Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Jesus, the Son, Begotten of the Father.

Hebrews 1:3-5 (ESV)
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, [4] having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
[5] For to which of the angels did God ever say,

"You are my Son,
today I have begotten you"?

Or again,

"I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son"?


The Author of Hebrews makes some very good points here. Things we should be, as Christians, very cognizant of . God invites us to pray “our” father. Yet we are created, and not begotten. We are his children in a different manner than Jesus, and this is made clear in many different places. Jesus is the only begotten. God says he has begat Jesus, and therefore Jesus is the Son of the Father. He is no less God. Ducks beget ducks. Rabbits beget rabbits. Man begets man. God begets God. We are not begotten of God, we are adopted by him. Jesus is our brother according to His flesh, flesh he inherited from Mary when he was conceived by the Holy Ghost. Notice the conception was of the Holy Ghost, Spirit. Matthew 1:18 (ESV)
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:20 (ESV)
But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

He was not concived by the work of the Father. He was begotten of the Father, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. There was no “Rape of Europa” where the Virgin Mary is concerned as some around these parts would like us to believe, even as they say they believe the Bible to be the word of God. Jesus was begotten of the Father. Therefore he is God. Therefore his death on the cross was the victorious blow in the battle against death. There God died for the sins of all humanity, he accomplished our salvation. Therefore Jesus is exalted above every name, and sits at the right hand of God the Father.

8 comments:

Steve said...

Now just hold on a minute there.

I thought that the cross was the death reserved for Christians only.

Bror Erickson said...

Steve,
Are you serious? Or was that tongue in cheek. I tend to take it tongue in cheek, if I knew you were Steve Martin. But I don't know. You might be another Steve, visiting from a Calvinist camp. If you are then we can start to have some real fun.

Nancy said...

*: P

Nancy said...

Wait...were there ANY Christians BEFORE Christ died? If you are predestined...does that make it a done deal? Can destiny be changed? If it can...is it really destiny?

Bror Erickson said...

Nancy,
Of course there were Christians before Christ died. All who believed in the coming messiah. That is all the faithful Jews of the Old Testament.
As for predestination etc. The Bible simply doesn't talk about it in the way that Calvinists do.
The fact though is that Christ died for the WORLD. Because God so loved the WORLD. And God wants ALL to be saved and come to the knowledge of Truth. So Christ died for all. However, only Christians believe and therefore receive Christ in faith as the propitiation for their sins. Romans 3. In other words Christ died for all, but only those who believe are actually saved.

Nancy said...

"...but only those who believe are actually saved."

What wonderful grace is granted to those who(choose to?)believe!

Bror Erickson said...

No one chooses to believe, they are elected, chosen, God chooses them, grabs hold of them. But he does it in time, from eternity, through the means of grace, The Gospel, and the sacraments.

Nancy said...

Hmmm...*; ) Wonder just how many (different) measurements of "time" there are...before, after, always, never, during....eternity. Is from eternity, before or after or both? Or, maybe we are talking of smack in the middle....