What Does It Mean That Jesus Is the “Only Begotten Son” and “Begotten, Not Made”?

What does it mean that Jesus is God’s only begotten Son? Today, Joel Kim explains the biblical and theological significance of this title and why it’s essential to distinguish between being begotten and being made.

NATHAN W. BINGHAM: This week on the Ask Ligonier podcast, we’re recording live from Ligonier’s 2024 National Conference, and we’re joined by Reverend Joel Kim who’s the president at Westminster Seminary California. Reverend Kim, what does it mean that Jesus is God’s only begotten Son, and what is the difference between begotten and made?

REV. JOEL KIM: Obviously, the question actually comes from a creed that some churches and many of us recite as well. I’m going to open it up right here for myself as well, where the Nicene Creed, basically in its second paragraph, begins by saying, “And in our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made”— which is part of the question here—“being of one substance with the Father.”

One thing that the Nicene Creed wants to emphasize is that God, Jesus is God—not just divine qualities, but that Jesus is God. And the language being used here is “begotten Son of God.” And oftentimes, as we hear the word “begotten,” we think human generation of some kind. But the creed itself actually goes on to explain further in the next line by saying “begotten of the Father before all worlds.”

Now, one thing that’s important for us to recognize why that explanation is there was the controversy that led to the Nicene Creed’s discussion was the fact that there were groups of people who argued that Jesus was not God, though divine, and that He was adopted in some form. It’s all these discussions of the Trinitarian and Christological formulas, but in particular, the Arians argued, “There was a time when Jesus was not,” as if to say that Jesus was a creation of God first created by God.

And what the creed tries to emphasize is us understanding by its saying “begotten of the Father before all the worlds” is to indicate that there was no time when Jesus was not. “Begotten” is a language not indicating the fact that He’s created, but He is related to God—in fact, related in such a way that all the qualities that He has are not only divine, it ultimately means that He is indeed God. He was made before time. This is where the doctrine of eternal generation of the Son is emphasized for us.

Now, the way it goes on to explain further is to point out, using the word “begotten,” and then making the negative clear by saying “begotten, not made.” And what’s intriguing is that if you look through the gospel of John in particular, it begins with the reference back to Genesis itself in terms of what happened at the moment of creation and that, as many of us remember in John 1:1 very well: “In the beginning was the Word . . . the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And then it goes on to point out that nothing was made without the Word—that is, to indicate that indeed God the Father and God the Son—the relationship is clear as God—but at the same time, you come to realize that all things that were made came from Him. That’s emphasized not only in John; 1 John later on, chapter 5, goes on to talk about the true God who created all things (1 John 5:20). And you may recall in Colossians, Paul emphasizes that as well in terms of the hymn talking about Jesus as being the Creator Himself (Col. 1:16–17).

As a result, this is to distinguish between those things that God, Jesus as God is creating versus Jesus, who is eternally generated from God. It’s a distinction that they want to make clearly. Even the verbal usage in the gospel of John changes in the prologue to very much indicate that God is, Jesus is before time, and the way we describe that biblically is to say, “The Father begat Jesus,” but it’s before time and certainly not made, to distinguish ultimately and to point out, as the creed emphasizes for us, that Jesus is God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, or true God in who He is.

And so here, I’m not even exactly sure if I explained this in a way that’s clear to everyone, but the Nicene Creed’s intention is to say, “Created before time, eternal generation, not the creation, but the One who creates.”