On this week’s Tuesday Q&A I will be discussing a couple of questions on Christology and the Person of Christ, specifically on the eternal generation of the Son referred to in passages like Psalm 2:7, John 1:14 and 18, and implicitly in John 5:26. I dealt with these issues over the last few years in a chapel talk at a local Christian school, as part of a course in Christian doctrine in a homeschool coop, and while preaching through the Gospel of John. Since this is a complex and very important topic, I thought it might be helpful to adapt some of the written materials from those prior sessions into a blog post that could be referenced in conjunction with the recorded Q&A. Some of these ideas are difficult to wrap our minds around, but it is important that we learn to think properly about the Person of Christ and what we confess as a church in the ancient creeds. This is not written for an undergraduate or seminary level discussion but is an attempt to explain the eternal generation of the Son at a basic level understandable to interested church members without formal education in theology.
As we study Christology, it is very important that we think biblically, theologically, and historically. The ancient creeds and historic confessions of the Church are invaluable resources for understanding Scripture and the theology which is derived from it. So many Christians today act almost as if they are the first people ever to read the Bible, but this is far from the case. The Christian faith has been believed, affirmed, studied, and lived for two thousand years, and while man’s work is always fallible and prone to error, we all should recognize that we are standing on the shoulders of giants as we read the Scriptures, and we should be willing to listen and learn from those who have gone before us.
In this article we are discussing one of the phrases describing the Son of God in the Nicene Creed: “begotten of the Father before all worlds.” These words are very important in the history of the Church. They played a very significant role in guarding the true doctrine of Christ and the Trinity from false, heretical doctrines which arose in the 3rd and 4th centuries. This part of the creed refers to the doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son. First, I want to help you understand what the doctrine of eternal generation is. Second, I want to explain why the Church has received it as a true doctrine of Scripture. Third, I want to show you why it is important both for the Church’s faith and for each of our lives.
What is the Doctrine of Eternal Generation?
We have to be very careful when we are talking about the Doctrine of God including the doctrine of the Trinity and doctrines like the one we are considering today. This is because we are finite creatures, and God is the infinite Creator. He has stooped down and revealed himself to us in simple words that we can understand, but none of us can fully comprehend the magnitude of who God is or grasp the depths of the truth concerning him. It is very easy to fall into error by thinking God is like us. He is not. We are made in certain respects like him, but he is not like us in any respect. The similarity and comparison only works in one direction.
Eternal generation has been confessed by the Church since ancient times but is prone to great misunderstanding. This doctrine does not mean the Father gave birth to the Son as a human father does with a human son. There is no time when the Son was not; there never was a point when the Son came into existence. The Prologue to John’s Gospel, among many other texts, settles that issue. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2). In the beginning, the Son already was. He did not begin in the beginning. He is without beginning or end (Heb. 1:10; Rev. 22:12-13).
The doctrine of eternal generation is the way in which the early Church clarified the precise relationship of the Father and the Son. Since there is one God who is the “same in substance, equal in power and glory” (WSC 6), we have to wonder what distinguishes the persons of the Godhead. The Trinity is not the Father plus the Son plus the Spirit, because that would mean there were three gods. The Trinity is also not one god who is manifest sometimes as a Father, sometimes as a Son, and sometimes as the Spirit. That would be Modalism—an ancient heresy which has never been more hilariously refuted than by our friends at Lutheran Satire. Eternal generation is the doctrine which helps us distinguish the Father and the Son. They cannot be separated, because there is only one God and both share the divine nature equally, but they are not the same person (hypostasis) because one is eternally begotten and one is not.
Eternal generation means that the Son’s personhood, his existence as God, flows from the divine essence of the Father, not so that there are two essences, but so that they share the same, divine essence. Essence is the “what-ness” of the Father, Son, and Spirit. They are God: equally, eternally, and unchangeably. The early Church believed the Son is in no way inferior to or substantially different from the Father. He is not a lesser, younger, or subordinate god. He is God in all the fullness and power and glory of the Father. And that is what we should believe as well.
Remember, this is not a generation that takes place in time. The Son is eternally generated. He always has been and always will be. It is spiritual, not physical. We may wrestle to understand this category—and a great deal more can and should be said in explaining it—but even if we cannot perfectly or fully understand it, we dare not discard it. It is too important to do that.
Why Do We Believe Eternal Generation is a True and Biblical Doctrine?
Eternal generation is a way of stating in theological terms the relationship of the Father and Son that is described in Scripture. The Bible describes these two persons of the Godhead as the Father and the Son. This language draws a comparison to relationships we know, even though the reality of God’s relationship is categorically different: it is eternal and divine and perfect; ours are not.
The Bible uses the term beget (γεννάω) to describe the Father’s relationship to the Son (Prov. 8:25; cf. 1Cor. 1:30). In John 5:26 Jesus said: “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” The early Christians who wrote the Nicene Creed were native Greek speakers and very close to the time of the New Testament writings, so they understood the implications of these biblical descriptions much better than many do today. They understood Jesus is the unique or only-begotten (μονογενής) Son of God because he is eternally begotten by the Father. This is why since ancient times the Church has believed and confessed these truths:
The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten.The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten.The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.And in this Trinity none is afore, nor after another; none is greater, or less than another.But the whole three persons are co-eternal, and co-equal.So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.
Analogies are very dangerous things, and we should not attempt to offer analogies for the Trinity or most aspects of the Doctrine of God. However, in the interests of making this easier to understand, I am going to share an analogy with you from the ancient Church. The great theologian and Church father Augustine wrote a series of sermons on the Gospel of John in which he discussed these truths. Listen to what he says about eternal generation in commenting on John 5:
How, says some one, has eternal begot eternal? As a temporary flame generates a temporary light. The generating flame is coeval [co-equal] with the light which it generates: the generating flame does not precede in time the generated light; but from the moment the flame begins, from that moment the light begins. Show me flame without light, and I show you God the Father without Son. Accordingly, the Son cannot do anything of Himself, but what He sees the Father doing, implies, that for the Son to see and to be begotten of the Father, is the same thing. His seeing and His substance are not different; nor are His power and substance different. All that He is, He is of the Father; all that He can is of the Father; because what He can and what He is is one thing, and all of the Father.
This is a biblical truth which stretches far beyond the grasp of our limited minds. God’s truth so far exceeds our knowledge that we must say, “Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Rom. 11:33)
What Difference Does Eternal Generation Really Make?
Does it really matter? It all seems fairly obscure, hard to understand, and impractical. There have been some Christians over the last several years who have thought the doctrine of eternal generation is too difficult, too confusing, and that the Church would be better off without it. Not long ago a very prominent evangelical theologian, Wayne Grudem, whose work has influenced many, said, “Quite honestly, I find it impossible to say whether or not I agree with ‘eternal generation’ until someone explains, in ordinary English, what he means by it (not just what it does not mean).” It is all the more remarkable that this statement was written by the man who wrote what may be the most widely read and used textbook on Systematic Theology among evangelicals today. But let me assure you: we are not better off without the doctrine of eternal generation, nor can we downplay it in this way without risking great harm to the Church! The early Church knew how important this doctrine was and is, and the modern Church needs to know it as well. You are part of that Church, so you need to be diligent to understand why this doctrine really matters. Let me suggest two reasons as we conclude.
First, the doctrine of eternal generation matters because correct theology is important for the existence and health of the Church. If the Church changes its doctrine of God, if we confuse the relationship of the Father and the Son, then it will not be long before the Church ceases to be the Church and becomes something else. The Bible warns us not to believe in “another Jesus” (2Cor. 11:3-4); we should be concerned about not believing in another eternal Son. The eternal Son of God who became flesh and dwelt among us is the same Son who is eternally begotten by the Father. If we remove that doctrine, we will begin to believe all kinds of other untrue things about the Son, and we will no longer believe in the eternal Son who is the Savior.
Second, the doctrine of eternal generation matters because good theology helps us think better about God which helps us to worship him, love him, and trust him more. The less you know about God, the less motivated you will be to serve him. But the more you know about him, the more you will find your heart warmed and filled as you try to imagine the greatness, the glory, and the goodness of the eternal God. The Son is God, in every respect, in no way less than or inferior to the Father. But this Son chose to become a man as well; he took upon himself a real human body and a human nature. He endured temptation and weakness and pain and death, and he did it not because he needed to, but because we needed him to. We could not be saved in any other way. He did it because God loves his Church with a love none of us deserve. That is a marvelous thing. --JME
NOTES:
[1] τὸν ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς γεννηθέντα πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων / de Patre natum ante omnia saecula.
[2] The Athanasian Creed, lines 20-27 http://reformed.org/documents/index.html.
[3] Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John, 20.8 http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1701020.htm.
[4] Wayne Grudem “Another Thirteen Evangelical Theologians Who Affirm the Eternal Submission of the Son to the Father,” Reformation 21 http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2016/06/another-thirteen-evangelical-t.php.
