995 brought it back with the rather stirring translation,
“No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God
who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”
John 1:18
Neither Matthew nor Mark use this word. Luke uses it for an only child, like the only son of the woman whom Jesus raised in Luke 7:12. The English word begotten refers to birth, but monogenes refers to derivation and relationship. The last part of the word comes from “genos” which means race or family.
John reserves this word “monogenes” for Jesus alone. With it he is saying that Jesus alone derives from the Father. Jesus did not become the only begotten son by His birth. John does not refer to the birth of Jesus at all. Jesus is eternally in the bosom or intimate relationship with the Father. He is the eternal Son of the Living God. Possibly the best expression of this word is in John 3:16. I put this word study with John chapter 1, because this word is crucial to John's entire presentation of Jesus as the exact representation (Hebrews 1:3) of God on earth. As Isaiah prophesied, He is “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
Here is where you can access the book,
CONTEMPLATING THE GOSPEL OF JOHN.
The easiest way to access other books I have written is through my Amazon Authors page Amazon Author Central.
David Young
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