Scott Downey
Well-Known Member
The timing of when Jesus would have been begotten is likely best thought of as the incarnation, as in with Mary as the Christ of God, and His birth, when He brings His firstborn into the world.I see "begotten" as functionally equivalent to "spawned," "brought into existence" or "generated." Quaere how that applies to Christ. He is described as the "only begotten" (μονογενής) in order to emphasize His uniqueness -- but I'm looking to separate the μονο and the γενής and only focus on the latter. It has the connotation of "born."
The concept of "eternally begotten" is among the most difficult to understand. If the Father spawned or generated or brought into existence the Son, that suggests activity. And activity suggests an action of the actor. We don't easily grasp an "action" that has always been and that didn't take place in time.
So here we have the Son existing in glory with the Father before the world began (John 17:5). Was "time" even a "thing" before the world existed?
The messiah, is recorded as everlasting in Micah 5, old as in ancient of days, from everlasting.
The Coming Messiah
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From [a]everlasting.”
Hebrews 1
The Son Exalted Above Angels
5 For to which of the angels did He ever say:“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You”?
And again:
“I will be to Him a Father,
And He shall be to Me a Son”?
6 But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says:
“Let all the angels of God worship Him.”