Begotten
“Create” and “beget” are not exact synonyms. They have
different meanings. God creates but is not created. However, when
it comes to “beget,” we maintain that God is neither begotten nor
does He beget.
Many versions of the Bible have dropped the word “begotten”
from John 3:16, having concluded that it was a fabrication. Is that
conclusion in the preface of the translations that don’t translate
monogenes as only “begotten”? Do you agree with what those
translations say rather than “only begotten”?
The following is from the book Insight on the Scriptures:
[ONLY-BEGOTTEN]
The Greek word “mo•no•ge•nes” is defined by lexicographers
as “single of its kind, only” or “the only member of a kin or kind”
(Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 1889, p.
417; Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford, 1968, p.
1,144). The term is used in describing the relationship of both sons
and daughters to their parents.
The angels of heaven are sons of God, even as Adam was a
“son of God” (Ge 6:2; Job 1:6, 38:7; Lu 3:38). But “Lo′gos,” later
called “Jesus,” is “the only-begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). He
is the only one of his kind, the only one whom God himself created
directly without the agency or cooperation of any creature. He is
the only one whom God his Father used in bringing into existence
all other creatures. He is the first born and chief one among all
other angels (Col 1:15, 16; Heb 1:5, 6).
A few translations, in support of the Trinitarian “God the Son”
concept, would invert the phrase mo•no•ge•nes′ the•os′ and render
it as “God only begotten”. But W. J. Hickie, in his Greek-English
Lexicon to the New Testament (1956, p. 123) says it is hard to see
why these translators render mo•no•ge•nes′ hui•os′ as “the only
begotten Son” while at the same time translate mo•no•ge•nes′
the•os′ as “God only begotten” instead of “the only begotten
God”.
Paul referred to Isaac as Abraham’s “only-begotten son” (Heb
11:17), even though Abraham also fathered Ishmael by Hagar, as
well as several sons by Keturah (Ge 16:15, 25:1, 2; 1Ch 1:28, 32).
