John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Christianity insists that the Son of God is “begotten, not made”. Why? For the same reason we insist that our children are not the same thing as statues. An artist makes a statue, he begets a son. To beget is to share your nature with another being who is of the same “stuff” as you. God made us humans. We are creatures. But God the Father begets the Son eternally. The Son shares in the nature of the Father. And since the nature of God is to have no beginning, the Son has not beginning. He is begotten from all eternity by the Father. This matters to us because the Son, when he becomes human, can only give what he has. He promises to give eternal life. But eternal life is only in God, not in creatures. So Jesus could not give such a gift if he did not possess it. And he cannot have it to give if he is not God, who is eternal life. Today, thank God that he gave his only begotten Son–the Word made flesh–to the world!
