The Only Begotten God: A Sermon on John 1:18

John 1:18, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

We see in the New Testament that the Lord Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of the Father, the Blessed Messiah of God.  We also see that He is the divine Savior of men and women who place their trust by God’s Almighty grace in Him.  The Jesus of divine Scripture is the divine Redeemer, and no man can snatch us out of the Triune grip of God.  No amounts of spiritual abuse with take us out of the Father’s hand.  We know that Jesus Christ is the only begotten of the Father in truth, righteousness, goodness.  We also know that the Father is not wholly please in another save the Lord Jesus.  We know the Son is begotten of the Father, but the Father is not begotten of the Son nor the Holy Spirit.  And we know that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.  We see the work and the persons of the Blessed Trinity in divine Scripture, the world and in our lives.  We should never miss the work of God in our lives, and we should see it as it is: precious actions of God in our life for His blessed glory. 

Calvin wrote in his commentary in John 1:18,

18. No man hath ever seen God. Most appropriately is this added to confirm the preceding statement; for the knowledge of God is the door by which we enter into the enjoyment of all blessings; and as it is by Christ alone that God makes himself known to us, hence too it follows that we ought to seek all things from Christ. This order of doctrine ought to be carefully observed. No remark appears to be more common than this, that each of us receives, according to the measure of his faith, what God offers to us; but there are few who think that we must bring the vessel of faith and of the knowledge of God with which we draw.

When he says that no man hath seen God, we must not understand him to refer to the outward perception of the bodily eye; for he means generally, that as God dwells in inaccessible light, (1 Timothy 6:16,) he cannot be known but in Christ, who is his lively image. This passage is usually explained thus that as the naked majesty of God is concealed within himself, he never could be comprehended, except so far as he revealed himself in Christ; and therefore that it was only in Christ that God was formerly known to the fathers. But I rather think that the Evangelist here abides by the comparison already stated, namely, how much better our condition is than that of the fathers, because God, who was formerly concealed in his secret glory, may now be said to have rendered himself visible; for certainly when Christ is called the lively image of God, (Hebrews 1:3,) this refers to the peculiar privilege of the New Testament. In like manner, the Evangelist describes, in this passage, something new and uncommon, when he says that the only-begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, hath made known to us what was formerly concealed. He therefore magnifies the manifestation of God, which has been brought to us by the gospel, in which he distinguishes us from the fathers, and shows that we are superior to them; as also Paul explains more fully in the Third and Fourth chapters of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. For he maintains that there is now no longer any vail, such as existed under the Law, but that God is openly beheld in the face of Christ.

If it be thought unreasonable that the fathers are deprived of the knowledge of God, who have the prophets daily going before them and holding out the torch, I reply, that what is ascribed to us is not simply or absolutely denied to them, but that a comparison is made between the less and the greater, as we say; because they had nothing more than little sparks of the true light, the full brightness of which daily shines around us. If it be objected, that at that time also God was seen face to face, (Genesis 32:30; Deuteronomy 34:10,) I maintain that that sight is not at all to be compared with ours; but as God was accustomed at that time to exhibit himself obscurely, and, as it were, from a distance, those to whom he was more clearly revealed say that they saw him face to face. They say so with reference to their own time; but they did not see God in any other way than wrapped up in many folds of figures and ceremonies.  That vision which Moses obtained on the mountain was remarkable and more excellent than almost all the rest; and yet God expressly declares,thou shalt not be able to see my face, only thou shalt see my back, (Exodus 33:23;)

by which metaphor he shows that the time for a full and clear revelation had not yet come. It must also be observed that, when the fathers wished to behold God, they always turned their eyes towards Christ. I do not only mean that they beheld God in his eternal Speech, but also that they attended, with their whole mind and with their whole heart, to the promised manifestation of Christ. For this reason we shall find that Christ afterwards said, Abraham saw my day, (John 8:56;) and that which is subordinate is not contradictory. It is therefore a fixed principle, that God, who was formerly invisible, hath now made himself visible in Christ.

When he says that the Son was in the bosom of the Father, the metaphor is borrowed from men, who are said to receive into their bosom those to whom they communicate all their secrets. The breast is the seat of counsel. He therefore shows that the Son was acquainted with the most hidden secrets of his Father, in order to inform us that we have the breast of God, as it were, laid open to us in the Gospel.

We must understand that no one has seen God at any time.  We are sinners and He is holy and just.  We cannot se Him because He is holy.  We need to be glorified to see the Lord face to face.  Only God the Son is inherently holy, and He has seen the Father, and He has explained the Father to the world in the Holy Scriptures.  The hope of the true believer is to behold the face of God that is known as the beatific vision.  Those who are glorified had to be regenerated, justified and sanctified.  We will be holy before God when we are glorified and the shed blood of Jesus Christ will cover His people for eternity.  Without the shed blood of Jesus Christ we would not be able to stand before God.  His blood covers us because we are sinful people; fallen, depraved, feeble.  We know that no saint has seen God the Father at any time who are in their sinful flesh.  But people have seen the God the Son because His humanity hid His glory, and we beheld His glory in the Transfiguration seen in Holy Scripture.

In the article by J. Ligon Duncan The Divinity of Christ he says,

 Sometimes we are told that there is no verse in the New Testament that says "Jesus is God," with the implication that there is no straightforward claim to his divinity to be found in its pages. Such, however, is not the case. For instance, in the following passages the deity of Christ is either explicitly asserted or strongly implied. In Titus 2:13, Paul speaks of believers "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus." Peter opens his second epistle greeting "those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ" (2 Pet 1:1). Luke records Paul's words to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28 where he reminds them that they are overseers of "the church of God which he purchased with His own blood." Such a statement makes no sense unless we accept the full force of the doctrine of the incarnation: Christ was God in the flesh, therefore we may speak of God shedding his own blood. John testifies to Jesus (whom he calls the Word) in the foreword to his Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (Jn 1:1). John goes on to say that Jesus, the Word, is "the only begotten from the Father" (Jn 1:14) and then utters the astounding claim that "no man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him" (Jn 1:18). Thus John not only asserts Christ's deity, but also his sole ability to reveal the Father to the world. It is thus not surprising that Thomas confesses Jesus to be "My Lord and My God" in John 20:28. The author of Hebrews identifies Jesus, the Son as the person about whom the Psalmist (Ps 45:6) said: "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever" (Heb 1:8). James, the brother of our Lord, identifies himself as Jesus' "bond-servant" (Jas 1:1) and refers to his brother as "the glory" in James 2:1, neither of which designations is typical of siblings or reverent Jewish believers, but both of which speak volumes about his perception of the divine nature of Christ. Such passages could be multiplied (e.g. Mt 1:23, Jn 17:3, Acts 2:17 & 33, Col 2:9, 2 Thes 1:12, I Tim 1:17, and I Jn 5:20), but the ones we have just reviewed establish the teaching of Jesus' divinity from Paul, Peter, Luke, John, Thomas, the author of Hebrews, and James-a representative selection of apostles and their understudies. All of these unambiguously and unanimously testify to the deity of our Lord.

Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons isolate texts that speak of the only begottenness of Jesus Christ to falsely say He is a created person.  Heretics of old have done the exact same thing, but when it is compared with the divine Scriptures, it is completely shown to be false.  The only begottenness of the Lord Jesus Christ shows that He alone is the Only Son of the Father, and that He alone is begotten whereas the Father and the Spirit are not begotten.  The Father is from everlasting to everlasting the same is true for the Son, and the Spirit.  But when we come to the Spirit we see He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and we must understand that the Spirit is not begotten but proceeding.  This verse for our sermon today shows that Christ Jesus is the only begotten God!  This is the literal meaning of the Greek in the New Testament as other Reformed orthodox people have pointed out.  The begottenness of Jesus Christ is an eternal begottenness, and it does not in any way show that He is a creature without eternity.  In fact, it is Scriptural to say that Jesus Christ is the Self-Existent Jehovah in living flesh.  According to divine Scripture, Jesus is the eternal begotten, eternal Son of God the Father.  When we say the Father is the Father of the Lord Jesus who do not mean it in the Mormon sense: God the Father did not come down as a Man and have sexual relations with the Virgin Mary. No, the Father never became man nor did the Spirit but God the Son only.  Within the Godhead the Son is the only Person or Member of the Blessed Trinity who became Man!  Christ was and is Perfect and Sinless Man.  He never sinned, but we all believe that sin was applied to Him on the Cross, but He never became a sinner but remained pure and undefiled before His Father as the divine Substitute or Lamb of God. 

The London Confession of Chapter 3 under section 3 says about the Trinity and in particular the eternal Son that is relevant to our discussion,

3.  In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided: the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son; all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties and personal relations; which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and comfortable dependence on him.  (1 John 5:7; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Exodus 3:14; John 14:11; 1 Corinthians 8:6; John 1:14,18; John 15:26; Galatians 4:6)

When we speak of Christ as the eternal begotten Son of Man we do not mean He is a creature like us.  We had a beginning; we were not alive before our birth; we do not exist from everlasting to everlasting.  But Christ exists from everlasting to everlasting; He is the eternal I AM, and to understand ourselves we need to understand who God is, because in God we understand that He is holy, but we are unholy; He is just, we are unjust; He is perfect, we are imperfect; He is pure, we are impure.  Christ never committed any sin, and He was our divine Substitute in our place; in our behalf.  And we must understand that the Father is not pleased in another, save His Only Begotten Son: Jesus Christ the Righteous One. 

Let us look at what the divine Word says about the Only Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,

John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”  John 3:18, "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”  1 John 4:9, “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.”  (All from NASB).

We must understand that Christ has divine intimacy with God the Father.  In John 17 the Lord Jesus loved to be with His Heavenly Father.  The Lord Jesus had glory with His Father before the world began.  The Lord Jesus when He had His earthly ministry, desired to be with His Father.  He longed for fellowship with His Father.  He had fellowship with His Father for all eternity.  The Father and the Son has an eternally close relationship together.  The eternal Son is in the bosom of God the Father.  This is a sentence of the mystery of the Blessed and Holy Trinity.  The Lord Christ was always in the bosom of God the Father.  And we know that Christ was accursed that was His highest obedience.  Christ as the begotten God followed His Father’s will in perfect, spotless, sinless obedience.  We also know that Christ proclaimed the true reality of God the Father.  Let us read the Divine Scriptures that speak to the deity of the Lord Jesus.  We will do well to listen to what Sacred Scriptures teaches.

Colossians 1:9-18 clearly speaks of the Incomparable Christ who is God in human flesh,

9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. (NKJV)

Here we see Phil 2:5-11 about the humble and exalted Christ; here see the divine Christ,

5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (NKJV)

We see that it is perfectly consistent to say that the Lord Jesus is “the only begotten Son” and that He is equal with God the Father.  It is wholly consistent to say according to the divine Word that Christ is divine.  People need to know the divine Christ because there are false gospels out in the world.  People are believing a false Christ who is in a false gospel that saves no one.  But the gospel of Christ saves His people, because it is the truth of God.  If it is the truth of God, it is true in reality, in time and space.  When people believe His gospel because of the Spirit and the Word we see transformation.  It is not an unchanged conversion, but a true change from the Lord in the life of the believer. 

What do we see in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ?  We see that Christ explained the Father to the world.  We see that Christ proclaimed the gospel of His glorious grace.  His words were grace and a golden gift from heaven.  We see in the Gospels that Christ proclaimed salvation through Himself, and His own deity.  We see that Christ proclaimed essential truth about Himself. 

John 1:7, “He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.”  John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”  John 3:18, "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”  John 3:36, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."  John 5:24, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”  John 6:29, “Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent."  John 6:40, "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."  (All Scriptures of John were NASB).

It was Christ, my friends; we explained and declared the Father.  He is the Son of the Father.  Oh, how many people deny Him as the Son of God the Father!  Their salvation is forfeited because they reject the Son.  Why did the people of Jesus’ day reject Him?  Because they did not belong to the Father.  They did not have spiritually ears to hear, nor did they have minds to comprehend, nor did they have eyes to see.  Let us go over what Christ taught about the Father because when we do, we find precious truth that is matchless,

·        That people would see our good deeds and glorify the Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16). Do you live your life as a beckon of light in honoring God before wicked men? 

·        That His people may be sons of God the Father in heaven (Matthew 5:45).  Have you had assurance of your salvation that the Spirit bears witness with your spirit that you are a child of God?

·        That we are to be perfect as our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:48).  We are equipped to do every good work of God.  Do you realize that you will be glorified by God and you will see Him face to face?  Do you long for this time when you will be perfect before God?

·        That we ought to do our works with the right ambition and please our Father in heaven (Matthew 6:1, 4).  Do you do works to get approval from men or God?

·        That you ought to pray in secret and not to boast of your alleged ‘goodness’ before men (Matthew 6:6).  Do you pray in secret to God?  Or do you have selfish ambition and make your prayers known like the hypocrites?  We ought to pray to our Father in secret and He will surely reward us openly. 

·        The Father knows what we need before we ask Him (Matthew 6:8).  Do you go to God knowing He knows what you need before you ask Him?

Let us understand what the Father said about God the Son.  We shall see how the Father is well-pleased with the Son,

Matthew 3:17, “and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."  Matthew 17:5, “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!"  Mark 1:11, “and a voice came out of the heavens: "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."  Luke 3:22, “and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."  2 Peter 1:17, “For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased…”  (NASB).

He taught that the God He served was the one true God.  But the Father who the Son explained was well-pleased in His Son alone.  The Father was not pleased in Another; He was not pleased in Buddha, Mohammad or any other.  We must submit to the Lord Jesus; we must listen to Him.  The Lord Jesus explained and proclaimed the gospel of Christ.  Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Let us understand the text that speak of the deity of Christ and see the harmonious Scriptures,

The Lord Jesus is the exact representation of His nature:

Hebrews 1 1God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

The Lord Jesus is The Incarnate First and the Last:  Rev. 1 17When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

The Lord Jesus is the Living Word—the Incarnate Word:  John 1  1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God.  3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

The Apostles Creed refers to the only Son of God:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
    the Creator of heaven and earth,
    and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

The Nicene Creed refers to the only begotten Son of God:

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the 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, by whom all things were made.

The Athanasian Creed refers to the eternal Son:

Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man.  God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and made of the substance of His mother, born in the world.  Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.  Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood.  Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ.  One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God.

The Council of Chalcedon Definition refers to the terminology of the eternal begottenness of the Son:

Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us.

We must submit to the text of Scripture and answer the objections but Scripture clearly gives the Scriptural substance of His deity, and may we never miss the truth of Christ as the only begotten God.  Let us proclaim the message of the Bible in the Creeds of the Christian church, and boldly stand with great saints of old.  Amen.