Thank you for interpretative question on John 1:18, “How does the original text say “only begotten God” or “only Begotten Son” in John 1:18?”
In seeking to answer the question, here are some thoughts for one’s consideration:
- There is no original autograph or original text. Those written text has been lost or decayed over time since they were written on parchments or on animal skins.
- There is the preservation of the Greek text through the centuries. By comparing texts especially the earliest texts, scholars believe that they have the “original” writings of the New Testament writers. One may consider the works of Dr. Daniel Wallace of Dallas Theological Seminary and his project of listing and copying of all New Testaments scrolls/writings.
- The present Greek text is the accepted scholarly works or contested works.
- The modern translation from the Greek to English translation is based on the writers’ selection of Greek text and their translation/interpretation of the Greek text. One must remember that the writers wrote nearly everything was capitalized with limited punctuation marks.
Looking at John 1:18 from The NASB-NIV PARALLEL NEW TESTAMENT IN GREEK AND ENGLISH translation of the text. The text states the Greek literally translated word in the following manner:
“God no man has seen never (the) only begotten God the one being in the bosom of the Father that one has declared (him).”
It must be kept in mind that in Greek, the object (theon—God) can be placed at the beginning of a sentence for emphasis. In other words, one must know the “endings” to determine the case as the subject or object for example.
In verse 18, there is two citations of “God”: theon and theos. One is a nominative case (theos) and one is the object (theon).
The English translation of the only begotten in the Greek is a singular word, (monogenas). There are differences of opinion as to the interpretation of monogenas. There is no definite article (the) before monogenas. The interpreters “insert” or interpret that there should be an article so it becomes “the one begotten”. Here one has to do a word search in the Greek to determine how that word in its various form is used in the Greek language.
Remember that the letters in the earliest manuscripts were all capitalized letters. The Church Council debated the nature of Jesus Christ as being God, a divine being, or a human being. One must also look at the remaining text as the writer further explains the nature of the one or only begotten theos.
This takes us back to John 1:1–2 in the further interpretation and discussion of the nature of Jesus Christ. It is not my purpose to resolve it but one must read the Gospel of John in his presentation of the Logos.
If the Apostle John wanted to say that the logos/Logos is a begotten or created divine being, he could have used the Greek word for become.: “And the logos became theos.” If he used the verb, became, then it would have been clear that the logos/Logos has a beginning. He was created by God. John does not use that word but the state of being, is/was.
In Paul’s writing in Philippians 2:5–11of the condescension of Christ, Jesus took on the appearance of man even as the Spirit of God came upon Mary so that what was conceived in her is from God. The debate will be whether the Logos, who was given the human name, Jesus, always existed or came into existence.
From a theological perspective, no created being including angels is worthy or able to redeem mankind from his sins against. The created being may be able to redeem himself but no one else. There is nothing intrinsic within a created being to satisfy an infinite being. It takes an infinite being to satisfy the infinite holiness of God. The angels declare the holiness of God, not that they themselves are of the same nature of God. That’s for one’s consideration.
SUMMARY: Is the logos/Logos God or is the logos/Logos a created being, lesser than God? Each person must be convinced in his/her own mind upon studying and discussion on the nature of the Logos. My personal conclusion is the Logos is God, the second person of the Godhead.
-Kingston