Begotten

Psalm 2: 1 – 12

Begotten

1 Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. 5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: 6 “Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.” 7 “I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’?” 10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

Questions. The word is derived from the Latin word – to seek. It is the same root as the word for quest. A creative life is a continued quest, and good questions can be very useful guides. Most useful are open ended questions; they allow for fresh unanticipated answers to reveal themselves.

Today’s topic then is a word which spurs questions. In the ministry we have faced this question on the word ‘begotten’. What does it mean that the Lord Jesus Christ Is God’s only begotten Son?

Besides appearing here, we see this word also show up in the Gospel of John chapter 3 which reads, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

False teachers have latched onto this phrase to try to prove their false teaching that Jesus Christ isn’t God (He isn’t equal to God as the Second Person of the Trinity). They see the word ‘begotten’ and say that Jesus Is a created being because only someone who had a beginning in time can be ‘begotten’. What this position fails to note is that the word ‘begotten’ is an English translation of a Greek word. As such, we must look at the original meaning of the Greek word, not transfer English meanings into the text.

The Greek word is ‘monogenes’ and is translated as ‘one and only’. Two definitions are derived from this word. The first definition is pertaining to be the only one of its kind within a specific relationship. The second definition is pertaining to be the only one of its kind or class, unique in kind. This is what the apostle John was primarily concerned with in demonstrating that our Lord Jesus Is the Son of God. He highlights our Lord Jesus’s divine nature as God – as opposed to believers who are God’s sons and daughters by adoption (Ephesians 1: 5). Jesus Is God’s One and only Son.

The bottom line is that terms such as ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ speaking of God the Father and Jesus the Son are human terms that help us earthlings understand the relationship between the different Persons of the trinity. If you can understand the relationship between a human father and a human son, then you can understand, in part, the relationship between the First and Second Persons of the Trinity. The analogy breaks down if you try to take it too far and teach, as some false Christian cults that Jesus was literally ‘begotten’ as in ‘produced’ or ‘created’ by God the Father.

Now let’s get into reviewing Psalm 2.

Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.”

Our Holy Father God, Adoni Yahweh is King and sole Ruler over all the earth. Since the fall of man though, it has become clear from our Holy Adoni Holy Spirit God that all people did not want to be under His yoke. They want to be free to do exactly what they want. They do not want to be accountable to any One superior to them.

So David under the inspiration of our Wonderful Holy Ghost saw the wider world also as constantly simmering in its rebellion against our Creator. He knew that not only the local nations, but all the nations of the world would one day be called to be subject to El Shaddai, God Almighty, but would plan rebellion against Him and thus would need to be brought into subjection to Him or summarily dealt with.