monogenes, "only begotten son"?

Christian Party

Monogenes

Only begotten son?

We know from the following verse that "monogenes" cannot mean "only begotten son", because Isaac was one of many of Abraham's sons, and wasn't even the firstborn son.

Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten [monogenes] son,

Even though Ishmael was born of Abraham's wife's Egyptian slave, he was literally Abraham's firstborn son, and being dispossessed of his inheritance should not have changed that title. Esau was the firstborn son, and was still referred to as a Isaac's firstborn son even after God HATED Him and his parents despised him for marrying Canaanite women.

Isaac was also not the ONLY begotten son of Abraham, because Abraham had six sons with his wife Keturah alone. Since "monogenes" is a bit more complicated than just "only begotten son", let's look at the Hebrew verse in the "old" testament which Paul was quoting:

Genesis 22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

"Only son" in this verse was translated from a Hebrew word "yachiyd" which appears to mean many more things than "only":

H3173

יחיד

yâchîyd

Total KJV Occurrences: 13

only, 7

Gen_22:2, Gen_22:16, Jdg_11:34, Pro_4:3, Jer_6:26, Zec_12:10 (2)

Psa_22:20, Psa_35:17

Jdg_11:34

Psa_25:16

Psa_68:6

Jer_6:26

Rather than "only", the only meaning that would fit in Isaac's situation is "darling", as it was translated in the following verse:

Psalms 35:17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.

Certainly "darling" here refers to their "darling son", not necessarily their only son, so the above verse about Isaac can clearly be translated as follows:

And he said, Take now thy son, thine [darling] son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

So now the only question is whether or not Paul intended to say the following:

By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his [darling] son,

The other key place where "monogenes" appears is a direct quote from Jesus by John:

John 3:16 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.

Certainly Jesus knew that the only figure in Scripture who God ever called "my firstborn son" is Jacob:

And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel [Jacob] is my son, even my firstborn: Exodus 4:22

But in this verse, there's no question about the meaning of "firstborn", because it was translated from "bekor" [Strong's #1010] which appears in Scripture 117 times and always refers to the firstborn, firstling, or eldest.

There's no question that God referred to Jacob as His firstborn son even though Esau was born first, and there's no question that Jesus knew that, so there's no question that Jesus was quoting Exodus 4:22 rather than making up new commandments. It's not possible that Jacob could be God's firstborn son at the same time that Jesus was His only begotten son. Therefore "monogenes" refers to firstborn son and not only begotten son, and Jesus referred to Jacob and not to Himself.