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● John 1:18 . . No man has seen God at any time; the only-begotten god
who is in the bosom position with the Father is the one that has explained
him. (Watchtower Bible)
The Greek word for "only-begotten" in that verse is monogenes (mon-og
en-ace') which is also found in John 1:14, John 3:16, John 3:18, and 1John
4:9. It's a combination of two words.
The first is mono, which music buffs recognize as a single channel rather
than two or four in surround sound stereo. Mono is very common; e.g.
monogamy, monofilament, monotonous, mononucleotide, monochrome,
monogram, monolith, monologue, monomial, et al.
The other word is genes; from whence we get the English word gene; which
Webster's defines as a biological term indicating a part of a cell that controls
or influences the appearance, growth, etc., of a living thing. In other words:
monogenes refers to one biological gene set rather than many.
Monogenes always, and without exception, refers to parents' sole biological
child in the New Testament. If parents have two or more biological children,
none of them qualify as monogenes because in order to qualify as a
monogenes child, the child has to be an only child.
Other examples of monogenes children are located at Luke 7:12, Luke 8:42,
and Luke 9:38.
So then, scientifically speaking, Christ is unique in that he is God's only
offspring by means of reproduction, whereas God's other children are not;
viz: they're adopted. (Rom 8:15-16, Gal 4:4-6, Eph 1:4-5)
FAQ: God fathered a child?
REPLY: I haven't quite figured this all out yet; but according to Luke 1:35,
the Holy Ghost played a miraculous role in Jesus' conception in such a way
that Jesus came into the world as God's next of kin, i.e. His descendant.
FAQ: What about Heb 11:17 where Isaac is stated to be Abraham's
monogenes child? Wasn't Ishmael a biological child of his too?
REPLY: At the time of the event recorded in the 22nd of Genesis, Ishmael
was no longer Abraham's son. Paternal laws back in that ancient culture
allowed a man to disown a son if the lad was born of a mother in slavery to
the man. The catch is: the father had to emancipate the mother, which
Abraham had already done at Sarah's urging, and God's approval, prior to
the Akedah. So then according to the laws of nature, Ishmael was one of
Abraham's biological sons whereas according to the will of God, he wasn't.
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