Anglican Morning Devotion, 18 November 2021 Anno Domini
A ministry of the Anglican Orthodox Communion Worldwide
“I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.”
(Psalms 2:7; all scripture quoted is from the King James Verions)
“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” (John 1:18)
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.: (John 3:16-18)
In view of the fact that all we of faith are sons and daughters of God, referring to our Lord as an only Son would not only be inaccurate, but blasphemous, in claiming His relationship to the Father in His eternal existence as equivalent to ours. The fact that our Lord Jesus Christ is the only Begotten of the Father immediately and finally distinguishes Him from those of us who are sons and daughters by way of adoption. Your new versions have a penchant to demean the divinity of Christ at every remunerative opportunity. But to blur the distinction between the sinless One and those whose sins He has covered is outright heresy. Check your Bibles to see if you have one faithful to the Word, or contrary to it.
We have memorized from childhood the most profound verse of the Bible, John 3:16. Because it is written in reverent English and metered to aid memory. We have never forgotten at least that one verse. The term, in Greek, for Begotten is monogenes. It means ‘a child born to parents.’ Our Lord Jesus Christ was born by way of the womb of a woman (the Virgin Mary), but Jesus had no blood of sinful man coursing through His body. An only Begotten Son must be born of two parents in a legal relationship. For example, Isaac is considered the only begotten son of Abraham even though Abraham had another son through his servant girl, Hagar. Ishmael was not considered the only begotten of Abraham because he came in the course of man’s sin and not the will of God.
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:17-18) You can see that God is referring to you and me as adopted by virtue of the redemption. Though we can lay claim to no righteousness on our own part, we do enjoy the imputed righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ by virtue of the adoption and election into the family of God. That draw a stark distinction between the most Holy One and those whom He has redeemed.
Then what does this verse in Psalms mean? “I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” (Psalms 2:7) Our Lord Jesus Christ is the physical manifestation of God in the Father. Though he took upon Himself the Incarnation of man, and was thus begotten from the councils of Heaven from eternity past, He is nevertheless the only member of mankind that took upon Himself a body made of flesh and subject to all the temptations and turmoils (and more) to which we are subject. In that sense, He is Begotten of the Father.
In a sense, we, too, are begotten spiritually at conversion; but not in the same sense as physically after the very image of God which was marred at Eden. We lack the righteousness of a son of God, but we are considered righteous owing to the justification made available through the sacrifice of our Lord.
But no man on earth has been born with the exclusive blood of the Father to give him life. Our blood is tainted with sin in spite of all our efforts to the contrary. We have a deadly blood disease which can only be healed by the pure and righteous blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Please check the two leading verses of this devotion to determine if you have an inspired Bible that is inerrant, or a Bible that is manipulated by men to gain profit and political advantage.
