24th July 2025

The title ‘Son of God’ is used in many different ways in the Old Testament, and could refer to a king (Psalm 2:6-7 NIVUK), angels (Job 1:6; 2:1 NIVUK; footnote: hebrew the sons of God) or the nation of Israel (Deuteronomy 32:8 NIVUK; footnote: hebrew the sons of God). Yet in the case of Jesus, it takes on a singular depth. Throughout the Synoptic Gospels, moments of revelation affirm Jesus’s identity. At his baptism, a voice from heaven proclaims, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’ (Matthew 3:17). A similar proclamation occurs at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:5). Jesus himself affirmed that he is the Son of God (Mark 14:61-62) and Paul, writing within decades of Jesus’ life, attests: ‘…God sent his Son, born of a woman…’ (Galatians 4:4). 

The early church grappled with the implications of Jesus’s divine sonship. Was he merely a human adopted by God, or did he possess a pre-existent, divine nature? Harking back to the Genesis story of creation, John places the Word (Jesus) ‘In the beginning’, that is, before the creation of the universe ‘…the Word was with God, and the Word was God’ (John 1:1). John goes on to identify that Word as the only begotten Son (John 1:18 NKJV) who was coming into time, taking on human flesh and human nature (v.14). 

The term ‘begotten’, used by John and included in this clause of the Creed, defines Christ as of his Father. In this eternal relationship, he is begotten, not made. The Father-Son relationship precedes any Creator-creature relationship. To call Jesus ‘begotten’ is not merely to speak about an event or a moment in time, but to delve into the very heart of the relationship within the Trinity and the identity of Christ as both fully divine and fully human.

To the modern ear, the word ‘begotten’ can be perplexing. In everyday language, to beget is to father, to bring forth offspring. However, when applied to the relationship between the Father and the Son in Christian theology, the term takes on a unique, transcendent meaning.

Here ‘begotten’ is contrasted with ‘made’. All creatures are ‘made’ by God: they have a beginning in time and are brought into existence from nothing. In contrast, the Son is ‘begotten’ of the Father, meaning that his origin is not rooted in creation but in the very being of God. The begetting of the Son is not an event in time but an eternal relationship: the Son is eternally begotten, without beginning or end: “The Son’s ‘begetting’ is eternal – or, according to a literal translation of the Greek, ‘out of the Father before all eons.’ From all eternity and without a starting point the Son is generated, begotten from the Father. A human son has a starting point from which he begins to exist. Not so for the Son of God. The Son is before all things.” ¹

This understanding preserves both the unity and distinction within the Godhead. The Father begets; the Son is begotten. This relationship is not an act of creation or subordination but an expression of the eternal and infinite communion of love within the Trinity. It also means that Jesus is the perfect revelation of the Father (John 14:9; Hebrews 1:1-4 NIVUK). The Son makes the invisible God known, not as a detached representative but as the very radiance of God’s glory. As T.F. Torrance said, ‘…There is…no God behind the back of Jesus Christ…  only this God whose face we see in the face of the Lord Jesus…’ ²   If we want to know what God is like, look at Jesus, who is ‘full of grace and truth’ (John 1:14).

¹ Ray, Stephen, and Walters, Dennis, The Faith For Beginners: Understanding the Creeds, pp 45-46.
² Torrance, T.F.  The Christian Doctrine of God, pp. 243-244.

Local congregation:
Grace Communion West Hampstead 
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
London
NW6 2BA

Meeting time:
Sunday 12.30 pm

Local congregational contact:
Gordon Brown
gordon.brown@gracecom.church

Word of Life contact:  
wordoflife@gracecom.church