GOD IS LOVE Devotion 5 of 34 ' . . . God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." (1 John 4:9B) – Tomorrow:
"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love . . . God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." (1 John 4:8,16)
Five times in Scripture, the Lord Jesus is called "ONLY begotten."
1. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the ONLY BEGOTTEN of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
2. "No man hath seen God at any time; the ONLY BEGOTTEN Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him" (John 1:18).
3. "For God so loved the world, that He gave his ONLY BEGOTTEN Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
4. "He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the ONLY BEGOTTEN Son of God" (John 3:18).
5. "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His ONLY BEGOTTEN Son into the world, that we might live through him" (1 John 4:9).
In each of these texts a single individual is absolutely required. Who else was filled with grace and truth, was in the bosom of the Father and declared Him, guarantees eternal life, is the basis of condemnation to whose who do not believe on Him, and was sent that we might live through Him? I do not believe you will find any thoughtful believer of any age or time that will affirm such qualities can be found in any other person. Jesus is the "ONLY BEGOTTEN."
Four times the Lord Jesus Christ is called "the ONLY begotten Son," and once, "the ONLY begotten of the Father" (John 1:14). Concerning being "begotten of the Father," God said to the Son, "this day (when He came into the world, verse 6) have I begotten Thee" (Psa 2:7; Heb 1:5-6). In this case, Jesus was "begotten of the Father" in Mary's womb, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus it was said to Mary, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). And again, "for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit" (Matt 1:20). No other man has ever been so conceived! Jesus is "the ONLY Begotten of the Father."
In his remarkable summation of the Divine dealings with Israel, Paul applied the second Psalm to the resurrection of Christ. "God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee" (Acts 13:33). Here Jesus was begotten from the region of the dead. Elsewhere He is called, "the firstborn from the dead" (Col 1:18). However, Jesus is not the "only Begotten" from the dead. Rather He is the "firstborn among many brethren," whom God shall also raise from the dead (Rom 8:29).
Both "only Begotten" and "I have begotten Thee," refer to the humanity of Christ – His entrance into this world in a body especially prepared for Him, and His consequent death and resurrection, as affirmed in Hebrews 10:5. This is not an affirmation that our Savior's PERSON was created, as the Jehovah's Witnesses and others slanderously affirm. The origin of the Person of Christ was "from everlasting," as Micah declared (Mic 5:2). He ONLY had a beginning, or was begotten, as "the MAN Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:5).
How is it that Jesus is so identified when we read in this very book that those in Christ are also "BEGOTTEN of God" (5:18). James declares God "BEGAT" us "with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures" (James 1:18). Peter also affirms God has "BEGOTTEN us again unto a lively hope" (1 Pet 1:3). What, then, does the Spirit mean by "ONLY begotten Son?"
Some self-professed language experts have said the words "only begotten" are incorrect. Some versions do not use the terminology, although even they imply it. The NIV reads "the One and Only," supplying the footnote, "the only Begotten." The NRSV reads, "a Father's only Son." Others read, "the only Son from the Father." RSV All translations use the word "ONLY," for the word itself means "only-born, or sole" (Strongs). The Greek word means "the only one of its kind," and is used an only child, and one born in a unique way. Even though every person in Christ is begotten of God, they are NOT begotten in the same way as Jesus. The newness of life that we possess in the new birth has no redemptive value. It cannot be offered for the reclamation of anyone dead in trespasses and sins. When God begat us, we were REborn, which is quite different from Christ's birth.
The language is precise, and is to be taken as it is stated. The ONLY life really begotten by God is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We are begotten by virtue of our reception of the "ONLY begotten Son." God could beget no sons among sinners until He had begotten His "ONLY" Son. Technically speaking, Jesus is the ONLY "Man" God recognizes and honors. Our recognition by God is strictly based upon our identity with Christ Jesus. The life we possess in Christ is not our own, but "Christ lives" in us (Gal 2:20). In the case of Jesus, His life was His own – His own to lay down, and take up again (John 10:17-18).
ILLUSTRATED IN ABRAHAM
This truth is marvelously illustrated in our father Abraham. When Isaac was around thirty years old, God required a most extraordinary thing of Abraham. "Take now thy son THINE ONLY SON Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of" (Gen 22:2). Of the occasion, the Spirit later said, "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON" (Heb 11:17). From one point of view, Abraham had also begotten Ishmael of Hagar when he was eighty-six years old (Gen 16:16). Ishmael is called "Abraham's son" (Gen 25:12). Abraham also had six sons through Keturah: Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah (Gen 25:1-2).
Isaac, however, is called "His ONLY begotten son" (Heb 11:17). Why is this the case? Because no other son was born as Isaac was. His birth was a miracle wrought by God. Ishmael's was a normal birth wrought in the energy of the flesh. Isaac, because of his BIRTH, was recognized by God, and thus became the heir of the promise (Gen 21:12; Rom 9:7; Heb 11:18). Ishmael, because of his BIRTH, was not recognized by God, and thus did not become an heir of the promise (Gen 21:10-12; Gal 4:30). In heaven's view, Isaac was Abraham's only son.
So it is with Jesus Christ, the "ONLY begotten of the Father." No one was begotten as He was! No one came, or comes, into the world as He did! From one point of view, He was "brought" into the world (Heb 1:6). In this sense, He was, as it were, escorted into this world, protected from the diabolical purposes of the devil and the wicked intentions of men. From yet another view He "came" into the world through His own volition (1 Tim 1:15). Here we see the choice of the Lord Jesus Himself, who graciously volunteered for the appointed mission, coming to do the will of the Father (Heb 10:7-9).
But our text declares our Lord's entrance into the world from yet another point of view. Jesus was "SENT" by the Father into the world (4:9-10). He was sent to accomplish a purpose determined "before the foundation of the world" Eph 1:4; 1 Pet 1:20). This mission, we are apprized, was an expression of "the love of God." By this, the Spirit means God was not motivated by our need, or by a sense of deep sympathy for our deplorable condition. While those are surely involved in the reason behind Christ being sent into the world, they are not at the center of it. It was God's profound desire to do us good, to bless us, and to bring us to Himself, that compelled Him to send the Son into the world.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, help me to see the entrance of Jesus into this world as the display of your unfathomable love.