Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

What is meant by the word "begotten" when it's said that Jesus is the only begotten son of God?

In the Quran, Jesus is born of virgin Mary without a father, different to the way you & I and the other prophets were born. He is regarded as massih (the Messiah) and referred to as Roohu'Allah, the Spirit of God. This makes sense to me, but "begotten" brings the notion of intercourse to my mind, which belittles God. If "begotten" makes sense to anyone, please enlighten me. By the way, my problem isn't with Jesus and the essence of Christianity but rather, with the man-made theology associated with it.

Update:

I think I've been a little misunderstood, the concept of begetting in my mind is associated with sex, which is the way we human beings procreate...there's nothing degrading about it for us, but for God, it is BE and IT IS. If begetting means bringing about without sexual intercourse then I have no problem with it. I was trying to find if there's an issue with the Quranic version of the birth of Christ, and what I understand from most of you who have been kind to answer is that both narratives are reconcilable now that the meaning of begotten is made clear to me. And I have absolutely no problem with the Messiah being born of a virgin, my problem was with anthropomorphism.

8 Answers

Relevance
  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    During his preaching, Jesus had never called himself as God or Son-God. Now, look upon those people who consider Jesus as God or Son-God. They are, baselessly, blaming even those people who were present at the spot and knew that Jesus was not God or son-god. In other words, the people with the belief that Jesus is God or Son-god; are far more enemies of Jesus who tried to crucify him.

    •The people who say that Jesus is God or Son-God or in his guise, the Lord descended upon earth because of God’s love for humanity. They are, baselessly, blaming Jesus and the Lord of Jesus, the both.

    According to Jesus, God, the Holy One; is the Saviour of the Whole mankind. God is capable (be God glorified as God is) to relive off every infliction. None of the human beings is saviour beside God. Jesus, himself is also, not a saviour at all. The people who have chosen him as their saviour__ they have denied the Holy One___ who alone is the saviour of Jesus and whole mankind and the act of choosing Jesus as saviour__ is equal to hate the Holy One___ as it is clearly written in the old Testament:-

    “I am the Lord your God. Worship no God but Me. Do not make for yourself images of anything in heavens or on earth or in the water under the earth. Do not bow down to any idol or worship it. Because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me, on their descendants, down to third and fourth generation.”

    (Exodus 20:1-5)

    Now, ponder over the point that whosoever says that Jesus is God___ Holy Spirit is God___ Mary is God; has he not made an idol beside the One God? While nothing is there in the earth and heavens which could be considered in terms of the One God.

    Beware please! A father is a father__ a mother is a mother___ and a son is a son__ and they all are the creatures of God. They cannot be considered as God___ as god is their Creator__ and nothing is like the Lord.

    Creatures of God are God’s Creatures they can never be considered as God or as the parts of God. Same is the case of Jesus who is a creature and, as such, can not be considered as God or a part of the Creator or the son of Creator.

    •Jesus is not a Saviour. He is not capable, even, to save himself from his enemies. How he can be considered “All-Able” to save everyone on the earth. It is the Lord alone__ Who is the All-Able to save every creature of the universe including the mankind__ as the Lord is already saving__ each of them__ without any desolation and defect.

    Jesus was born after Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ismael, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, Moses and the numerous other Prophets (peace & blessings of God be upon all of them). If he were the Son-God, then, all of the foregoing Prophets, must have been the believers of Trinity. But the case is not like that at all. None of them was the believer of Trinity, rather, none of them, had, even, heard about the name of Trinity, in their times. Hence, Trinity is nothing else but an invented and artificial concept which has no existence, even, during the time of Jesus. It is, therefore, a rootless concept from all accounts.

    Prior to Jesus, the Lord had created Eve, without mother__ and Adam, without mother and father, the both. Afterwards, the Lord created Jesus without father. So the creation of Jesus, without father, is the third instance of the Lord’s all-encompassing creativity___ which is free from all the channels or systems of the birth. Instead, all the channels or systems of the birth are subservient to the all-encompassing and unique creativity of the Lord.

    The Lord is, therefore, Holy and the Lord must be believed in, as Holy. To ascribe a son unto the Lord__ is a direct assault on the Lord’s Holiness__ which is an unpardonable crime.

    since Adam to Noah__ Noah to Abraham__ Abraham to David, David to Moses__ Moses to Jesus and Jesus to Muhammad (peace & blessings of God be upon all of them) all the Prophets were slaves or servants of the Lord. And, in their servant-n-master or slave-n-lord based relationship__ all of them had__ all the qualities of servants & slaves definitely. That is why that all of them stood as servants & slaves of the Lord__ throughout their lives__ and obeyed their Lord in the most positive terms.

    In the lines:-

    “Honour the Lord, you descendants of Jacob!

    Worship the Lord, you people of Israel!”

    Jesus is advising the descendants of Jacob and the people of Israel to honour and worship the Holy One. The same thing has been advised in Quran after Torah by the Almighty God to whole mankind. It means that God of Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon each of them) is One, the Holy One. Who alone, is to be honoured and worshipped ___ by the people of Jesus__ by the people__ of Muhammad__ and by the whole mankind.

    Like Jesus, Mary and Moses every Prophet and every righteous person has praised__ honoured__ and worshipped the Lord, alone. So, the followers of all the Scriptures, should naturally praise__ honour__and worship the Lord alone as that__ and only that__ is the true faith and all of us should keep our Lord alone as our saviour with us here and hereafter.

    Torah, Psalms, Gospel and Quran, all the Scriptures are saying that God is One, the Holy One. So whosoever does not believe in One God, he is definitely denying all the Scriptures. Such a person can not be considered as a believer at all.

    No Prophet or a righteous-man has ever dared to say that he, himself, should be honoured like God or worshipped like God. Satan, of course, had certainly said to Jesus to worship him in place of God but Jesus had responded in the following way:-

    “Go away Satan! The Scripture says: Worship the Lord you God and serve only the Lord.”

    (Matthew 4:10)

    In the same way, Jesus has responded in his prayer on the cross while uttering the following lines of the Verse No.23:-

    “Praise the Lord, you servants of the Lord!

    Honour the Lord, you descendants of Jacob!

    Worship the Lord, you people of Israel!”

    No doubt, it is a matter of simple common-sense that when God is One__ the Lord is One__ the saviour is one__ the Holy and Only One__ then, how his slaves or servants__ can be held as worthy of the honour & service__ which is meant for the Holy One alone. But alas! The people are honouring and serving the slaves and servants__ just like the Lord. Rather, they have chosen them as God & the Lord__ in place of the Holy One. And__ Christians are the pioneers of such ideas. They have straightaway declared Jesus as God & Lord and the Saviour. Rather, they hold Jesus as the sole sovereign of the Day of Judgement, instead of the Lord, the Almighty God, the Holy One.

  • 1 decade ago

    The Son is eternally "begotten" by the father. He procedes from the Father. John 1:1 states the Word was with God and was God. Same substance, two persons.

  • 1 decade ago

    God is the literal father of Jesus. Jesus inherited divine attributes from God, just as he inherited mortal attributes from Mary. No sex was involved. With the technology we have today, it is possible for a woman to conceive a child without ever having sex. It is not hard to imagine, then, that God could have been the literal father of Jesus without having had sex with Mary. His ways are higher than our ways, after all.

  • 1 decade ago

    It means that Jesus is the only Child of God in the "flesh." And why do you feel it is so degrading for a God to create a son that way.? Did your parents degrade themselves when they created you that way? Perhaps you just have an unhealthy view of how things are created.

  • How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
  • To be the biological father of,,,or To cause to come into existence...It is written ONLY BEGOTTEN SON..God is Jesus' father..Jesus came as a living sacrifice for all man kind to live and not die..

  • 1 decade ago

    Begotten, begat, begetted... All mean the same thing - fathered by someone.

    Abraham begat Issac who begat Jacob, etc.

    Jesus (the man) was fathered by God.

  • Shossi
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago

    I do not look at the word as anything sexual. It is a word from the Bible often used to tell who a father was.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    It is simply an old way of saying "come from", or bred from I suppose. You are begotten of your parents.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.