.
MONOGENES
● John 1:18 . . No man has seen God at any time; the only-begotten god
who is in the bosom position with the Father is the one that has explained
him.
John 1:14, John 1:18, John 3:16, John 3:18, and 1John 4:9 contain the
Greek word monogenes (mon-og-en-ace') which is a combination of two
words.
The first is mono, which music buffs recognize as a single channel rather
than two or four in surround sound stereo. Mono is very common; e.g.
monogamy, monofilament, monotonous, mononucleotide, monochrome,
monogram, monolith, monologue, monomial, et al.
The other word is genes; from whence we get the English word gene; which
Webster's defines as a biological term indicating a part of a cell that controls
or influences the appearance, growth, etc., of a living thing. In other words:
monogenes refers to one biological gene set rather than many.
Monogenes always, and without exception, refers to parents' sole biological
child in the New Testament. If parents have two or more biological children,
none of them qualify as monogenes because in order to qualify as a
monogenes child, the child has to be an only child.
Obviously then, an adopted child can never be monogenes because it
wouldn't be the parents' biological child. Examples of monogenes children
are located at Luke 7:12, Luke 8:42, and Luke 9:38.
So then, scientifically speaking, Christ is unique in that he is God's sole
biological offspring, while God's other sons are not; viz: they're placed as
sons, i.e. adopted. (Rom 8:15-16, Gal 4:4-6, Eph 1:4-5)
Q: God literally fathered a child?
A: I think it's probably a bit more accurate to say that God literally co
fathered a child.
Q: How did he do it? Is there a Mrs. God? And who was the other father?
A: Jesus' conception, described at Luke 1:26-35, wasn't only miraculous, it
was a very unusual combination of human and divine.
David contributed the human component. (Luke 1:32, Acts 13:22-23, Rom
1:1-3, and 2Tim 2:8)
God contributed the divine component. (Luke 1:35 and 1John 3:9)
Jesus then, is just as much God's progeny as he is David's; and just as much
David's progeny as he is God's.
Q: What about Heb 11:17 where Isaac is stated to be Abraham's monogenes
child? Wasn't Ishmael a biological child of his too?
A: Isaac is the only biological child that Abraham and Sarah produced
together; just as Jesus is the only biological child that God and Man
produced together.
To say that this is all very baffling, illogical, unscientific, and unreasonable
would be an understatement. In my mind's normal way of thinking, Christ's
rather odd case of mixed-species genetics is an outlandish fantasy that,
biologically, makes no sense at all. It's sort of like crossing an iguana with
an apricot to produce a reptilian fruit tree. But; the circumstances of Christ's
conception are in the Bible, so those of us who call ourselves Christians have
got to accept it.
"Faith is believin' what you know ain't so" (Mark Twain)
Now, here's the inescapable ramification:
Like reproduces its like. In other words, when David reproduced, he fathered
a human being like himself in every way. When God reproduced, He fathered
a divine being like Himself in every way; ergo: Christ is just as much God as
God, in the same way that Christ is just as much David as David.
_
MONOGENES
● John 1:18 . . No man has seen God at any time; the only-begotten god
who is in the bosom position with the Father is the one that has explained
him.
John 1:14, John 1:18, John 3:16, John 3:18, and 1John 4:9 contain the
Greek word monogenes (mon-og-en-ace') which is a combination of two
words.
The first is mono, which music buffs recognize as a single channel rather
than two or four in surround sound stereo. Mono is very common; e.g.
monogamy, monofilament, monotonous, mononucleotide, monochrome,
monogram, monolith, monologue, monomial, et al.
The other word is genes; from whence we get the English word gene; which
Webster's defines as a biological term indicating a part of a cell that controls
or influences the appearance, growth, etc., of a living thing. In other words:
monogenes refers to one biological gene set rather than many.
Monogenes always, and without exception, refers to parents' sole biological
child in the New Testament. If parents have two or more biological children,
none of them qualify as monogenes because in order to qualify as a
monogenes child, the child has to be an only child.
Obviously then, an adopted child can never be monogenes because it
wouldn't be the parents' biological child. Examples of monogenes children
are located at Luke 7:12, Luke 8:42, and Luke 9:38.
So then, scientifically speaking, Christ is unique in that he is God's sole
biological offspring, while God's other sons are not; viz: they're placed as
sons, i.e. adopted. (Rom 8:15-16, Gal 4:4-6, Eph 1:4-5)
Q: God literally fathered a child?
A: I think it's probably a bit more accurate to say that God literally co
fathered a child.
Q: How did he do it? Is there a Mrs. God? And who was the other father?
A: Jesus' conception, described at Luke 1:26-35, wasn't only miraculous, it
was a very unusual combination of human and divine.
David contributed the human component. (Luke 1:32, Acts 13:22-23, Rom
1:1-3, and 2Tim 2:8)
God contributed the divine component. (Luke 1:35 and 1John 3:9)
Jesus then, is just as much God's progeny as he is David's; and just as much
David's progeny as he is God's.
Q: What about Heb 11:17 where Isaac is stated to be Abraham's monogenes
child? Wasn't Ishmael a biological child of his too?
A: Isaac is the only biological child that Abraham and Sarah produced
together; just as Jesus is the only biological child that God and Man
produced together.
To say that this is all very baffling, illogical, unscientific, and unreasonable
would be an understatement. In my mind's normal way of thinking, Christ's
rather odd case of mixed-species genetics is an outlandish fantasy that,
biologically, makes no sense at all. It's sort of like crossing an iguana with
an apricot to produce a reptilian fruit tree. But; the circumstances of Christ's
conception are in the Bible, so those of us who call ourselves Christians have
got to accept it.
"Faith is believin' what you know ain't so" (Mark Twain)
Now, here's the inescapable ramification:
Like reproduces its like. In other words, when David reproduced, he fathered
a human being like himself in every way. When God reproduced, He fathered
a divine being like Himself in every way; ergo: Christ is just as much God as
God, in the same way that Christ is just as much David as David.
_
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