THE ETERNAL GENERATION OF THE SON

Stuart Olyott

The title of this chapter may sound complicated, so let us be clear what we are talking about here. We are considering the 'personal properties' of the Persons of the Godhead. There are certain things which can be said about each of them, which cannot be said about the other two.

'What are the personal properties of the three persons in the Godhead?' asks the catechism quoted at the end of the last chapter. The answer is simply profound: 'It is proper to the Father to beget the Son, and to the Son to be begotten of the Father, and to the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and the Son from all eternity.'

This tells us that if we isolate two issues, we can deal fully with this question of 'personal properties'. We must talk about the Father begetting, and the Son being begotten. We will do that now, in this chapter. Then we must deal with the procession of the Holy Spirit, and we will do that in the chapter that follows.

The key word at this point is the word 'son', and we will be greatly helped if we immediately recognize that the Bible uses this word in a number of different ways. We must, at all costs, avoid the crude notion that because Jesus is called the 'Son of God', this implies that God had a child.

Sometimes the word means 'son', pure and simple; but it is also used loosely, in the sense of 'descendant'. The descendants of Israel are thus known as 'the children of Israel' or, as it is in the Hebrew of the Old Testament, 'the sons of Israel'. But very often the word does not carry the idea of 'being born' at all. Zion's citizens are called 'sons of Zion'. The pupils or disciples of the prophets are 'the sons of the prophets' (1 Kings 20:35). Rough and unprincipled people are known as 'sons of Belial' (Deuteronomy 13:13), while someone who deserves to die is a 'son of death' (1 Samuel 20:31). These examples are from the Old Testament, but similar uses of the word are found in the New Testament.

We are not surprised, therefore, to find the expression 'sons of God', and do not immediately jump to the conclusion that God has descendants. Earthly rulers are described as 'sons of the most High' (Psalm 82:6), because their power is delegated to them by God, and they exercise it under Him. The expression 'sons of God' is used to describe angels (Job 1:6), as well as the men and women who are the special objects of God's love-- Christian disciples who have received the privilege of adoption, and are received as members of God's household (Matthew 5:9, 45; Galatians 3:26). But when the title 'sons of God' is used of creatures, whether they be human beings or angels, it is always used in the plural. It is only when it is used of the Lord Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, that it is used in the singular. The only exception to this is in Luke 3:38, where it is used of Adam. The reason for this is obviously because Adam owed his life directly to God, without the involvement of a human father.

But in considering this title 'Son of God' which is used of our Lord Jesus Christ (John 19:7), we must realize that the word 'son' is not used in any of the ways we have so far described. He is not the Son of His Father in the sense that He had a beginning. Nor is the phrase merely an exalted title, like that applied to earthly rulers. Nor is it simply a device to remind us that He became a Man by supernatural means, and not by ordinary generation–though of course it does remind us of that (see Luke 1:35). Nor is it a quaint way of saying that He was nearer to God than anyone else. Its use is altogether different. The first Person of the Trinity is called 'Father' to show to us what is His eternal relationship with the Son. The second Person of the Trinity is called 'Son' to show us what relationship He in turn has to the first Person. 'Father' and 'Son' are everyday titles. But they help to convey to our poor minds something of the relationship which these two Persons eternally enjoy between themselves.

The terms suggest and imply that the Son is what He is, because of the Father. But they do not imply that the Father is what He is because of the Son. The same idea is suggested by the phrase 'the only begotten' which the Scriptures so often use. He is 'the only begotten of the Father' (John 1:14); 'the only begotten Son' (John 1:18; 3:16); and 'the only begotten Son of God' (John 3:18). The Son owes His generation to the Father, but the same cannot be said the other way round. On two other occasions the term 'firstborn' is used–a term which simply underlines that He was before all creation (Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:6). The relationship between the Father and the Son is obviously unique. None the less the Scripture is prepared to help our mortal minds to understand, by speaking of it in terms of generation and birth. It is also said that the Son is the express image of God the Father, and the shining forth of His glory (Hebrews 1:3). It would be impossible for Him to be what He is without the Father. But God the Father is never said to be the express image of God the Son.

We are not suggesting that the Father created the Son. The Athanasian Creed is right to declare that 'The Son is from the Father alone, neither made, nor created, but begotten.' The Lord Jesus Christ is not 'a creature. We saw in chapter 4 that He is God, as the Father is God. Both are God; both are God both are God eternally, and both are God in same sense. Nor are we saying that God the chose to do something, or that something had not happened came to happen. We are about something which takes place naturally in the Godhead, and has always done so–something is happening now, and has happened eternally. If this were not the case, there would be some change in the Godhead, and that is impossible. Besides, it would contradict the plain biblical teaching that Christ's 'goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting' (Micah 5:2; see Matthew 2:6 and John 7:42).

God the Father does not make God the Son to be God. He is God in His own right. And yet without God the Father, there would be no Person in the Godhead who is God the Son. The Son is what He is because of the Father. Within the Godhead there is something going on which is similar to thinking and speaking. The Son is the expression of the Father. It is for this reason that He is said to be 'the Word', who is with God, and is God, from the beginning (John 1:1-2). This is what the Son is. He could not be this, without God the Father. The Father could not find expression, without God the Son. This is the relationship which the first and second Persons of the Trinity have to each other.

Putting this in more technical language, we may again quote Louis Berkhof: 'The following definition may be given of the generation of the Son: it is that eternal and necessary act of the first person in the Trinity, whereby He, within the divine Being, is the ground of a second personal subsistence like His own, and puts this second person in possession of the whole divine essence, without any division, alienation or change' (Systematic Theology, p. 94).

Scripture after Scripture speaks of the mysterious truth we are discussing. The Lord Jesus Christ is God in His own right; but think of the ways in which He is described. Not only is He the Word of God (John 1:1), and the exact representation of His nature (Hebrews 1:3); but He is also in the form of God (Philippians 2:6), 'the image of the invisible God' (Colossians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 4:4). The main point is constantly pressed upon us. The Son could not be what He is, without God the Father. He is what He is because of God the Father.

It is important to emphasize that this relationship of the Son to the Father did not have a beginning. It has always been like this. We must not think that Jesus is only called 'the Son' since His birth as a Man in this world. John 1:14-18 makes it clear that it was His taking flesh that enabled men to see the only begotten of the Father, but He was the only begotten before then. He was God's dear Son when He made the universe (Colossians 1:14-20). It was not a status which came later. In the same way both Romans 1:3 and Galatians 4:4 speak of Him as being God's Son before they speak of His being born. He was the Son before He came in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3). He was the Son of God before God sent Him into the world (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9).

Hebrews 1:5-8 is a particularly important passage. As Son, the Lord Jesus Christ is declared to be God, and to reign upon an everlasting throne. It is He who as 'the firstbegotten' is brought into the world. His Sonship is eternal. This relationship with God the Father had no beginning. It is also unique and beyond our comprehension: 'No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him' (Matthew 11:27).

In John 5:16-47 Jesus speaks at some length about His unique relationship with God the Father. It is worth having these verses open before you for the next few minutes. The Greek of verse 18 shows that Jesus called God 'his own Father'–in other words, God was Father to Him in a way in which He was to nobody else. This came across clearly to the Jews who were listening, and they were angered that in this way He made Himself equal with God (verses 17-18). It is striking that Jesus' consciousness of His eternal generation did not lessen His consciousness of being equal with God. Yet He went on to show that although He did the same works as the Father, He was unable to work independently of the Father (verses 19-24). He could only judge because the Father had committed judgement to Him (verse 22). But this did not mean that He was to be treated as inferior to the Father. By no means! Indeed, He was to be given the honour that was given to the Father (verse 23)! If the Son was not honoured in this way, then the Father did not receive the honour due to Him. So He was aware of His Sonship, and aware that His Father had sent Him. Yet, incomprehensibly to our minds, He was aware of His equality and unity with the Father!

As the passage continues, Jesus claims that He has life in Himself, as does the Father. Unlike us, He was not made alive by anyone. He is alive in His own right. Even so, He goes on to say that He has life in Himself, only because His Father gave Him this quality (verse 26)! The divine prerogative of raising the dead also belongs to the Son of God (verse 25); and yet He can do nothing on His own initiative. All the power He exercises is because of His Father who has sent Him into the world, and whose will He loves to obey (verses 30, 36). He comes exercising divine powers (verse 40), and as the subject of the Scriptures (verses 39, 46), and yet He does not come in His own name, but in His Father's (verse 43). The whole passage shows that Jesus is God, in and of Himself. He is God in His own right. But it is clear also that the Son would be nothing at all if it were not for God the Father.

A very similar passage is found in John 10:22-42. Once more Jesus speaks of coming in His Father's name, and of the fact that those He has come to save are only His because the Father gave them to Him (verses 25, 29). He is only in the world because the Father sent Him (verse 36). That is the language of subordination. It reveals that the Son serves the Father. And yet in the same passage Christ's claims to deity are so obvious that the Jews once more thought of killing Him (verse 31). They accused Him of claiming to be God (verse 33), and they were not mistaken. That is exactly what Jesus was claiming! He claimed He could do what God alone can do–that is, give eternal life (verse 28). He claimed that He, like the Father, could not have snatched from His grasp those whom He had saved (verses 28-29). He claimed to be the Son of God, who was none the less one with the Father (verses 36, 30). He did not mean that He was one with His Father in the sense that a son on earth is. Such a person owes all that he is to his father; and so does the Son of God. Such a person is a separate person from his father; and so is the Son of God–in the sense that we are using 'person' in this book. But such a person could never say 'the Father is in me, and I in him' (verse 38). The Son is separate from the Father. The Son is subordinate to the Father, and sent into the world by Him. Yet the Son is one with the Father, and is God, as He is. Not only so–but each one is in the other. This is the mystery of the eternal generation of the Son. It is the mystery of the 'Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father' (The Nicene Creed).

But there are some problems which we can clear up, because they arise from individual verses. For instance, Hebrews 1:5 teaches that the following words from Psalm 2:7 refer to our Lord Jesus Christ: 'I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.' This appears to suggest that the Lord Jesus Christ can remember when He became God's Son. If this is so, we can no longer believe in His eternal generation. But if Christ is referring back to something which is eternally and continuously true, how else could He have said it? This is certainly what the rest of the Scriptures teach, and we would be wise to interpret this verse in the light of them, rather than the other way round.

In the same way Romans 1:4 and Acts 13:32-33 appear to suggest that Jesus was constituted the Son of God by the resurrection. It is hardly likely that Paul would say this in Romans 1:4, and then go on in Romans 8:3 to teach that He was Son before He came in the flesh. We also need to remember Romans 1:3. There Paul talks of Jesus as Son, before He mentions His birth. In verse 4 he is simply saying that the resurrection made His eternal identity clear.

In Acts 13:32, the first time the apostle uses the phrase 'raised up' (the word 'again' is not found in the Greek) he is referring to the raising up of Christ at His birth. When this phrase is used of the resurrection, it is always followed by the phrase 'from the dead', and you can see it used in this way in verse 34. Paul is here preaching that the Person who was born was the One who is said to be begotten by God. He was not afraid to touch on the great doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son in his gospel preaching!