THEN HOW CAN JESUS CHRIST BE THE "ONLY BEGOTTEN SON"?

The question will most surely be raised: "If gennao should on every occasion be translated "begotten" and not "born" (again), and if every believer is "begotten" of the Holy Spirit, how can Jesus be the only begotten Son (John 1:18, 3:16)?"

If we turn to our Greek New Testament, we learn that gennao (begotten) has a double "n" every time it is known to occur, regardless of the verb tense, case or mood.  (This is easy for the every new Greek student to remember . . . the "n" multiplied).  In contrast, the middle voice of the Greek word eimi (I am) is the word ginomai.  It has only one "n".

The word translated "only begotten" is from a Greek word having only one "n" (monogeneis).  Because this word does not occur outside the Bible, no theologian has ever been exactly sure of the origin of this word.  Some have therefore suggested that, because it possesses a single "n," that "geneis" (the second half of this word) derives not from the word gennao (beget) at all, but from the word ginomai (to be), and should be translated "unique being".

Good arguments can be made on both sides, but I would personally prefer to retain the root word "beget."  However, I would not translate this monogeneis as "only begotten."  Rather, I would translate it as "uniquely begotten".  On the previous page, we have examined the differences between the incarnation of Christ and the regeneration of humanity.  And, we have seen that Christ is indeed "uniquely begotten", among humanity.  There is no other being in the universe who is fully God and fully man, begotten in exactly the same way that Christ was.

Since there is no other usage of the term "monogeneis" outside of Scripture, no one is certain of the meaning of this term.  It is translated by attempting to look at its component parts in Greek, and then applying this to the context in which it is found.

Because of this, the translation "unique being" cannot be dismissed as "wrong", even if it is usually "liberal" scholars who put forth this translation.  But the translation "uniquely begotten" is preferred because it retains the spirit of the time honored translation "only begotten" while acknowledging two great truths:  that regenerate men are indeed "begotten again" from the eternal seed of the living God, and that the begetting of Christ is unique from all of mankind! 

PICTURE IN THIS SMALL SPACE:  THE HEAD AND SHOULDERS OF AN ELDERLY MAN (POSSIBLY IN MEDIEVAL GARB) WITH LAMP LIGHT ILLUMINATING  A TEXT.  THE WORD ON THE TEXT IS  monogeneis, His thoughts are as follows in a thought bubble: "Only begotten?  Only unique?  UNIQUELY BEGOTTEN!"  THE CAPTION READS:

MONOGENEIS; A PROBLEM FOR THEOLOGIANS THROUGHOUT THE AGES

So How is Jesus the "Only Begotten Son?"