[B-Greek] Unique Vs. Begotten

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Wed Jun 8 06:50:18 EDT 2005


On Jun 7, 2005, at 11:50 PM, Gary Hedrick wrote:

>     I didn't mean to provoke any sort of theological discussion, so  
> let
> me ask my question in another way.  Does MONOGENHS derive from GINNAW
> (beget) or GENWMAI (become)?
>     Also, is being born or begotten the only way to become a son
> (hUIOS)?

As James already noted, we've been around this bend before. MONOGENHS  
(stem MONOGENES-)
derives from the noun GENOS/GENES, NOT from GENNAW (there is no verb  
GINNAW) nor from
the verb GINOMAI (itself a reduplicated present from GEN/GON). It  
DOES mean "unique, sole of
its kind."

As for the second question ("is being born or begotten the only way  
to become a son/hUIOS),
the answer is clearly; NO. Adoption is a standard practice in many  
cultures, certainly that of
ancient Israel, and the title hUIOS TOU QEOU is originally a  
Messianic title applied to kings of
the Davidic dynasty on the basis of the oracle of Nathan to David in  
2 Sam 7. Raymond Brown
in _The Birth of the Messiah_ discusses how Matthaean and Lucan birth  
narratives may be
understood in terms of Joseph's adoption of Jesus although he is not  
a biological heir. I don't
mean to open up that question (which is certainly not appropriate for  
discussion here) but
simply to point out that adoptive sonship is a standard model.  
There's a standard word for it
that is used in the GNT for the manner in which believers become  
hUIOI and co-heirs with
Jesus Christ: it is hUIOQESIA, found 5x in the GNT:  Rom. 8:15, Rom.  
8:23. Rom. 9:4, Gal. 4:5, Eph. 1:5.


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/




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