 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
-47-
The God Who Is
A NECESSARY GENERATION
The generation of the Son of God was a necessary generation. If it was optional with the Father, then the existence of the Son would be optional. This would rob the Son of His Deity because He then could not be equal with the Father. The generation of the Son was a necessary act.
A PERSONAL GENERATION
The generation of the Son is a personal generation: it is a generation of the person of Christ. The nature of this generation involves not the subsistence of His Deity, but the personal existence of the Son. The generation of the Son does not concern His Divinity, but only His person. Jesus is of the same essence as the Father. John chapter 10, verse 30 is a difficult verse on account of the English translation: "I and my Father are one." Note that Jesus did not say, "I and my Father am one" because the Son is to be distinguished from the Father. Therefore, He said, "(We) are one."
In John chapter 14, Jesus said, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, `Shew us the Father?'" (verse 9).
The apostle Paul wrote, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist," or "hold together" (Colossians 1:14-16). Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. Consider again, "In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9).
Jesus Christ could not be more Divine. Either He is God or He is not. Remember the words of Patrick, missionary to Ireland: "He (i.e. "God") hath a Son co-eternal and co-equal with Himself. The Son is not younger than the Father, nor is the Father older than the Son." How profound!
A SPIRITUAL GENERATION
The generation of the Son is a spiritual generation. It is an act in the eternal present because God dwells in the eternal present. As He is Divine, so the Son is also Divine. While this generation is an act always completed, it is always continuing. It is, therefore, a spiritual generation.
When mortals think of begetting, they think of a separation. The Bible speaks of children as coming out of our loins (Genesis 35:11). This necessitates a separation. When a mother gives birth, there is a separation of the child from her body. This is not true, however, of the Son of God because it involves a spiritual generation.
The Arians of old denied the Deity of the Lord Jesus. They fallaciously argued that the generation of the Son involved a separation or division in the Godhead. They argued using carnal knowledge. Like Nicodemus who thought the New Birth necessitated re-entering his mother's womb; and like the woman at the well who wanted "living water" so she would not have to daily draw water from the well; so detractors of the doctrine of the eternal Sonship of Christ argue with carnal understanding. However, the things of God are not naturally discerned, but must be spiritually discerned. The generation of the Son of God cannot be understood in a physical or carnal sense. It is a spiritual generation, and as such it involves neither division nor change. "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned" (I Corinthians 2:14).
The truths of God can be understood only by a converted mind.
______________________________________