Begotten, not made…
“Begotten” isn’t a word much in usage today. Perhaps that’s a good thing. In the King James Bible, the word, “begat” occurs a lot. You know Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob and so on. In 1 Chronicles, the first nine chapters are devoted to who begat whom. (Recommended reading if you’re having trouble sleeping.)
In more modern translations, the same texts use the phrases, “became the father of” or “was the son of” depending on whether the writer is going forward or backward with his genealogy. Which leaves the word, “begotten” only used in reference of God the Father and God the Son. This is appropriate, because the Son is the only one who ever was begotten. The rest of us are made. We are made from the gene pool of our mother and our father. The Son was not made He always has been and he always will be.
The Father is the Begetter. I know that’s kind of obvious, right? What may not be so obvious is how the Father Begat the Son. St. John, in John chapter 1 many times refers to the Son as the Word. St. Francis de Sales, in his Treatise on Divine Love describes it like this: “It shall see clearly then, shall this understanding, the infinite knowledge which God the Father had from all eternity of His own beauty, for the expression of which in Himself, He pronounced and said eternally the Word, the Verbum, or the most singular and most infinite speech and diction, which comprising and representing all the perfection of the Father, can be but one same God, entirely one with Him, without division or separation.”
The Father breathed the Word. The Word is the Son. He is begotten of the Father, of the Father’s love, before all eternity. How that came to be is something we can’t understand. It is too lofty for us. Certainly too lofty for me, that’s why I had to rely on St. Francis to describe it. I can’t. What I can do is believe it. I can glorify God for it. For in the Word, in the Divine Son of God, the foundation is laid for the Son of God to also be Son of Man. And that is a wonderful thing.
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