Of the Father's Love Begotten

The above song celebrates, among other things, the "eternal generation of the Son." In other words the relationship of God the Father to God the Son is an eternal one. A human father can engender a son in a moment of time, and from that point on, he is the father of that child.

It is different with God the Father and God the Son. Yes, the Son of God was born on this earth at a specific moment in time, but that was not the beginning of His existence. Yes, it was the beginning of His taking on a human body, but He Himself is from all eternity.

Since God the Father is eternal, His Son is also eternal. Hence the term "eternal generation of the Son." The Son of God did take on human flesh, born of the Virgin Mary, but that was not the beginning of the existence of the Son of God. He is eternal, as is the Father and the Holy Spirit - God in three persons.

The early church in the 4th century needed to clarify Biblical teaching about the person of Jesus Christ, since there were some who were teaching that the Son of God was not eternal. That is, He did not exist until He was born on the earth. However, the Bible teaches that the Son of God left Heaven in order to be our Savior. Philippians 2:5-11 is one of the clearest texts supporting the fact of Christ's pre-existence - that is, He was already God and Lord before He took on bodily form, even before time began.


So, Christians have from time to time needed to clarify the relationship that exists between the Father and the Son, as well as the Holy Spirit - the Triune God. There is only one God, existing eternally in three persons.


From the 4th century we have the Nicene creed.:

The Nicene Creed
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.


More recent theologians have also addressed this issue of the "eternal generation of the Son." Here is what A.A. Hodge had to say as quoted in a Wikkipedia entry.:

"The eternal generation of the Son is defined as 'an eternal personal act of the Father, wherein, by necessity of nature, not by choice of will, He generates the person (not the essence) of the Son, by communicating to Him the whole indivisible substance of the Godhead, without division, alienation, or change, so that the Son is the express image of His Father's person, and eternally continues, not from the Father, but in the Father, and the Father in the Son.'"

- A. A. Hodge, Outlines of Theology, p. 182

Then, way back in the 4th century about the same time the Nicene Creed was being forged, the hymn Of the Father's Love Begotten was written. It expresses eloquently this concept of the eternal generation of the Son. He was begotten - speaking of relationship and representation - not made. Yes, the Son took on bodily form and showed us the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit, but He has always been and always will be the eternal Son of God.

The melody of this song is also called Divinum Mysterium - Divine Mystery. There is a mystery about the eternal generation of the Son that some would like to ignore. However, the One who was in the bosom of the Father has been revealed - Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior.

John 1:18
No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

The only God has been made known.


John 1:18 (English Standard Version)
18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Notice that in the Greek NT, the words translated "only begotten Son" in the KJV and "the only God" in the ESV are "μονογενης θεος" - "only begotten God." Begotten, not made, very God of very God. The Nicene Creed got it right. Our English, IMO, does not properly express the nuance that the ancient Greek and Latin fathers understood, and I think we are poorer for it, myself - especially when some modern day theologians, I have noticed, argue from the English! Weird...

ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ 1:18 (1881 Westcott-Hort New Testament)
18θεον ουδεις εωρακεν πωποτε μονογενης θεος ο ων εις τον κολπον του πατρος εκεινος εξηγησατο

The Father Sent the Son

1 John 4:14
14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

Matthew Henry:

"The Father sent the Son, he willed his coming into this world."

John 3:16,17

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Dr. Bruce Ware:

"Clearly, the Father both consecrated the Son for the very mission he planned for him, and then he sent the Son into the world to fulfill what he had designed. For this to be meaningful, we must understand both the consecration and sending of the Son as happening prior to the incarnation and thus in the design and purpose of God in eternity past."

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It is important to understand that the Father sent the Son into the world before the Son was born in Bethlehem, even before He was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. The sending happened in eternity past. In fact, one could say that eternity does not really have a past, present, or future, since eternity speaks of the kind of existence that God has outside of the constraints of time. Time is part of His created order. He is in no way bound by the limits of time.

Therefore, it has always been the will of the Father, - throughout all of time and eternity - with the full agreement of the Son, and the of the Holy Spirit to send the Son as our Savior. The effects of this sending would carry through to all eternity. His coming was at a specific point in time, but the effects of His coming are eternal. In fact, as Matthew Henry points out in his quote above, "He [the Father] willed His [the Son's] coming into the world." The "willing" had to happen before the "coming."

What does it matter? The Son is eternal, as is the Father. They have always had an eternal Father with His eternal Son relationship. The Son did not begin His life when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He is the eternal Son of God, just as the Father is our Eternal Father, and the Holy Spirit is the eternal Spirit of God. It has always been this way, and it always will be, for God in His essence does not and cannot change.


Since the Father is eternal, the Son is also eternal. How can there be an eternal Father if there is no eternal Son?

Of course, there is only One eternal God who has always existed and will always exist in what are called three hypostases - IOW, three persons who are one in essence and will.

Deuteronomy 33:27
The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he thrust out the enemy before youand said, Destroy.


Romans 16:26
but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—

1 Pet. 2:20ff

1 Pet. 2:20ff

"For what glory is it, if when ye be buffeted for
your faults, ye shall take it patiently, but if when ye do well, and
suffer for it, ye take it patiently; this is acceptable with God.

For even hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps:

who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:

who when he was reviled, reviled not again,

when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:

who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness:

by whose stripes ye were healed."

Jesus is the Light

Volcano eruption in Chile.

John 1:3-5
3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

4In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
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Everything was made through Jesus. Nothing was made without Him. This, of course, shows that Jesus Himself is not a created being. How could He be created through Himself?

The easiest thing is to think that He was not created, but rather is God Himself. He is the Creator, and He didn't create Himself.

Of course it makes sense that He has life in Him. He didn't get life from somewhere else. Life belongs to Him. It is His because of who He is. He is God.

It is not a life that is only for Himself. It is life that is shared with people. His coming to earth as a man was like a light to us. People actually saw God walking around in a body. It's not that He had some weird glow coming out of Him. That's not how He showed His light. Rather, people could see how He lived; what He did; where He went; how He reacted to people; what was important to Him; and most of all, how He died on the cross, bearing our sins in His own body.

When we believe in Him, we have His life in us.

The darkness doesn't understand it. Who or what is the darkness? Well, for one thing, it is Satan and his demons. They never understood Jesus. If they had, they never would have killed Him. They would have protected Him from death, since His death sealed their doom.

The darkness is also a reference to unbelievers. They can't figure Jesus out. They might think He was a good man. They might think He was a kook. They might have religious feelings about Him - as well as Buddha, Krishna, and Mohammed. They don't know who He is, though.

Jesus knew who He was. The darkness couldn't destroy Him. He destroyed the darkness.

How did He destroy it? Again, by being who He was and doing what He did.

Please consider the words of the Bible. Ask Jesus, who is the Light, to shine in your darkness. Read the book of John in the New Testament. Ask God to help you understand. You won't be sorry.

I am the Door

A Hobbit's Door. At least it looked like one to me. This is a door in a wall in Northhamptonshire, England.
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We were in Europe lately for a couple of weeks visiting friends and our daughter. Our daughter is in Spain.

I love taking photos of doors, windows, lights, flowers, and other random things. My pictures aren't all that great, but for me they carry a lot of meaning. I love the imagery of Christ being the Door. When I see a fascinating door, I think of Him.

John 10:9
I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

Yes, it's a different kind of door that Jesus is talking about. The door mentioned in John 10 involves an opening in the stone wall of a sheepfold. It is the shepherd himself who fills that gap, so in a very real sense, the shepherd is the door, a good shepherd, anyway. Through this opening, the sheep can go in and out and find pasture, Christ said. At least that is what I am told.

The idea is that if anyone wants to be saved, he or she must believe in Jesus Christ their Savior. He is the only Savior, the only Door, the only entrance into God's sheepfold. In order to get into that relationship with God, a person has to pass through the Door, Jesus. He is the Good Shepherd who cares for the sheep in that way. He gives His life for His own. He did that by dying on the cross for our sins.

John 10:11
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.

I found this one illustration of a sheepfold like the one that Jesus was talking about in John 10. Notice that the shepherd is sleeping in the opening. That way, no sheep can wander out into the darkness, and no predator can get in to kill the sheep. If necessary, the shepherd would give his life in defense of his sheep.

Christ did just that when He died on the cross and rose from the dead. He gave His life for His sheep, and now gives His life to His sheep, the ones who put their trust in Him.

Even so, I love ancient doors, especially the ones attatched to old cathedrals or old churches or just ancient buildings. We saw a lot of them in Europe, so I have a lot of door photos. Here are just a few. They are all in Spain. I liked Spain best. What an incredible empire they built!

A door in the wall around the Alcazar in Sevilla.

I think that this is a door into the parroquia in Lebrija.

I call this Door Vader. This is a sidedoor in the Parroquia in the town of Lebrija, where our daughter lives and teaches.

A door into an old monestary on the grounds of La Alhambra. This building is now a hotel.

A Moorish door in a building near La Alhambra in Granada.

That Little Word "Of"

This has been a little niggly in the back of my little brain for awhile now. When I was looking into the Athanasian Creed, the subject of "begotten of the Father" came up. Well, I talked about that in my longer report, so I won't repeat myself redundantly now.

It's that little word "of" that makes me prefer the translation of "monogenes" as "only begotten." My Greek is so rusty that it has fallen off its hinges inside my brain. To make matters worse, Spanish crowds out much of my English and makes me think that Greek is just a dialect of Spanish! So, this is not any attempt to be authoritative in any sense. It's just an examination of my niggly.

Anyway...back to "of"...as in "Son of God." In what sense is He "of" God. Does God possess the Son? That doesn't seem to make sense, since that would make the Son a lesser God and a mere possession of His Father.


It seems that "of" as in "theou" is something more than possessive, obviously. It is a genetive, which seems like why the Greek fathers pondered in what way the Son was generated by the Father and how it is related to "monogenes", or "begotten of the Father."

Anyway... it's a niggly... Maybe I'll look "theou" up in that big Greek grammar book we use as a doorstop. Tomorrow.

Athanasian Creed

Here is a little report of what I have learned about the Athanasian Creed.
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This is one of the earliest creeds of the Christian faith and is attributed to Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria (c.296-c.373), but it was actually written after his death. Note that there are references in the Athanasian Creed to the catholic faith. Today's Roman Catholics say that means their church and only their church is the pillar and ground of the truth. The church of Rome IS the Catholic church that the Fathers spoke of. I don't think that the arrogance of that statement needs to be elaborated on in this post. It is self-evident.

The rest of us realise that "catholic faith" is a reference to the body of teachings that all Christians hold in common. Paul when he addressed Titus said, "To Titus, my true son in our common faith. (Titus 1:4)"

So this creed is to be understood in the sense of our common faith. This creed elaborates on what Christians have always believed to be the true teaching in Scripture about the Trinity. Not all of us are creedal Christians. That is, not all of us look to the creeds as some kind of authority. They are helpful but not authoritative. Scripture alone is the final arbiter in matters of faith and practice. Even so, those who crafted the Athanasian Creed did an amazing job. Bible believers will find little if anything to disagree with in this creed.

Some find the term "eternally begotten" to be contradictory, since how can someone be begotten in an eternal sense. They say that "monogenes" - which in John 3:16 in the KJV was translated as "only begotten" - simply means the unique Son of God. Since Christ was not engendered in the normal way, how could He be begotten in any sense of that word?

Many newer translations reflect that line of reasoning, including the ESV.

John 3:16 (English Standard Version)

For God So Loved the World
16"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

In translating "monogenes" this way, there is no denial of the eternal existence of the Son of God. It is not deemed necessary to use the phrase, "only begotten" to convey the real meaning of Christ's uniqueness as the only, eternal Son of God.

Then, to say that the Second Person of the Trinity is "eternally begotten" is actually oxymoronic; it is contradictory. Also, if one is not careful, some reason, the Son can be seen as a lesser God who receives His very existence from the Father instead of from sharing in the Godhead equally with the Father and being Himself fully God. Anyway, it gets pretty thick, I think.

I personally do not have any problems with either "only begotten" or "eternally begotten." I think that they better reflect the intimate relationship between the Father and the Son. The Father is Eternal as well as the Son, and that relationship has always existed within the members of the Trinity in Unity. Otherwise, the concept of fatherhood and sonship is obscured, IMO.

In both views, no one is denying that the Son is eternal, so I maybe it's no big deal at the end of the day which way you look at it, or both ways depending on one's mood. Just so one's wording does not contradict the doctrine of the Trinity and the full deity and eternity of the Son of God.


Note that this statement about the Trinity contained in the Athanasian Creed is viewed to be essential doctrine. A proper view of the Trinity is necessary for salvation, IOW.

It was crafted as a refutation of certain heretical teachings that had entered some churches.

Here is Wikkipedia's entry for the authorship of the Athanasian Creed.

"Beginning in the 9th century, the Athanasian Creed was ascribed to St. Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria, who lived in the 4th century. This view was contested in the 17th century and is rejected today. Reasons for rejecting Athanasius as the author are: 1) The creed originally was written in Latin. 2) It is not mentioned by Athanasius or his contemporaries. 3) It is not mentioned in any records of the ecumenical councils. 4) It appears to address Christological controversies that developed after Athanasius died. Although Constantine ended imperial persecution of the Church in 313 with the Edict of Milan, the preceding centuries of oppression had prevented large-scale theological debate and uniformity. The Nicean Council institutionalized widely held beliefs and formally opposed theologically divergent doctrines. The creed was attributed to Athanasius as a sign of its intense orthodoxy of Trinitarian belief.

Most of today's historians agree that it originated in Gaul around 500. Its theology is closely akin to that found in the writings of Western theologians, especially Ss. Ambrose of Milan, Augustine of Hippo, and Vincent of Lérins. J.N.D. Kelly, a contemporary patristics scholar, believes that St. Vincent of Lérin was not its author, but suggests that it may have come from the same milieu, namely the area of Lérins in southern Gaul.

The oldest surviving manuscripts of the Athanasian creed date from the late 8th century."

Here is a brief comment about the content of the creed and the significance of the word "homoousios" or "hypostasis."

"Its teaching about Jesus Christ is more detailed than in the Nicene Creed, and reflects the teaching of the Council of Ephesus (431) and the definition of the Council of Chalcedon (451). The 'Athanasian' Creed boldly uses the key Nicene term homoousios ('one substance', 'one in Being') not only with respect to the relation of the Son to the Father according to his divine nature, but that the Son is homoousios with his mother Mary, according to his human nature.

The Creed's wording thus excludes not only Sabellianism and Arianism, but the Christological heresies of (so-called) Nestorianism and Eutychianism. A need for a clear confession against Arianism arose in western Europe when the Ostrogoths and Visigoths, who had Arian beliefs, invaded at the beginning of the 5th century."

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Whoever wants to be saved should above all cling to the catholic faith.

Whoever does not guard it whole and inviolable will doubtless perish eternally.

Now this is the catholic faith: We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being.

For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another.

But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty.

What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit.

Uncreated is the Father; uncreated is the Son; uncreated is the Spirit.

The Father is infinite; the Son is infinite; the Holy Spirit is infinite.

Eternal is the Father; eternal is the Son; eternal is the Spirit:

And yet there are not three eternal beings, but one who is eternal;

as there are not three uncreated and unlimited beings, but one who is uncreated and unlimited.

Almighty is the Father; almighty is the Son; almighty is the Spirit:

And yet there are not three almighty beings, but one who is almighty.

Thus the Father is God; the Son is God; the Holy Spirit is God:

And yet there are not three gods, but one God.

Thus the Father is Lord; the Son is Lord; the Holy Spirit is Lord:

And yet there are not three lords, but one Lord.

As Christian truth compels us to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord, so catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords.

The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten;

the Son was neither made nor created, but was alone begotten of the Father;

the Spirit was neither made nor created, but is proceeding from the Father and the Son.

Thus there is one Father, not three fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three spirits.

And in this Trinity, no one is before or after, greater or less than the other;

but all three persons are in themselves, coeternal and coequal; and so we must worship the Trinity in unity and the one God in three persons.

Whoever wants to be saved should think thus about the Trinity.

It is necessary for eternal salvation that one also faithfully believe that our Lord Jesus Christ became flesh.

For this is the true faith that we believe and confess: That our Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, is both God and man.

He is God, begotten before all worlds from the being of the Father, and he is man, born in the world from the being of his mother --

existing fully as God, and fully as man with a rational soul and a human body;

equal to the Father in divinity, subordinate to the Father in humanity.

Although he is God and man, he is not divided, but is one Christ.

He is united because God has taken humanity into himself; he does not transform deity into humanity.

He is completely one in the unity of his person, without confusing his natures.

For as the rational soul and body are one person, so the one Christ is God and man.

He suffered death for our salvation.

He descended into hell and rose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

At his coming all people shall rise bodily to give an account of their own deeds.

Those who have done good will enter eternal life,

those who have done evil will enter eternal fire.

This is the catholic faith.

One cannot be saved without believing this firmly and faithfully.

From Wikisource.