A Son Above All Sons Fulfills God's Christmas Plan

St. John's Fragment/Wikipedia

The biblical prophecy about the anticipated Messiah being called the “Son of God” is one of the most exciting and mind-blowing biblical truths ever.  

Generations before Jesus ministered in Galilee, and long before He declared that “I and the Father are One,” the psalmist wrote prophetically about Jesus’ relationship with His Father:

“I will declare the decree:  The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You” (Psalm 2:7).

The psalmist's prophecy was long before John crafted passages like this to assert Jesus’ divinity:

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).

He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18).

In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him (1 John 4:9, NKJV).

“Only begotten” is the English translation of the Greek word, “monogenes.”  Tons of controversy surrounds this term, and some newer translations have revised earlier definitions. “Only begotten” may sound old-fashioned, but in Bible translating, it’s an essential term to keep because of its profundity. “Only begotten” indicates Jesus’ intimacy with the Father and His eternal nature as the divine Christ.

This excerpted passage from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words defines monogenes eloquently:

Mark's Gospel referencing "Son of God"/Wikipedia

With reference to Christ, the phrase “the only begotten from the Father,” John 1:14, RV (See also the marg.), indicates that as the Son of God He was the sole representative of the Being and character of the One who sent Him. In the original the definite article is omitted both before “only begotten” and before “Father,” and its absence in each case serves to lay stress upon the characteristics referred to in the terms used. The Apostle’s object is to demonstrate what sort of glory it was that he and his fellow Apostles had seen. That he is not merely making a comparison with earthly relationships is indicated by para, “from.” The glory was that of a unique relationship and the word “begotten” does not imply a beginning of His Sonship. It suggests relationship indeed, but must be distinguished from generation as applied to man.

We can only rightly understand the term “the only begotten” when used of the Son, in the sense of unoriginated relationship. “The begetting is not an event of time, however remote, but a fact irrespective of time. The Christ did not become, but necessarily and eternally is the Son. He, a Person, possesses every attribute of pure Godhood. This necessitates eternity, absolute being; in this respect He is not ‘after’ the Father” (Moule). The expression also suggests the thought of the deepest affection, as in the case of the OT word yachid, variously rendered, “only one,” Genesis 22:2, Genesis 22:12; “only son,” Jeremiah 6:26; Amos 8:10; Zechariah 12:10; “only beloved,” Proverbs 4:3, and “darling,” Psalms 22:20; Psalms 35:17.

In other words, monogenes elevates Jesus above other “sons of God” mentioned in the Scriptures: Like good and fallen angels. Like Adam. Like Christians who believe in Jesus for eternal salvation.  

None of the aforementioned fits the description of the only begotten Son of God who is in “the bosom of the Father.”  Only Jesus carries the title. He’s the One born to Mary and Joseph as a Child, and He is also the Son and the Seed promised in the Garden of Eden.

Next: God’s Promise that Jesus would be worshiped by shepherds