The Begotten Son, Part 3

In our previous post we were responding our friends third quote specifically with regards to our Lord’s creation, which of course our Seventh Day Adventist friends along with most of orthodoxy deny. I believe in our previous post we established the fact that begetting offspring is the same as creating offspring. We as humans do this every time we procreate or beget children.

We should now like to consider three questions as they relate to the following quote:

“A complete offering has been made; for “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son,”– not a son by creation, as were the angels, nor a son by adoption, as is the forgiven sinner, but a Son begotten in the express image of the Father’s person, and in all the brightness of his majesty and glory, one equal with God in authority, dignity, and divine perfection. In him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, 30th May 1895, ‘Christ our complete salvation’)

1) When Was Jesus Begotten, when did our Lord become the “only begotten Son of God?”

“The pre-human existence of the Lord Jesus is clearly established in the Scriptures. His own testimony of Himself was that He is “The faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.” Rev. 3:14. We find then that our Lord BECAME  the “only begotten Son of God” at the time of his creation, which was before the foundation of the earth, and before the existence of any other thing in creation with the exception, of course, of God Himself, who created or begot Him. In agreement with this thought of our Lord’s pre-existence from the very beginning we read, “He is the image of the invisible God– first born of all creation; because by Him were all things created, those in the heavens and those on the earth, visible and invisible–whether thrones, or lordships, or governments, or authorities: all things were created by Him and for Him, and He precedes all things, and in Him all things have been permanently placed.” (Col. 1:15-18.) The thought conveyed by the title, “The Only Begotten Son of God,” is that the Lord Jesus was Himself the only direct creation or begetting of the Heavenly Father.” (Q746)

“For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son”? (Heb 1:5)

This text confirms that our Lord became the Son of God the very day he was begotten, the day he was created.

2) What does it mean that he was begotten in the express image of the Father’s person?

What does express image imply? To many of our Christian friends it means exactly what is expressed in the comment above, that our Lord was begotten, “in the express image of the Father’s person, and in all the brightness of his majesty and glory, one equal with God in authority, dignity, and divine perfection.”

They see the idea of “express image” meaning an exact copy or précised physical image.

While the definition is correct the application is not.

Strong’s defines the phrase (Strong’s # 5481: charaktér; character) as an impression, representation, exact reproduction; a graving-tool; properly, an engraving; (figuratively) an exact impression (likeness) which also reflects inner character.

In Heb 1:3 where it states, “who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person…” our Lord was to be understood (while as a human) as reflecting the “character” of God, NOT the literal appearance of God.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” (Col 1:15)

There are two ways of defining what the express image of an individual could mean,

1) it could mean an actual physical likeness of an individual, and/or

2) it could mean a representation of the character of another individual. The term can apply either way or to both.

It should be noted that unlike what is stated in the comment above (highlighted in green) the Hebrew text from whence this statement arrives says nothing about our Lord being “a son begotten in the express image of the Father’s person, and in all the brightness of his majesty and glory, one equal with God in authority, dignity, and divine perfection.”

It’s true he was created (begotten) in the physical image of God, a glorious spirit being, that he was created in the divine image so far as the divine character, the divine attributes are concerned, but NOT in the likeness so far as the divine (immortal) nature is concerned, that is something that he received later when as a reward for his faithfulness in becoming man’s sacrifice, he was highly exalted to the divine plain of being.

Adam himself was created in the same image of God and his Son, receiving the same character likeness, but in a glorious human form suitable to his earthly plain of existence.

Hebrew 1:3 actually applies to AFTER our Lord’s high exaltation as noted by the latter part of the Verse 3 and that which follows in Verse 4 viz., “who being (since his resurrection) the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when (or after) He had by Himself purged our sins (made purifications of sins by his death), sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”

The same honor as well as reward is held out to the faithful over-comers of the gospel age even as our Lord so stated: “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” (Rev 3:21)

Our last question runs along similar lines as what we have shown here and we will take a look at it in our next post.