Q3. Only Begotten

[Bianca]

Jesus is fully God at The Father's side. Jesus is not The Father but he is God Almighty The Son. 

 

Jesus is not just another created human being or a child by the new birth. Jesus already existed. He was already perfect and already God Almighty existing as the Son. We are sons and daughters of God but we are created but Jesus is not. Jesus is God and Lord just like The Father and it was very costly for The Father to send his son down here to die for us. Jesus did not do any wrong and had to have a temporary separation from heaven from his Father. It's says a whole lot overall.

[Krissi]

The word monogenes means one(mono) + genes(genesis) which makes Jesus the only one like Himself that originated from God.

The Father-Son relationship confuses, at least in my wee mind, the essential unity between them, the fact that the Father is the Son/Spirit and they are one ... mono. 

Jesus' divinity comes from his essential oneness with the Father, not his Father-Son relationship. I hope this is a true statement.

The rest of humanity have a very different relationship to God. God is my father, but not in the same way He was Jesus' Father.

 

[Niyonka16]

Q3. (John 1:18) How does the title “Only Begotten God” signify Jesus’ divinity?

ANSWER: Jesus was the only person to be born of a mortal mother, Mary, and an immortal father, God the Father. That is why Jesus is called the Only Begotten Son of God. From His Father, He inherited divine powers (see John 10:17–18). From His Father, He inherited divine powers. From His mother, He inherited mortality and became subject to hunger, thirst, fatigue, pain, and death.

The mortal life of Jesus Christ began when He was born in Bethlehem. He was God in the flesh, even the Son of God. These powers enabled Him to accomplish miracles, signs, wonders, the great Atonement, and the Resurrection, all of which are additional marks of His divinity. We should gratefully bear testimony of the marks which bear witness to His divinity: His divine birth, His ministry, His atoning sacrifice, His Resurrection, His promised coming.

How does the Only Begotten Son differ from you and me as sons and daughters of God?

ANSWER: The common definition of “begotten” refers to the natural process of being born through parents. From this definition, we receive the impression that Jesus was born of God through natural means of human reproduction. However, this would align with biblical teaching. Jesus took on human flesh when He entered the world when Mary gave birth to Him, Jesus has always existed since eternity past. He had to take on human flesh by being born of a virgin because He came to die for humankind. Jesus is unique since no one else can compare to Him. As Christians, we should be grateful for the new title we receive at salvation as “children of God,” but even more grateful that Jesus is the “One and only Son.” Without Him, we would still be lost and would never know the wonderful gift of eternal life.

What it means to be sons and daughters of God: … We are spirit children of our Heavenly Father - sons and daughters of God. There is another important meaning for the phrase, sons and daughters of God. This lineage does not come by direct inheritance, but by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and by our choice. When defining the son or daughter of God we must not define them merely as one who is His literal offspring but as one who demonstrates fidelity to the covenant established by God.

There are specific qualities or characteristics of those who can be called the sons and daughters of God described in scripture. In the first place, we are His spirit children. Secondly, we become the sons and daughters of God (Jesus Christ) when we make and keep sacred covenants. In the third place, sons and daughters of God are adopted into the family of the Father. They possess and develop spiritual gifts and qualities that help themselves and others return to God.

What does “only-begotten” say about Jesus’ status with the Father?

ANSWER: Jesus is the only One born of God. He is God’s Son in a unique sense.  As Son of God, He has no equals. Humans are adopted as sons, but Jesus is God’s only true family; infinitely above created beings. He alone is God the Son, who has existed forever in a loving relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Since He is the “only begotten,” He is the only One ‘born’ of God. We can say that He is the Father’s only true family. The Son is subordinate to the Father.

Even though we don’t fully understand what the “only-begotten” says about Jesus’ status with the Father, it would serve us well to just take the word as it reads and believe just as how the Inspiration reveals to us, nothing more or nothing less. Christ is eternal and yet He is also an ontological Son of God and thus has the same substance as His father. Christ is also eternal for His existence extends from eternity to eternity, which no other creatures can claim. This however should not negate the ontological Sonship. “Christ is declared in the Scriptures TO BE THE SON OF GOD FROM ALL ETERNITY HE HAS SUSTAINED THIS RELATION TO JEHOVAH. Before the foundations of the world were laid, He, THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD, pledged Himself to become the Redeemer of the human race should men sin…”

About the costliness of the cross?

ANSWER: The Bible expressed this profound truth in this manner “for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life”. The journey to the cross was a walk of God’s love for man! That love is extreme. Jesus has already paid the debt that you and I owe for our sins when He died on the cross of Calvary. When we look at the cross, we see the folly of pride for it was our sins that Jesus took upon Himself to provide our salvation.

1. Sin cost God His only begotten Son. (John 3:16).

Now we know that God did not sin but because of Adam’s sin it cost God something to get man back into fellowship with Him. God is Holy, Just, and Righteous therefore He cannot just overlook man’s sin. So He provided His son the Lord Jesus Christ to come and die on the cross for our sins so that through the Lord Jesus Christ we could be saved and made righteous in the sight of God.

2. Sin cost Jesus Christ the Agony of the Cross. (Isaiah 53:1-12; Luke 22:63-71, 23:1-50).

The death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary was both humiliating and excruciatingly painful, not to mention He was beaten severely before He ever even got to the cross. And to top it all off He did not deserve any of it. He had never sinned in His life. What was doing was paying for your sins and mine and the sins of the whole world. This is why Hebrews says He endured the contradiction of sinners. (Hebrews 12:3).