Conclusions Concerning the Eternal Generation of Jesus Christ, by Francis Cheynell
The Socinians tell us that they cannot believe that the Father did beget a Son of his own substance, because God is eternal and unchangeable; the single essence of God is indivisible, and being most singularly one is incommunicable, part of the divine essence could not be communicated (say they) to the Son, because the essence is impartible, indivisible; and the self-same whole essence cannot be communicated, because it is most singularly one, and therefore incommunicable: essentia quae est una numero est incommunicabilis.
To this grand objection, I shall return a plain answer out of pure Scripture, and deliver it in certain propositions or conclusions, so that the answer may be more direct, clear, and satisfactory.
(1) The Father did beget his Son.
The Father himself bears witness to this truth, and his witness is full, and clear, and true. “Jehovah hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee” (Psalm 2:7). Nay, the Father declares this truth to men and angels as a practical truth so that they may direct and regulate their worship according to this mystery. The apostle proves that Christ is more excellent than angels because “he hath a more excellent name than they; For, unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son (Hebrews 1:4-5).”
Here’s a double proof of the point: he has a more excellent name because he is the Son of God in a peculiar sense, and has the divine nature communicated to him, as shall be fully proven before we conclude this point. For the name of Son is not an empty title, he has the divine nature of his Father in him. Now, that he is the Son of God is testified again, and again, says the apostle (Hebrews 1:5). And he begins the sixth verse thus: “And again,” etc. You see how he does inculcate this point, how he beats upon it again and again; and the reason is, because this truth is fundamental both of faith and worship, as is most evident in the sixth verse of that chapter. “And again when he brings in the first-begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him (Hebrews 1:6).”
You see this mystery of the unbegotten Father and the only begotten Son is held forth to men and angels in order to worship, so that their worship may be directed to Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God, and to God the Father as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God declared this truth after a glorious manner from heaven so that it might be more diligently considered. “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son” (Matthew 3:17)” when he was baptized, and the like we read of when he was transfigured in the presence of the disciples in the holy mount. And the apostle takes notice of these solemn declarations from heaven, and lays them down as fundamentals of the Christian religion (2 Peter 1:16-20). All the glorious miracles wrought by our Savior, John 5:36 and his resurrection from the Dead bear witness to this fundamental truth, that Christ is the first begotten, and the only begotten Son of the living God; be pleased to compare, Acts. 13:32, 33. with Romans 1:4. and it will be evident that he was not made, but only declared to be the Son of God at the time of his resurrection.
(2) The Father did beget his Son from all eternity before his works of old.
“I,” (says the Son who is the wisdom of the Father) “was set up from everlasting, when as the highest part of the dust of the earth was not made, when he prepared the heavens I was there, etc. (Proverbs 8:21-31).” His “goings forth were of old from the days of eternity (Micah 5:2).” (John 1:1-3): he was with God, he was God, before the beginning he had glory with his Father before the world was (John 17:5). Relata simul sunt.
(3) The Father begat his Son in the unity of the Godhead.
The Scripture speaks expressly that Christ is the proper or natural Son of God; he spared not his own Son, or his Proper Son (Romans 8:32). God is the Father of Christ, his own Father (John 5:18). The Jews did well understand the importance and force of that expression, for say they, “in that he said God is his own Father, he hath made himself equal with God;” and therefore that phrase imports that he is the natural and coessential Son of God, else he could not be coequal with his Father (John 5:18, Philippians 2:6).
All those texts which prove that Christ is God, and that there is but one God, do prove that Christ is the natural and coessential Son of God. God has but one coessential Son, to whom he has given to have life in himself (John 5:26) because the divine nature, which is life itself is communicated to the Son by this eternal and ineffable generation. It is proper to living creatures to communicate their nature by generation in their low and imperfect way; but the great God who is not subject to imperfection, after the most glorious and perfect manner begets a Son in the unity of his own living essence, who is therefore called “the Son of the living God,” that is the natural and coessential Son of God, who has the same divine life, nature, essence with the Father. And therefore Peter is so highly commended for confessing that Christ is the Son of the living God: “Blessed art thou,” says our Savior, “for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” Upon this fundamental truth, Christ has built the Christian church as on a rock (Matthew 16:16-18). He who has life in himself is the natural and coessential Son of the living God. He has the same will, power, nature, essence, and life with his Father (John 5:18, 26, John 16:15. John 10:30; 1 John 5:7). The same single and infinite essence is in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The whole undivided and indivisible essence of God dwells in the Son in its fullness and infinite perfection (Colossians 2:9).
(4) The Father did beget his Son without change or motion after a most glorious and wonderful manner. There can be no change, motion, or succession in this eternal and most perfect generation.
The essence of God is spiritual (John 4:24), and therefore the Son is not begotten of the Father’s seed or any material substance, because God is a single and pure act, who begets Son within himself essentially one with himself and therefore his Son does not subsist out of himself (John 14:10, John 10:30) for an infinite nature cannot be poured forth beyond itself.
There can be no essential change in the Son by this generation, because the generation is eternal, and the nature which is communicated by generation is unchangeable. The Father did unchangeably beget his Son, and his Son is unchangeably begotten, there is no shadow of changing or turning either in the Father of lights, or the Son of righteousness, because they are one and the same unchangeable Jehovah (James 1:17, Malachi 3:6).
They are too carnal and base who make an unworthy and odious comparison between the material generation of a weak man, and this more than spiritual and supernatural generation. The eternal and unchangeable Father begets an eternal and unchangeable Son according to the perfection of his eternal, unchangeable, infinite nature. The Father begets his Son naturally, and therefore in a way agreeable to his unchangeable nature. If the Son were not necessarily begotten, his being would not be necessary, and then his essence would not be divine.
(5) Jesus Christ is truly and properly the only-begotten Son of God, and therefore the only natural Son of God.
Jesus Christ is called the Son of David according to his human nature, but the Lord of David, and the Son of the living God according to his divine nature, as appears by our Savior’s discourse with the Pharisees (Matthew 22:41-46). And the Jews sought to kill Christ because he called God his proper Father, as appears by the original text, for our English translation omits that most observable emphasis. The words are: ιδιον ελεγεν τον θεον (John 5:18), and Christ is called God’s proper Son: ιδιου υιου (Romans 8:32).
And the apostle gives the reason why he is called the proper Son of God in a more excellent way than the most glorious angel is the Son of God, because Christ is begotten by the Father, but the angels were only created by him. Observe the words of the apostle: “For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” So that the proper reason why he is called the proper Son of God is because he is begotten of God. There is the most excellent reason why Christ is said to obtain a more excellent name than angels: Christ was begotten in the unity of the Godhead, and therefore he alone is properly the Son of God with a supereminent excellency.
The angels are not such excellent sons as Christ is: [1] Because Christ is begotten of God (Hebrews 1:5). [2] Christ is worshiped by angels with divine honor and worshiped as God (Hebrews 1:6). [3] He has the throne, scepter, and kingdom of God (Hebrews 1:8). [4] He has the sovereign and proper title of God (Hebrews 1:8). [5] The attributes of God, eternity (Hebrews 1:8, 10-12). [6] He sits at the right hand of God (Hebrews 1:13). All these excellencies are due to Christ as the proper Son of God (Hebrews 1), whereas the angels – the most excellent sons by creation – are but ministering spirits.
From these proper and excellent reasons we infer that Christ is the only proper or natural Son of God, because he is the only-begotten Son of God. “We,” says John, “beheld his glory as of the only begotten Son of God.” The word as is not assimilative, but declarative, and demonstrative in that place, for it declares to us that the glory of Christ is agreeable to his divine nature, he being the only natural Son of God, because he is the only begotten Son of God; just as if when we see a king sitting in his royal robes on his throne with a crown on his head and a scepter in his hand, we should say now we see him as a king, that is, now he is like himself. His state is agreeable to his majesty. Even so was the glory of Christ which the apostles beheld agreeable to the majesty of the only begotten Son of God (John 1:14). Therefore the word as was not inserted tanquam terminus diminuens: to diminish the glory of the only begotten Son of God; for the word as is left out in the eighteenth verse of this very chapter: “The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18).” The Scripture abounds with several expressions to the same purpose. But we are specially to observe that the only begotten Son of God is propounded to us as the object of saving faith, and therefore this point ought to be diligently studied and considered by us. “For so God loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).”
