Uniting in God's Word - and the word "begotten"

You might wonder why "begotten" is called all-important, but first, a question. Are people united to commit crime united in a good work? Of course not.

Speaking of unity, this is also going up on my own personal blog site which I link below, for those wondering why they see this twice. :-)

Examples of when uniting wonderful

Jesus often asks questions to help listeners think about the answers to their own questions. While it is not the focus of this post, the parable of the Good Samaritan is a great example - we often ask, "Who is my neighbor?" Muslims are one answer to that - we need to share with them how to have a personal relationship with a loving, gracious God who gave Himself for them, so He can save them from their sins and make them new inside. This post shares good tips and resources that are vital to "snatch them in pity from sin and the grave" as the hymn - and much more sensible title - goes.

Of course, there is a wonderful way to show how to unite for positive things. The Jews and Samaritans couldn't stand each other in those days. I don't know if it inspired him, but Daryl Davis has made a life out of befriending people who don't like him.  However, we do need to be careful to be united in a Godly work, such as peacemaking.

I've said many times in this blog that God's Word proves we are all one race, the human race - something acknowledged in secular media, too. However, there are times when we can't pretend there are no differences. this is why that word - "begotten" - will come up, because it doesn't just mean "only." it means of the same essence, the same substance.

Clearing up misconceptions

This is a misconception that Muslims have about Christians. Let me start by pointing out a few things from the post I linked.  Some people think Muslims and Christians worship the same god, but we don't, and "Sonship is one big reason. Muslims say Allah had no son because they only think of physical relationships when they think of a son. They don't realize that Sonship In the Biblical sense is the Arabic "ibn" - this means a perfect likeness, having every attribute of the original.

This Arabic word, "ibn," shows that Jesus is a perfect likeness, He is God in flesh(John 1:14, etc.) because in Him(Jesus) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.(Col. 2:9) There is also a way or two to explain the Godhead which will help. Here is a site that might help with a few misconceptions. Also, simply explaining "I am a father, a son, and a brother - one man, three attributes is a start. The point is that we can agree that God is one god, and go fromt here to show how He manifests Himself.(As that first one does with talking about how God manifested Himself to Moses, etc..) As this site on answering Islam shows, unique is even a better translation than "only," since monogenes has no direct translation into English, but "only" is surely incorrect. Only begotten is even better, though, than unique, because Begotten means having all the attributes in a way unique doesn't.

So, clearly there are times when we have a truth to stand on - what "Sonship" means - that needs to be explained to eliminate misunderstanding. It wouldn't do to pretend that difference doesn't exist, because bringing it to light improves understanding of what the Bible says.

Philippians 4:2-3 - where Paul tells two ladies, Euodice and Synteche, to be of one mind "in the Lord." However, that phrase, "in the Lord," means to put aside petty differences and follow Christ. Their argument might have been heated - Paul asks others to help them, those who were perhaps able to help to mediate the dispute by helping them talk things out. But, they were not disagreeing about fundamentals of the faith.

In other words, just like explaining Sonship above increases understanding by pointing out what truth is, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, clearly insists elsewhere that we must be unified in sound Doctrine and not allow false Doctrine to enter our churches. Because, sound doctrine increases understanding.

This post from a ministry blog I do goes into more detail after a while about the sound doctrine we need to hold fast to because the points are connected with God being a personal, loving God who took the punishment for our sins when He died on the cross and rose again. It also has more links to our radio shows - which can be found here - though this post in the blog you're reading has different things regarding supporting what we believe and support, not just what we are against. So, both are good to read.

However, I'm going to come at one in particular from an unusual angle, because it will help to end confusion in a number of areas.

So, what's with the word "begotten"?

So, you might be thinking, "Okay, so the point about "begotten" is that it points to Christ's Deity." That's a major part of it, yes. The meaning is so much deeper than something simple like only.

Begotten shows that all attributes of God were passed on. Jesus had "all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."Col.2:9 We are adopted as children, as Romans 8, John 1;12, and others show. However, we don't get every single attribute of God, we don't become all-powerful for example. We will never have that kind of attribute. There are a few which we don't have on earth because of our sin nature, but in Heaven we shall become sinless, have perfect love, etc.. However the Lord will never share all His attributes Jesus Christ only has all of them because he is God in flesh.

And yet, in His love God does give us the power to become the sons of God if we believe on His name(John 1:12) - that is, trust Him and call on Him by faith to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Begotten, then, shows the difference between a believer and the Lord, yet also shows the Deity of Christ and allows us to, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath given ucto us," that we, too, can be called the children of God.

This incredible love is something people in other cultures often don't understand or even have access to - people all over the world seek freedom from sin, from guilt, from shame, and from fear. These things leave them in bondage to the world's system, one that tries to work one's way to Heaven.

"Okay," you might say, "the Deity of Christ, God's love for us, and the freedom we have in Him are wonderful to unite behind. They are all present in that word Begotten the way they are not in the word only. But, is that the only problem with versions that don't use begotten?

No, and that's the big problem.

Stick with the Antiochan Greek

 When you use "Begotten" you're using a word translated from Greek. Gotquestions has a good explanation here. The Bible was originally written in Hebrew(Old Testament), Greek(New Testament) and a little bit of Aramaic that is not important for this discussion.

the original Greek manuscripts, from Antioch, were written first, with Greek from Alexandria used a century later. That Greek from Alexandria made changes that confused thigns and caused problems with doctrine. the King James Version is the only one straight from the Antiochan texts. Here is a great post from someone else about it.

To sum up what the above link says, other versions - which take from Alexandrian texts - have many problems like this. We as Christians aren't perfect, as I noted in another post. We are all still growing closer to Christ and needing Him to battle our flesh nature. Salvation is an instant event,(Rom.10:9-10,13; Acts 16:31; etc.) but as this show reveals. (This is why one must beware of modern Bible versions that use the Alexandrian text, modern texts do things like changing 1 Peter 2:2 to make it sound like you grow in your salvation when the King James, from the original Antiochan texts, shows clearly growth is through the Word of God and is only in one's sanctification.

 Another good link that shows what some other big differences are is here. Our Youthquake site even had a book noted which founder/director Sal Varsalone wrote exposing a lot of problems - see "No Counterfeit Bibles" here.

One of those esy to notice is in Luke 2:33 and Luke 2:44, where the King James says "Joseph and Jesus' mother."Mary was, biologically, Jesus' parent, but Joseph was not. to say "Jesus' father and mother" is also an attack on Jesus' Deity. While it's true that Philip says "the son of Joseph," he is merely making a human mistake because of his excitement at finding the Messiah. He wasn't taking time to think that Messiah had to be God in flesh. Those verses in luke, though, are part of something the Holy Spirit is revealing to us as Scripture. Luke was inspired to write - in his very meticulous style - "Joseph and Jesus' mother" becase that's what God wanted people to understand, that Jesus was not related biologically to Joseph, and that He was born of a virgin.

You can hear shows about the Deity of Christ, the Virgin Birth, and other vital doctrines in our shows here.

The Bible is totally reliable, though, when you look at the original texts, as this site shows. And, one of the most important parts of that is that Jesus Christ, God in flesh, died to take the punishment for each of our sins and rise from the dead. He was the perfect sacrifice that was necessary to pay the entire price for our sins. And, each one of us must simply trust Him by faith, calling on Him to save and forgive them from their sins. Here is a more detailed explanation of God's simple plan of salvation.