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"Begotten" in John 3:16
“Begotten” in John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16, NASB).
This majestic verse contains a term which has the potential to cause confusion: “begotten.” John also uses the term in John 1:14, “we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father,” and in John 1:18, “the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”
“Begotten” generally carries the idea of “giving birth to.” The KJV of Genesis 5:4 for example says, “the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.”
But … don’t we emphasize that the Son did not have a birthdate, but rather is eternal God? Indeed, this same gospel starts with the statement, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Isn’t then, the idea of Jesus as “begotten” contradictory?
It turns out that “only begotten” (NASB/NKJV/KJV) may not be the best way to express the Greek word monogenes. A more recent approach is reflected by the major translations. The ESV as well as the NASB 2020 update drop the word “begotten” and simply say “He gave his only son.” The NIV and NLT say, “He gave his one and only son.”
Thayer’s Dictionary of New Testament Words defines monogenes as, “only of its kind.” When used of Christ, “it denotes the only son of God ... because through the incarnation he is by his nature the Son of God.” In other words, John is saying there’s no one who belongs in the category of God except the Son. You and I may be called “sons of God,” but Jesus is the one and only Son of God in a special way. There’s no one like the Son who is of the same essence as God. No one else can do what Jesus can do, no one else can offer what Jesus can offer, because there’s no one else who is the divine Son of God.
Bill Mounce says, “It is hard to see a traditional translation changed, but better to get it right than stick with an inaccurate tradition.” Scholars of Biblical Greek are in near-unanimous agreement that in John 1:14-18 and 3:16, monogenes points to the unique relationship of the Son to the Father, and does not in any way suggest the Son had a start date. Thus, “begotten,” might give some readers the wrong impression. “One and only” or “unique” is probably more accurate. There has never ever been a time, and there never will be a time, when the Father exists and the Son does not. This Father and Son are exactly the same age!
We might, however, salvage one aspect of the word “begotten.” It does remind us that, especially in view of the incarnation, there is a Father-Son relationship going on here. Now, describing the Father-Son relationship within the Godhead is, like many of the illustrations in the Bible, analogical language. For example, Jesus is called the “Lion” of the tribe of Judah. But that’s an analogy. Only certain aspects of lion-ness are in view (strength and ferocity) and those that are in view are true of Jesus in a much greater way than our idea of a lion can possibly describe (Jesus is divinely strong and ferocious). But an analogy will have to suffice, because we are human beings limited to this material plane.
So, by analogy, Jesus is the Son, because that’s our concept that brings us closest to the truth. Though there are other aspects of a human Father-Son relationship which are not in view, Jesus has a very special relationship to the Father. And when we see Him as He is, we will likely discover that His relationship to the Father is even more intimate and perfect than we can currently grasp.
–John Guzzetta
