If Jesus was the only begotten Son of God, who then was Adam and Melchizadek's father? Has this question ever been raised before?
only begotten Son?
by UpAndAtom 14 Replies latest watchtower bible
-
-
KW13
Never thought about it before
-
JamesThomas
As I recall, as the story goes, all creation after Jesus was supposidly done through him. That's why He (Jesus) is said to be the only begotten. You must of forgotten.
j
-
Narkissos
In Jewish apocalyptic literature, many ancient figures such as Adam, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek or even Moses and Elijah have a heavenly status, which is difficult to interpret (and may have been understood very differently in different circles back then). Were they only glorified after death/rapture, did they have an eternal heavenly (angelic) double, or were they "angels on earth" as it were, or successive avatars of the same?
Generally speaking, such beliefs are part of the background of the identification of Jesus to the heavenly "Son of Man" (= Enoch in 1 Enoch) or "Son of God," but it is quite difficult to be more specific as to what it exactly meant to the early Christians; possibly to some Jesus was Adam or Melchizedek. As far as the NT is concerned, in Paul Jesus is the heavenly Adam, but opposed to the earthly one. In Hebrews Melchizedek is not explicitly identified to the Son of God although it comes very close. The role of Moses and Elijah in the Transfiguration stories is not so clear imo. There was a definite belief that Jesus was Elijah according to Mark 6:15; 8:28.
-
Leolaia
In Sethian gnostic literature, Adam is from the start a heavenly being who is made flesh by the demiurgical creator. The recently-released Gospel of Judas relates this, for instance. The Revealer who makes his appearance in the world as Christ is also referred to as autogénes, "self-generated" (i.e. instead of being generated by the will of the Father), rather than monogénes "only-generated". The NT usage of monogénes, meanwhile, is often thought to reflect not its etymological meaning but the common koiné Greek sense of "only"; the etymological sense became important only in response to early gnostic theories on the emanation and generation of aeons...
-
UpAndAtom
Narkissos, I especially like your reasoning here; and Leolaia I have not heard the phrase "self-generated" before. Interesting... What if all this talk about resurrection was in fact reincarnation? Could it be that the words (which lets face it, seem similar) got mixed up somehow? Did one spirit (the only Son) come back (resurrect/reincarnat) and take up new bodies for different purposes?
-
Narkissos
Reincarnation apparently became a Jewish belief in the middle-ages, especially but not exclusively in qabbalistic circles.
See for instance http://www.aish.com/literacy/concepts/Reincarnation_and_Jewish_Tradition.asp (or google gilgul or gilgul ha-neshamoth).
The idea that Jesus was Elijah, Jeremiah or another prophet may have been quite similar.
But the doctrine of resurrection usually served a different purpose, inasmuch as it was not expected to occur during the course of history but at the end of it, for final judgement.
(Side remark on a detail: monogenès doesn't mean "only-begotten" but "one of his/her/its kind" etymologically; it is quite common in the sense of "only child," cf. Judges 11:34, Tobit 3:15; 6:11; 8:17; Luke 7:12; 8:42; 9:38; Hebrews 11:17; as an equivalent for "soul," as the Hebrew yachid, in Psalms 21:21; 24:16; 34:17; or for "Wisdom" as "unique" in opposition to "manifold," polumeres, in Wisdom 7:22).
-
Shining One
God begets God. God is eternal. Adam and the ancestory/lineage of Melchizadek are all created beings.
Rex -
peacefulpete
Melchizedek is a classic case of filling in the blanks. We briefly discussed the Genesis episode here: Mel's place
Basically the brief episode was awkwardly inserted into the narrative in Genesis. The brevity inspired speculation for centuries so that by the Christian era Mel had become more than a priest of Zedek (or El) that blessed Abraham but someone without human parents and greater than all subsequent priests and prophets. This evolution of interesting characters is the lifeblood of religious history. Had Adam and Mel et al. not been elevated to heavenly status would the Jesus character been subsequently described in this image? Christianity owes so much to intertestamental theological deveopments within Judaism that without these speculations/embellishments Jesus would never have been conceived.
-
Star Moore
Hey, I read on another sight that the word 'only' could be interpretated as 'unique'.. like this:
God's ONLY begotten son or
God's UNIQUELY begotten son
Makes more sense the second way. As God has a lot of sons.