What Does "Begotten" Mean?

Are you someone who joins in the recitation of the Nicene Creed at Holy Mass or at a Protestant service and have only a vague idea of what the word “begotten” means?  That is what I am thinking about today.  We find the word twice in the following excerpt:

“I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages.  God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made.  For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit, was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.”

Here is my humble explanation of what I think are the facts about the Nicene Creed.  Like the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed is a statement of our Christian Faith.  It was written back in the fourth century at the Council of Nicea in response to the Arian Heresy, a heresy that denied the divinity of Jesus Christ.  The Arians promoted the belief that Jesus had a human nature and not a divine nature, that He was a human being, but not God.  The Christian belief is that Jesus had both a divine nature and a human nature, that He is God, but also a human being.  So there was a serious conflict of ideas that needed to be resolved.  Thus, the wording of the Nicene Creed.

“Begotten” is the past tense of the verb “beget.”  To “beget” means to procreate by the usual means, ie., to have a father, a mother, to be formed inside the mother’s womb, and to be born.  We have all been begotten by our father and mother.  To say that Jesus is the “Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages” means that God the Father, who has a divine nature, was the Father of Jesus and that Jesus always existed.  Jesus was begotten from God, from light, from the true God and therefore He was “of the same spiritual substance” as God the Father.  Hence, he indeed has a divine nature, being “consubstantial” with the father.  Furthermore, He became “incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man,” meaning he was formed inside the womb of the Virgin Mary and thus took on a human nature.  So He has both a divine nature and a human nature.  This, then, refutes the Arian heresy.

Why use the word “only”, in saying that Jesus was the “Only Begotten Son of God?”  All other human beings were not begotten by God.  We were “made” by God, but not “begotten” by Him, hence the qualification “… begotten, not made …” in explaining the uniqueness of Jesus as a Son of God and not merely a human being like the rest of us.  While it is correct that the rest of us are sons and daughters of God, the difference is that we are His “adopted” sons and daughters and not his “begotten” sons and daughters.  But as adopted sons and daughters, we are set to inherit God’s kingdom, which is the reason for our striving here on earth.

One remaining question might be the reference to God (and Jesus) as light … “light from light …,”  ie., light begotten from light.  Jesus is referred to as light in John 1:4 and He refers to Himself as light in John 8:12:  “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  Thus, God (Jesus) is light, and as such, we do not exist in darkness.  We see a reason and purpose for our existence.  Good Stuff!  Amen!