[B-Greek] MONOGENHS in the fourth gospel
Leonard Jayawardena
leonardj at live.com
Tue Sep 28 07:40:09 EDT 2010
The question was asked as to why I consider QEOS in MONOGENHS QEOS in John 1:18 to be a "common noun." A "common noun," according to my dictionary, is "a name that can be applied to all of the members of a class."
I understand Jesus to be God only in a qualitative sense so that it is possible for there to be more than one such god in that class--hence my use of the term "common noun." I believe that to be the view of divinity of Christ presented in this book and the rest of the NT. In John 1:1c, QEOS is qualitative, as anarthrous pre-verbal predicate nominatives usually are (see Wallace's Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, p. 256ff). The nature of Christ's divinity is explicitly stated in John 14: 9: "He who has seen me has seen the father." Obviously, Jesus was not referring to his physical appearance; He manifested God's nature and character, and he who sees that sees God.
(To those who would object to this view of Christ's divinity on the basis of certain statements in John and elsewhere in the scriptures referring to his "pre-incarnate existence," I would reply by saying that all such passages can be adequately explained in terms of Jesus being the incarnate wisdom of God [Proverbs 8; cf. Luke 11:49; 1 Corinthians 1:24, 30]. I mentioned this only to forestall such an objection [either on or off-list], any debate on which point does not belong in this forum. As for hO LOGOS [John 1:1] or hO LOGOS TOU QEOU [Revelation 19:13] as an appellative of Christ, this is based on Judges 3:20, where Ehud’s “message from God” [LXX: LOGOS QEOU] for Eglon king of Moab is a thrust from his two-edged sword [LXX: MACHAIRAN DISTOMON] into Eglon’s belly [vv. 16, 21]. The word of God is compared to a MACHAIRAN DISTOMON in Hebrews 4:12. Compare the allusion to the story in Judges in Revelation 19:13-16. Like the wisdom of God, this, too, provides an adequate explanation for hO LOGOS TOU QEOU as an appellative of Christ without positing a personal pre-incarnate existence of Christ.)
Let me deal with MONOGENHS hUIOS before MONOGENHS QEOS. MONOGENHS hUIOS as an appellative of Christ is based on the divine declaration at the baptism of Christ as reported in Mt. 3:17 (hO hUIOS MOU hO AGAPHTOS) and para. and at the transfiguration (Mt. 17:5 and para). This in turn is based on Genesis 22:2, where Isaac is referred to as "your son, your only son, whom you love." The Septuagint translation is TON hYION SOU TON AGAPHTON, hON HGAPHSAS. "only son" is yahid in Hebrew, which LXX renders here by AGAPHTOS. In Hebrews 11:17 and Josephus, Ant. 1:222, yahid in Genesis 22:2 is rendered by MONOGENH. Therefore MONOGENHS in the Johannine writings (John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9) is practically synonymous with AGAPHTOS as used in the divine declarations at Jesus' baptism and transfiguration. Cf. the Parable of the Vineyard, where the proprietor "had yet one, a beloved son [hUION AGAPHTON]" (Mark 12:6). I take the view that Jesus is called MONOGENHS hUIOS because during his earthly life he was the only son of God in that full and complete sense of the term. Indeed all occurrences of the expression MONOGENHS hUIOS in the NT pertain to Christ's earthly life. After him, there were many sons of God like him, so he was not MONOGENHS hUIOS for ever.
Now to MONOGENHS QEOS. A dog begets another dog. A cat begets another cat. A human begets another human. Similarly, when God begets another, the result must be another god. Of course, we know that God does not literally beget anyone, since he has no physical reproductive system, and nor can God beget another who is literally God, but still if what God begets is not another god in some sense, then this metaphor of begetting as applied to God has no meaning. Just as children of humans are humans, so children of God must be gods. That is simple logic. So if during his earthly life Jesus was MONOGENHS hUIOS, then he was also MONOGENHS QEOS. As explained above, he was QEOS in a qualitative sense only. Those who became children of God after him also became QEOI. And that is why I said that QEOS in MONOGENHS QEOS is a "common noun."
In John 10:30, Jesus quotes Psalm 82:6, where the judges of Israel are called QEOI (cf. Exodus 21:6, where judges who acted in God's name are called "God," Heb. elohim). This shows the possibility of humans being "gods" or "God" without their being literally God.
Leonard Jayawardena
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