[B-Greek] Begotten
bertdehaan at sympatico.ca
bertdehaan at sympatico.ca
Fri Feb 4 19:42:43 EST 2005
"T HILL" <terry_sda at blueyonder.co.uk>
on 2005/02/04 Fri AM 04:06:43 EST
Hi everyone
My name is Terry and I live in England. I have just joined this list hoping
that you can help me.
I know that the word 'begotten' as translated from the Greek 'monogenes' has
been probably discussed on this list many, many times but I would like to ask a
question about it.
Some (modern scholars it seems) say that 'monogenes' simply means 'unique' or
'one and only'. Now I have just read that the Greeks had (and still have) a
specific word that means 'unique' or 'one and only' which is 'monadikos' (which
i do not doubt). This article also said that it was used by such as Philo and
Aristotle meaning that this word was available to the John the gospel writer
who was the only Bible writer to apply 'monogenes' to Christ.
I am seeking confirmation of this and would appreciate any help that anyone can
give me. At the moment I am writing a paper on 'begotten' but am 'stuck' as far
as this is concerned. What I would really like is a specific reference to any
Greek writings (that I can quote) that actually used this word before the New
Testament was written although any help, whatever it is would really be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any replies.
Terry
----------------------
If you check out LSJ on Perseus, you'll find several references, some of which are under the definition "unique" and "only".
I don't have access to the references but maybe you do.
I have a Modern Greek dictionary and I find it interesting that the only gloss it gives is "one and only".
Bert de Haan.
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