Jesus Christ was the Only Begotten Even Before His Birth

To view the phrase “only begotten” as denoting Christ’s physical birth is not only shallow and one-dimensional, but it is wrong. And that view robs the Son of His eternal relationship to the Father. What we need to realize is that the Sonship of Christ did not begin at His incarnation. He was the only begotten before He ever came to earth and took on human flesh. He has been the Only Begotten from all eternity. There has never been a time (before the creation of the world or since) that Christ has not been the Only Begotten Son of the Father. And He shares this title and position with no one else.

Ponder the following from Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary on the greek word ‘monogenes’, which is translated as ‘only begotten’ six times in the NT.

With reference to Christ, the phrase “the only begotten from the father”, John 1:14, indicates that as the Son of God He was the sole representative of the Being and character of the One who sent Him…The apostle’s object is to demonstrate what sort of glory it was that he and his fellow apostles had seen…The glory was that of a unique relationship and the word “begotten” does not imply a beginning of His Sonship. It suggests relationship indeed, but must be distinguished from generation as applied to man.

We can only rightly understand the term “the only begotten” when used of the Son, in the sense of unoriginated relationship. “The begetting is not an event of time, however remote, but a fact irrespective of time. The Christ did not become, but necessarily and eternally is the Son. He, a Person, possesses every attribute of pure Godhood. This necessitates eternity, absolute being; in this respect He is not ‘after’ the Father” (Moule).