Articles and Notes
Begotten Son
Question: "What does it mean that Jesus is God's only begotten son?"
Answer: The phrase “only begotten Son” occurs in John 3:16, which reads in the King James Version as, "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." The phrase "only begotten" translates the Greek word monogenes. This word is variously translated into English as "only," "one and only,", “unique or one of a kind", and "only begotten."
It's this last phrase ("only begotten" used in the KJV, NASB and the NKJV) that causes problems. False teachers have latched onto this phrase to try to prove their false teaching that Jesus Christ isn't God; i.e., that Jesus isn't equal in essence to God as the Second Person of the Trinity. They see the word "begotten" and say that Jesus is a created being because only someone who had a beginning in time can be "begotten." What this fails to note is that "begotten" is an English translation of a Greek word. As such, we have to look at the original meaning of the Greek word, not transfer English meanings into the text.
So what does monogenes mean? According to the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (BAGD, 3rd Edition), monogenes has two primary definitions. The first definition is "pertaining to being the only one of its kind within a specific relationship." This is its meaning in Hebrews 11:17 when the writer refers to Isaac as Abraham's "only begotten son" (KJV). Abraham had more than one son, but Isaac was the only son he had by Sarah and the only son of the covenant. Therefore, it is the uniqueness of Isaac among the other sons that allows for the use of monogenes in that context.
The second definition is "pertaining to being the only one of its kind or class, unique in kind." This is the meaning that is implied in John 3:16 (see also John 1:14, 18; 3:18; 1 John 4:9). John was primarily concerned with demonstrating that Jesus is the Son of God (John 20:31), and he uses monogenes to highlight Jesus as uniquely God's Son—sharing the same divine nature as God—as opposed to believers who are God's sons and daughters by adoption (Ephesians 1:5). Jesus is God’s “one and only” Son.
The bottom line is that terms such as "Father" and "Son," descriptive of God and Jesus, are human terms that help us understand the relationship between the different Persons of the Trinity. If you can understand the relationship between a human father and a human son, then you can understand, in part, the relationship between the First and Second Persons of the Trinity. The analogy breaks down if you try to take it too far and teach, as some pseudo-Christian cults (such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses), that Jesus was literally "begotten" as in “produced” or “created” by God the Father.
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In verse 14 of John 1, John says, “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.” John MacArthur in his commentary on John states:
While Christ as God was uncreated and eternal . . . the word “became” emphasizes Christ’s taking on humanity (cf., Heb. 1:1–3, 2:14–18). This reality is surely the most profound ever because it indicated that the infinite became finite; the Eternal was conformed to time; the invisible became visible; the supernatural One reduced himself to the natural. In the incarnation, however, the Word did not cease to be God but became God in human flesh, i.e., undiminished deity in human form as a man (1 Tim. 3:16).20
In referencing the word “begotten,” skeptics suggest Jesus was a created being instead of eternal. Again, MacArthur speaks to this very issue.
The term “only begotten” is a mistranslation of the Greek word. The word does not come from the term meaning “beget” but instead has the idea of “the only beloved one.” It, therefore, has the idea of singular uniqueness, of being beloved like no other. By this word, John emphasizes the exclusive character of the relationship between the Father and the Son in the Godhead (cf., 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9). It does not connote origin but rather unique prominence.21
The Apostle John had no doubt that Jesus was the eternal Son of God with full deity in his nature.
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In centuries past, it was assumed that the term monogenes derived from two Greek words—monos (“one” or “only”) and the verb gennaō (“to beget”). The older translation, “only begotten of the Father” (KJV, NKJV), is based on this assumption. However, more recent manuscript discoveries have revealed that the term actually derives from monos (“one” or “only”) and the noun genē (“kind” or “type”). Thus, monogenes refers to uniqueness or singularity without reference to origin, birth, chronology, or procreation. Newer Bible translations reflect this understanding as “the one and only Son, who came from the Father” (NIV) or “the Father’s one and only Son” (NLT).
The unique designation of monogenes—that Jesus is the only begotten of the Father or, better, the Father’s one and only Son—points directly to His divine nature. Christ holds a special, intimate, and beloved status as Son, sent from God (John 3:16–17) to wholly and entirely represent Him (John 3:16–17; 5:19).
Begotten of the Father does not mean that Jesus was “created,” “produced,” or “made” by the Father, as some false teachings suggest. Failing to understand the true meaning of these words in their original language, critics of trinitarian doctrine use the term begotten and its literal meaning in English to claim a chronological beginning for the Son.
The original language affirms that Jesus Christ shares the divine nature of God. It underscores His eternal pre-existence, meaning the Son has always existed with God from the very beginning (John 1:1–2; cf. John 8:58; 17:5, 24; 1 John 1:1; Revelation 1:8). The Son always shared in the Father’s divine nature and glory. He is of the same essence as the Father. His “one and only” status sets Jesus Christ apart from all other sons and daughters of God, including believers, who are God’s adopted children (John 1:12; Ephesians 1:5; Romans 8:29).
This idea is further affirmed by the Nicene Creed, in which Jesus is described as “eternally begotten of the Father . . . begotten, not made.” This language, developed in fourth-century debates, emphasizes that, while the incarnate Son is dependent on the Father (John 6:57), He is both divine and eternal and not a created being. In this context, the phrase the only begotten of the Father does not imply a temporal event but an intimate, eternal relationship within the Godhead. This concept actually reinforces the doctrine of the Trinity, maintaining that Jesus Christ is both God and human without changing the nature of God.
Jesus is referred to as the only begotten of the Father because in His incarnate existence—His fully divine and miraculously human state—He is absolutely alone and unequaled (see Mark 12:6).