Question No.4
The Bible; "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten son, that whoever believes in him should
not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16);
should you not believe in Jesus to have eternal life?
Answer No.4
Of course, we believe in Jesus for what he was and we do not
believe in what he was not. We Muslims believe Jesus was a Messiah;
"Spirit from God"; "Word of God"; the righteous Prophet as well as
Messenger of God and the son of Virgin Mary. But, we do not
believe Jesus was "the begotten son of God." The truth of the
matter is apostle John never ever wrote; Jesus was "the begotten"
son of God.
Please obtain a copy of the `Gideon Bible' from a Hotel or
Motel near you. It is distributed free since 1899, all over the
world, by The Gideon Society. In the beginning of this famous
Bible, John 3:16 is translated in 26 popular world languages. You
may be amazed to discover that in the English translation, the
editors have used the traditionally accepted term "His only
begotten son." Whereas, in several other languages the editors have
used the term "His unique son" or "His one of a kind son."
In 1992, when I discovered this textual variations, I wrote
letters to various universities in North America requesting them to
confirm the original Greek term used by John. Below is a copy of
the response received from The George Washington University:-
John 3:16 and John 1:18 each have the word `monogenes' in
Greek. This word ordinarily means "of a single kind". As
a result, "unique" is a good translation. The reason you
sometimes find a translation that renders the word as
"only begotten" has to do with an ancient heresy within
the church. In response to the Arian claim that Jesus was
made but not begotten, Jerome (4th century) translated
the Greek term `monogenes' into Latin as `unigenitus'
("only begotten").
Paul B. Duff, 22 April, 1992.
Professor Duff's response was based upon `Anchor Bible', volume 29,
page 13-14. The Greek term for "begotten" is `gennao' as found in
Mt.1:2, which John did not use.
Hot Tip: (precise and pertinent)
Jesus said to Mary; "...go to my brethren, and say to them, I
ascend to my Father and your Father..." (John 20:17). This verse
demonstrates that the usage of term `Father' was purely
metaphorical. As for Jesus being a "unique son", he, unlike us,
was created without a physical Father.
Christianity FAQ 4 : Jesus the Begotten Son?