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Only Begotten
ONLY BEGOTTEN (μονογενής, G3666, at times translating יָחִיד, H3495).
The word μονογενής, G3666, with its variations μουνογένεια and μουνόγονος, occurs in Gr. lit. in Hesiod, the Orphic Hymns, Parmenides, Plato, Herodotus, Apollonius Rhodius, Antoninus Liberalis and in a number of Gr. inscrs. While often signifying “sole descent” or “the only child of one’s parents,” in Hesiod’s Work and Days 374, Theogony 426, 448, and the Orphic Hymns 29:2, 32:1 and 40:16, it means “peerless,” “matchless,” “of singular excellence,” “unique,” or “the only one of his/her kind,” expressions denoting quality more than descent.
Bibliography F. Kattenbusch, “Only Begotten,” HDCG (1908), II, 281, 282; P. Winter, “ΜΟΝΟΓΕΝΗΣ ΠΑΡΑ ΠΑΤΠΟΣ,” Zeitschrift für Religions-und Geistesgeschichte, V (1953), 335-365; D. Moody, “God’s Only Son,” JBL, LXXII (1953), 213-219; F. Büchsel, “μονογενής, G3666,” TDNT, IV (1967), 737-741.
Article 2
(a) He reveals the Father: "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (
(b) He is the mediator of salvation: "God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him" (1
See also BEGOTTEN; PERSON OF CHRIST; SON OF GOD.
The reading "God only begotten" in