Bible Dictionary
ONLY BEGOTTEN
Only begotten translates a term emphasizing uniqueness. In reference to Jesus, it describes His unique relationship with the Father, His revelation of God, and His role as the mediator of salvation; elsewhere it may mean an only child.
Definition
“Only begotten” translates monogenes, a term emphasizing uniqueness. It can describe an only child, but in the New Testament it chiefly describes Jesus Christ in His unique relationship with the Father.
Biblical Usage
Applied to Christ, the term emphasizes that He uniquely reveals the Father and is the mediator of salvation. He is the Son in a sense unlike others, declares the unseen Father, and is sent so that people may live through Him. Elsewhere the word denotes an only son or daughter.
Historical Background
The Greek term occurs nine times in the New Testament and often in the Septuagint, while the English expression occurs six times. The supplied material emphasizes uniqueness rather than treating the phrase merely as a statement about ordinary sonship.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>on'-li be-got-'-'n (monogenes): Although the English words are found only 6 times in the New Testament, the Greek word appears 9 times, and often in the Septuagint. It is used literally of an only child: "the only son of his mother" (Lu 7:12); "an only daughter" (Lu 8:42); "mine only child" (Lu 9:38); "Isaac .... his only begotten" (Heb 11:17). In all other places in the New Testament it refers to Jesus Christ as "the only begotten Son of God" (Joh 1:14,18; 3:16,18; 1 Joh 4:9). In these passages, too, it might be translated as "the only son of God"; for the emphasis seems to be on His uniqueness, rather than on His sonship, though both ideas are certainly present. He is the son of God in a sense in which no others are. "Monogenes describes the absolutely unique relation of the Son to the Father in His divine nature; prototokos describes the relation of the Risen Christ in His glorified humanity to man" (Westcott on Heb 1:6). Christ's uniqueness as it appears in the above passages consists of two things:</p><p>(a) He reveals the Father: "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (Joh 1:18). Men therefore behold His glory, "glory as of the only begotten from the Father" (1:14).</p><p>(b) He is the mediator of salvation: "God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him" (1 Joh 4:9; Joh 3:16); "He that believeth not (on him) hath been judged already" (Joh 3:18). Other elements in His uniqueness may be gathered from other passages, as His sinlessness, His authority to forgive sins, His unbroken communion with the Father, and His unique knowledge of Him. To say that it is a uniqueness of nature or essence carries thought no farther, for these terms still need definition, and they can be defined only in terms of His moral consciousness, of His revelation of God, and especially of His intimate union as Son with the Father.</p><p>See also BEGOTTEN; PERSON OF CHRIST; SON OF GOD.</p><p>The reading "God only begotten" in Joh 1:18 the Revised Version margin, though it has strong textual support, is improbable, and can well be explained as due to orthodox zeal, in opposition to adoptionism. See Grimm-Thayer, Lexicon; Westcott, at the place</p><p>T. Rees</p>