[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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