The Only Begotten

Jesus is in such a league of his own that it just defies description. Nevertheless I’m going to explain in short order what has to be the most significant factor that makes him one of a kind. First of all the scriptures clearly and repeatedly tell us that he is “the only begotten of the Father” (Jn. 1:14,18; Jn. 3:16,18; I Jn. 4:9). What this means is that Jesus was brought forth wholly from the substance of the Father because he literally came out of him. That makes him God along with the Father, and the fact that only he was actually ‘begotten’ of the Father means that nobody else in existence is 'God’ (Jn. 1:1,2). It is the fact that he is completely and totally OF the Father’s substance that makes him alone deity among all who exist, or who have or will exist, other than the Father of course. Everyone and everything else in existence was created by him, as the scriptures also affirm to us (Jn. 1:3; Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:14-16; Heb. 1:2). So let’s get back to this 'substance’ issue, because the understanding about this is what cuts the legs off of the long standing idol called 'the trinity.’ The 'trinity’ doctrine claims that there are three persons of God who are one by means of sharing the same divine substance. Problem is there is nobody who has ever been able to tell us what that divine substance is, neither can anyone do so now. But this is a really easy 'mystery’ to solve, and the answer is sitting right in front of us in the Bible, like all of our needed answers are. Jesus clearly told us what constitutes God’s being: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (Jn. 4:24). So ‘God is a Spirit,’ or ‘God is Spirit,’ either way you want to say it. ‘Spirit’ is what God is, and that leaves us with the simple question of 'what kind of Spirit is God?’ But before we answer that question let’s point out that the Bible tells us in too many places to reference that God is also HOLY.

The scripture also shows us that there is only ‘one Spirit’ that is of God (I Cor. 12:13; Eph. 2:18; Eph. 4:4). So there is our answer: God is comprised of 'holy Spirit.’ That’s what he is. But before the 'oneness’ folks start running with that one, let’s also understand that the scriptures show clearly that God has a body (Exd. 33:20-23; Mat. 18:10; Jn 5:37). In fact my post yesterday gave the scriptural detail on that issue. But his body is a 'holy Spirit’ body, meaning it is a spiritual body. The Bible also tells us that “there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body” (I Cor. 15:44). So yes God has a body comprised of holy Spirit, and he also has holy Spirit within him that is not in bodily form. Nevertheless, as Jesus clearly said, “GOD IS A SPIRIT!” So God is nothing else but holy Spirit, which means that holy Spirit, or THE holy Spirit; however you want to say it, IS the substance of God. And of course what that means is that the holy Spirit of God is NOT a person, but rather it IS that 'mystery’ divine substance that comprises God. So if Jesus was directly begotten of the Father, what that means is that he also is altogether of holy Spirit substance. There’s nothing else that he can be, seeing he was begotten wholly of the substance of the Father. There simply is no room for a mix there. No wife involved, just the Father himself begat him from himself. But there is another element which has been added to the equation, and that is the fact that Jesus came from heaven and became a man. After dying for our sins and raising from the dead, he also ascended back to the Father who glorified him “with the glory which [he] had with [him] before the world was” (Jn. 17:5). We also know that Jesus is still a man because the scripture tells us, “there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the MAN Christ Jesus” (I Tim. 2:5).

So Jesus received all of the bodily glorification of holy Spirit that he had with the Father before, when he went back to heaven; but he received that glory onto and into the human body that he had when he was here. So while he had to become a man physically to die in our place and be our mediator, he once again became all God when he went back to heaven; and yet he retains the man quality because it was his human body that was glorified with the divine substance that he had from the beginning with God. That substance my friend is holy Spirit, which holy Spirit comprises his body, and also dwells within his body in non-bodily spirit form. So Jesus is a person with a body, and God the Father is a person with a body also, but the holy Spirit IS the substance that comprises them both and makes them 'one’ (Jn. 10:30; Jn. 17:21-23). Our being baptized with the holy Ghost and being led thereby afterward is also what makes obedient believers in Christ 'one,’ even as Jesus prayed for us to be (I Cor. 12:13; Jn. 17:21-23; Acts 4:32; Rom. 15:6; I Cor. 1:10; Rom. 8:14; I Jn. 2:27). Not only so, but when Jesus comes from heaven and raises his faithful who are dead and alive, our bodies also will be glorified with holy Spirit substance, making us immortal; and therein will be the “the manifestation of the sons of God” spoken of in the scriptures (I Thess. 4:16,17; I Cor. 15:52-54; Rom. 8:19). So the holy Ghost is absolutely the life substance of God, and it is the life substance that Jesus came to provide for us as well (Jn. 5:26; Jn. 10:10; Rom. 8:2). Nonetheless Jesus is still in a class of his own, and here is one more element that makes him that. Though Jesus had a beginning, and in fact IS the beginning, he is also eternal because his entire substance has always existed in the Father before he was begotten (Col. 1:18; Jn. 1:1; Prov. 8:22). So he is eternal in substance but he had a beginning in consciousness and form of body. Like I said, there’s nobody else like him. Amen.