In the last Watchtower Wednesday we looked at the Watchtower explanation of John 3:16 and what it means for Jesus to be God’s ‘Only begotten Son.’ On jw.org they go into some detail to explain the Greek monogenēs:
‘The Greek word mo·no·ge·nesʹ 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. 1144) The term is used in describing the relation of both sons and daughters to their parents.’
They then go on to talk about the ‘only begotten’ son of the widow of Nain (Lk.7:11,12), of Jairus having an ‘only begotten’ daughter (Lk.8:41,42), and the man with an ‘only begotten’ son with an unclean spirit (Lk.9:38). This is designed to make ‘only begotten’ so pedestrian as to be hardly worth mentioning. Thus Jesus, likewise, is the ‘only begotten son from the father’ (Jn.1:14).
When you see cults leaning heavily on dictionary definitions you can be sure something is going on here. The definition they offer is legitimate enough. Who is going to argue with a Bible lexicon? The problem with a simple lexical definition is it often proves inadequate to the task. Consider the way Mormons fall back on a dictionary definition of Christian – ‘an adherent of Christianity’ – to include themselves in that happy band.
This is what is happening here. But don’t be fooled, they are not starting with a dictionary definition. They begin with the Arian heresy that makes Jesus a created being, and they make the dictionary and the Bible fit that doctrine. The key to understanding and challenging their assertion is what they do with the definition they have worked into their Arianism. They write:
‘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 the Loʹgos, later called Jesus, is “the only-begotten Son of God.” (Joh 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 firstborn and chief one among all other angels (Col 1:15, 16; Heb 1:5, 6), which angels the Scriptures call “godlike ones” or “gods.” (Ps 8:4, 5)’
Before all Things
The creation is a stumbling block for Jehovah’s Witnesses. They use Col.1:15, 16 (above) to make Jesus the first created being, inserting ‘other’ into verse 16 where the Greek doesn’t have it. But they ‘reason’ it into the text because it fits their Arianism. They can then go back to verse 15 and reason ‘firstborn of all creation’ must mean ‘first created.’
The problem is John 1:3 clearly states, ‘All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence.’ (NWT 2013) They have, in effect, created a Bible that contradicts itself in saying, ‘...apart from him not even one thing came into existence.’ (Jn.1:3) then insisting, ‘...by means of him all other things were created.’ Col.1:16) Both texts cannot be right.
Furthermore, John gives us Jesus’ own words in John 17:5, 24 saying he existed ‘before the world existed...before the foundation of the world.’ Paul assures us, ‘he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.’ (Col.1:17 ESV) The NWT again adds ‘other’ twice in this verse with no justification whatsoever.
‘World’ here translates the Greek kosmos, and kosmos in John 1:3 means the whole created order. Jesus existed before the kosmos, the creation and ordering of the universe. Before the foundation of the kosmos was laid he enjoyed glory in the presence of the Father (Jn.17:5) and he was loved by the Father (Jn.17:24). If he was the first created being through whom ‘all other thing’ were created he cannot have existed before the kosmos, but would be part of it.
Only Begotten
monogenēs in the context of talking about Jesus is a Christological title. It is important to understand its definition in the context of its use. In its use the stress is not on origin but on salvation (Jn.1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 Jn.4:9) The Dictionary of New Testament Theology states, ‘It is only distantly related to gennaō, beget.’i It goes on to explain:
‘The idea of ‘only begotten’ goes back to Jerome who used unigenitus in the Vulg. to counter the Arian claim that Jesus was not begotten but made. Monogenēs reflects the Heb. Yāhȋd of Isaac (Gen.22:2, 12, 16)...The meaning of monogenēs ‘is centred in the Personal existence of the Son, and not in the Generation of the Son.’ (B. F. Westcott, The Epistle of St. John [1883] 1966, 170)’
It is ironic that monogenēs as 'only begotten' originates with Jerome using its Latin equivalent to counter Arian claims, and now an Arian group is using it to argue for Arianism.
For more see 5 Essential Bible Truths About Jesus
i I began warning about the dangers of taking definitions from a simple lexicon and now I am using a dictionary. This is not a simple lexicon, a dictionary of words and their meanings, but an exhaustive dictionary of theology, words and their specific application.
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