THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON

John 1:14 ¶ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Christmas is all about God’s only Son. Now I know some people will say that every person is God’s child but that is not what the Bible teaches. The scripture says that we are children of darkness until we are born again. When  someone is born again they become a child of God but still not in the same way that Jesus is God’s Son. You see Jesus did not come into existence when He was born in Bethlehem, He just became a human then. He has been the only begotten Son from eternity. He is the emanation of the Father, the radiance of His glory; He is the Father’s idea or expression of Himself. Jesus has been this only begotten from eternity, He has always been God the Son. Here are some thoughts from Matthew Henry on the only begotten Son.

“The glory of the Word made flesh was such a glory as became the only begotten Son of God, and could not be the glory of any other. Jesus Christ is the only begotten of the Father. Believers are the children of God by the special favor of adoption and the special grace of regeneration. Angels are sons of God, but he never said to any of them, This day have I begotten thee. He was evidently declared to be the only begotten of the Father, by that which was seen of his glory when he dwelt among us. Though he was in the form of a servant, in respect of outward circumstances, yet, in respect of graces, his form was as that of the fourth in the fiery furnace, like the Son of God. His divine glory appeared in the holiness and heavenliness of his doctrine; in his miracles, which extorted from many this acknowledgment, that he was the Son of God; it appeared in the purity, goodness, and beneficence, of his whole conversation. God’s goodness is his glory, and he went about doing good; he spoke and acted in every thing as an incarnate Deity.”

So now the mystery of Christmas becomes even more mysterious. His humanity resulted from a virgin birth but that is not the beginning of Jesus Christ. He is the eternally begotten Son of the Father, He is also the son of Mary. Great is the mystery of godliness, in the fullness of time God was manifest in the flesh, the Son of God became the son of man.