Jesus begotten Son of God #9 Two millennia ago conceived or begotten

The Anointed begotten Son of God

20. Conceive

According to Chambers dictionary ‘to conceive’ is to receive into or form in the womb: to form in the mind: to imagine or think: to understand: to grasp as a concept to express: to become pregnant. The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English gives as a 2^nd meaning of ‘conceive’ (a woman) becomes pregnant and as example ‘to conceive a child’. Clearly to conceive means ‘bringing a child into in existence’ and ‘bringing a child onto this world’.

So when Mary came with child by the action of the Holy Spirit there was a ‘conception’ and ‘begetting’ which mark the point at which an individual begins to exist, an individual who did not exist before! It is this non-pre-existing individual whom Gabriel presents in the sacred documents for our reception. This Son of God of Scripture got a beginning a according to the prophecies was also going to die, i.e. coming to an end, finding his life being ended at the stake after he had given his life in the hands of his Father. Jesus died on a piece of wood and afterwards he was raised out of that death.

““See, we are going up to Yerushalayim, and the Son of Aḏam shall be delivered up to the chief priests and to the scribes. And they shall condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the gentiles to mock and to flog and to impale. And the third day He shall be raised.” “(Matthew 20:18-19 The Scriptures 1998+)

“So when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they shouted, saying, “Impale! Impale!” Pilate said to them, “You take Him and impale Him, for I find no guilt in Him.” The Yehuḏim answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, for He has made Himself the Son of Elohim.” “ (John 19:6-7 The Scriptures 1998+)

“And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. And they were giving Him wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it. And when they impaled Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them, what each one should take. And it was the third hour, and they impaled Him. And the inscription of His accusation was written above: THE SOVEREIGN OF THE YEHUḎIM. “(Mark 15:22-26 The Scriptures 1998+)

“And crying out with a loud voice, יהושע said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” And having said this, He breathed His last.” (Luke 23:46 The Scriptures 1998+)

““The Elohim of our fathers raised up יהושע whom you laid hands on, hanging Him on a timber. “Him, a Prince and a Saviour, Elohim has exalted to His right hand, to give repentance to Yisra’ĕl and forgiveness of sins.” (Acts 5:30-31 The Scriptures 1998+)

21. The one who spoke 2 millennia ago

It was after Jesus was conceived he could become into existence and become the Word of God having come into fulfilment.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim.

(John 1:1 The Scriptures 1998+)

God’s Word, Logos, His ideas, thought, spoken or written down, was with the Creator and naturally was Himself the Spirit and given to the community[1]. The Almighty had promised in the Garden of Eden that He would bring forth a Saviour, a Messiah, pre-appointed for all people, and now the moment had come. It ‘was going to be’ a Set-apart and Righteous One, but even as Servant of God he would be delivered up and denied.[2]

““And I put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed¹. He shall crush your head, and you shall crush His heel.” {Footnote: ¹First promise of the Messiah.} “(Genesis 3:15 The Scriptures 1998+)

Jesus was not with the Father before the beginning of creation but for the Apostle John it was clear that Jesus was the promised Messiah and as such was God’s Word having become reality. By being with child Mary had taken on the role of fulfiller of one of the aspects of the Plan of God.

This child of Mary was allowed to become the mouthpiece of Jehovah. He was conceived and he was commissioned not only to redeem the world, but to uplift it out of sin and to restore the willing and obedient to all that was lost in Adam, and by that act he could become the first one of the new creation, the beginning of the World like Jehovah had foreseen it, and shall come into existence in the Kingdom of God.

Jesus was the coming to the world of God’s Word, the Message He had already given for many years. So Jesus could be the Divine Message or Messenger, the One through whom Jehovah’s utterances and decrees went forth. John was also redressing the balance somewhat between Paul’s new Genesis idea (actually first found in James 1:18 and Matthew 1:1 and the Pauline “Logos” (Luke 1:2) in the new “beginning” (Luke 1:1) referring to the ministry AD28-31. Jesus inaugurated the “new covenant” with Israel and it is seen as a “new creation”.

Some may object that John 1:1ff (“in the beginning was the Word…”) present us with a second Personage who is alive before his conception. If that it is to be argued, let it be clear that John would then be in contradiction of Luke and Matthew. Matthew’s and Luke’s Jesus comes into existence as the Son of God, not in eternity, but some six months later than his cousin John the Baptist.

John cannot have contradicted Luke and Matthew. The solution is to harmonize John with Luke, taking our stand with Luke. John did not write, “In the beginning was the Son of God.” What he wrote was “In the beginning was the word” (not Word, but word). Logos in Greek does not describe a person before the birth of the Son. The logos is the self-expressive intelligence and mind of the One God. Logos often carries the sense of plan or promise. That promise of a Son was indeed in the beginning. The Son, however, was still the object of promise in 2 Samuel 7:14. David did not imagine that the promised Son of God (“My Son”), David’s descendant, was already in existence! That Son was in fact begotten in due time. He was “raised up” — that is, made to appear on the scene of human history — when Mary conceived him. Acts 13:33 applies “this day I have begotten you” (Psalm 2:7) to the origin of the Son in his mother.

F.F. Bruce agrees with us: God “raised up” Jesus “in the sense in which he raised up David (Acts 13:22, cp. 3:22, 7:37). The promise of Acts 13:23, the fulfilment of which is here described [v. 33], has to do with the sending of Messiah, not his resurrection which is described in verse 34” (Acts of the Apostles, Greek Text with Introduction and Commentary, p. 269).

The word, plan and promise which existed from the beginning was also “with God.” In the wisdom literature of the Bible things are said to be “with God” when they exist as decrees and promises in His divine Plan (Job 27:13; 10:13; 23:14). Wisdom was also “with God” (Prov. 8:22, 30) in the beginning but she was not a person. Neither was the logos a person, but rather a promise and plan. So closely identified with God was His word that John can say “the word was God.” The word was the creative purpose of God, in promise and later in actuality. That creative presence of God eventually emerged in history as the Son of God begotten in Mary, the unique Son (monogenes).

A number of unfortunate attempts have been made to force John not only into contradiction with the clear Christology of Matthew and Luke but into agreement with the much later decisions of Church Councils. There is no capital on “word” in John 1:1, a, b, and c. And there is no justification for reading “All things were made through Him.” That rendering improperly leads us to think of the word as a second divine Person, rather than the mind and promise of God. Eight English translations from the Greek before the KJV did not read “All things were made by Him.” They read “All things were made by it,” a much more natural way of referring to the word of God. Thus, for example, the Geneva Bible of 1602: “All things were made by it and without it was made nothing that was made.” No one reading those words would imagine that there was a Son in heaven before his birth. And no one would find in John a view of the Son different from the portrait presented by Gabriel in Luke.

“In the beginning the Word having been and the Word having been unto God and God having been the Word he having been, in the beginning, unto God all through his hand became: and without him not even one being whatever became.” (ANC)

The Word of God[3] was divine and that or it brought forth.

Also Matthew is obviously inviting us, as does John in John 1:1, to build on Genesis 1. In the beginning was the Gospel word. That “word of God” is not WORD=SON at that stage. The logos is never a spokesperson in the Old Testament. The logos in John 1:1 is the promise of the Son, who as Peter said, agreeing perfectly with John, was “foreknown” (1 Peter 1:20) from the beginning. Christians are also foreknown and so was Jeremiah in 1:5.

“And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear, knowing that you were redeemed from your futile way of life inherited from your fathers, not with what is corruptible, silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Messiah, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, foreknown, indeed, before the foundation of the world, but manifested in these last times for your sakes, who through Him believe in Elohim who raised Him from the dead and gave Him esteem, so that your belief and expectation are in Elohim.” (1 Peter 1:17-21 The Scriptures 1998+)

““Before I formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you came out of the womb I did set you apart – I appointed you a prophet to nations.” “ (Jeremiah 1:5 The Scriptures 1998+)

22. Begotten

Beget, begot, old use begat is according to the Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English to give existence to(as father) and give as example Abraham begat Isaac, and ‘The only begotten of the Father”. In literature it also means to cause.

The Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary tells us it is to produce or cause; to generate (commonly of the father); to produce as an effect, to cause. It also says about the begetter that it is the father: the agent that occasions or originates anything.

In such a way the Origin is by God, so the begetting of any person is by God from the beginning. All people are thought of by God, all are part of His Plan which he had already before even one man was created. Because God knows everything He also has all the names of the people in His head. Abraham was in the mind of God as Jesus was also in His thoughts form the Genesis, but also we are part of His knowledge and part of Him originating.

In the New Testament Matthew and Luke give a full and detailed account of the point of origin of the Son of God. From their genealogy we can clearly see that Jeshua, also called the son of David or Jesus began as a human being, supernaturally begotten (=brought into existence) by the Father, being conceived as Matthew 1:20 reads.

“He had been dwelling upon this, when an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary for your wife, for her child has been conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:20 TCNT)

“But while he considered these things, behold, an agent of Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take Mary to be thy wife, for that which was begotten in her is from Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:20 ACV)

In several translations you shall also find this word “begotten” where you do find as synonyms “brought to existence” or “generated” (to produce or bring into being; create).

“And as he was thinking about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord was seen by him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For that in her is generated by the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:20 LITV)

“Yet during his inward passion about these things (his reflection on his emotions and in heated pondering of the situation with violent breathing) – note and consider this! – an agent of [the] Lord [= Yahweh’s messenger], down from (or: in accord with; in correspondence to; = in) a dream, was set in clear light and made to appear to him, then saying, “Joseph, son of David [= descendent of, or one with the qualities of, David], you should not be afraid (or: caused to fear) to at once take to your side, accept and receive Mary, your wife! You see, the One within the midst of her, being generated and produced from out of Breath-effect (or: [the] Spirit) exists being (or: is) Set-apart (Holy) (or: the One being brought to birth within her continues being forth from out of the midst of [the] Holy Spirit as His origin).” (Matthew 1:20 JMNT)

This word “begotten” there is: “But while he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take to thee Mary thy wife; for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:20 ABU_NT) means really “begotten in her,” not just “conceived” in her. The RV of 1881 recognized this in its margin. It is the activity of the Father bringing into existence, begetting His unique SON which is documented by Matthew 1:20. So the official, long-form birth certificate reads. The RV also helped us in the margin with Luke 1:35, showing that the Son of God was begotten and on that basis is the Son of God. On no other basis. This aorist of the verb begotten for the Son (also 1 John 5:18) is the most hidden word from an “orthodox” point of view. It is a bit embarrassing to the system!

“We know that every one who has been begotten of God sins not; but he that was begotten of God keeps himself; and the evil one touches him not.” (1 John 5:18 ABU_NT)

As we can be begotten of God so Jesus was begotten in a special way which is explained in the Evangelical chapters of the New Testament.

The word “beget,” i.e. the causative of gennao[4] or yennao. Related to ginomai (yinome), “to begin to exist,” this precious word is the key to our whole subject and to Christian unity, and confusion and chaos results from outdoing Matthew and Luke and denying that the “coming into existence” of the Son is the result of a divine historical begetting, causing the existence of a son, which is what gennao means!

Beget is a very common biblical word and its primary and obvious meaning is “to bring into existence by procreation.” God is not brought into existence. The Son was. Jesus said, “For this purpose [to proclaim the truth of his kingship, cp. Luke 4:43][5] I have been brought into existence” (John 18:37, gegeneemai). He should have said, “I was never without existence”!

On no account should claimants to belief in Holy Scripture avoid the obvious, confuse and divide the church by explaining away the rock foundation of the virginal begetting, which allows God to be the Father of the Son, in time and place, by miracle. He did the miracle once in Adam and then again in Jesus.

[1] Jesus is not an idea thought, spoken or written down – he is a man. He is the word made flesh, not the word!
And the Word became flesh and pitched His tent¹ among us, and we saw His esteem, esteem as of an only brought-forth of a father, complete in favour and truth. {Footnote: ¹An indication that His birth was during the Festival of Booths.}

(John 1:14 The Scriptures 1998+) / And the Word became Man, and dwelt among us, (We saw his glory–the glory of the Only Son sent from the Father), full of love and truth.

(John 1:14 TCNT) / And the: Word became flesh, and tabernacled with us: and we saw his glory, a glory as of the only begotten from the Father, that he was full of grace and truth.

(John 1:14 Re. Murdock)

[2] “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you indeed delivered up and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. But you denied the Holy and Just One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,” (Acts 3:13-14 Complete Apostles’ Bible)

[3] The Bible — An American Translation, by J. M. P. Smith and E. J. Goodspeed, Chicago. 1935 “and the Word was divine”

[4] Modern Greek pronunciation, as they do at Harvard

[5] “And He said to them, “To the other cities I also have to bring the Good News: the reign of Elohim, because for this I have been sent.” “ (Luke 4:43 The Scriptures 1998+)

“Then Pilate said to Him, “You are a sovereign, then?” יהושע answered, “You say it, because I am a sovereign. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” “(John 18:37 The Scriptures 1998+)

Preceding article: Jesus begotten Son of God #8 Found Divinely Created not Incarnated

To be continued: Jesus begotten Son of God #10 Coming down spirit or flesh seed of Eve