Monogenes has two primary definitions, "pertaining to being the only one of its kind within a specific relationship" and "pertaining to being the only one of its kind or class, unique in kind". Thus monogenēs (μονογενὴς) may be used both as an adjective monogenēs pais, meaning unique and special. Its Greek meaning is often applied to mean "one of a kind, one and only". Monogenēs (μονογενὴς) may be used both as an adjective monogenēs pais, only child, or only legitimate child, special child, and also on its own as a noun; o monogenēs "the only one", or "the only legitimate child".
Contents
- Lexical entry
- Classical Greek texts
- Interpretation of Classical Greek usage
- Greek Old Testament usage
- Interpretation of Greek Old Testament usage
- Greek New Testament usage
- Hellenistic Jewish usages
- Early Patristic usage
- Gnosticism and magic texts
- Later uses in Christianity
- Interpretation of New Testament usage
- Begetting
- Uniqueness
- Textual issues in John 118
- References
The word is used in Hebrews 11:17-19 to describe Isaac, the son of Abraham. However Isaac was not the only-begotten son of Abraham, but was the chosen, having special virtue.
The term is notable outside normal Greek usage in two special areas: in the cosmology of Plato and in the Gospel of John. As concerns the use by Plato there is broad academic consensus, generally following the understanding of the philosopher Proclus (412–485 AD).
Lexical entry
In A Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell & Scott the following main definition is given:
A. the only member of a kin or kind: hence, generally, only, single, "child" (pais, παῖς) Hesiod, Works and Days 376; Herodotus Histories 7.221; cf. Gospel of John 1.14; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 32.1; Hesiod Theogony, concerning Hecate.2. unique, of (to on, τὸ ὄν), Parmenides 8.4; “εἷς ὅδε μ. οὐρανὸς γεγονώς” Plato Timaeus.31b, cf. Proclus Institutio Theologica 22; “θεὸς ὁ μ.” Friedrich Preisigke's Sammelbuch 4324.15.A typical example:
"The Egyptians told me that Maneros was the only son of their first king, who died prematurely, and this dirge was sung by the Egyptians in his honor; and this, they said, was their earliest and their only chant." (Herodotus Histories 2:79)But note that this example does not necessarily rule out sons by concubines.
Classical Greek texts
The following examples are taken from the Greek text uses of monogenēs in the Perseus database.
An exhaustive listing of monogenēs can be found in the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae database.
Parmenides The reference above found in Liddell Scott, and therefore in other lexicons, and unquestioned in Christian commentaries, to a use of monogenes by Parmenides has more recently been shown to probably be incorrect. The text of Parmenides 8. 4 is "unusually corrupt". Plutarch read the text as holomeles (οὐλομελές, "whole-limbed"). The original reconstruction by H. Diels (1897) left the text open. Later editions of Diels-Kranz defer to Plutarch's reading in the reconstructed Greek text. Others since reconstructed the text as monogenes (only-begotten) but John R. Wilson (1970) argues that this is inconsistent with context and suggests the text as monomeles (one-limbed). The inconsistency is accepted by H. Schmitz (1988) but Schmitz proposes instead a return to holomeles (οὐλομελές, "whole-limbed").
Interpretation of Classical Greek usage
Plato's Timaeus speaks twice of a monogenes Heaven:
The subject is the creation, or begetting, of heaven (ouranos) as a unique birth, not the birth of more than one cosmos. Comparison is also made with the begetting of animals and birds from the souls of "light-minded men".
In commentary on Plato Proclus considers that if a visible god like the ouranos is to resemble higher invisible gods, then the visible cosmos must be monogenes.
Greek Old Testament usage
The word occurs five times in the Septuagint:
Interpretation of Greek Old Testament usage
Psalm 22:20, 35:17 and Wisdom 7:22 appear to be personifications of the soul (in Hebrew a masculine noun) and wisdom (feminine noun) as an "only son" and "only daughter" respectively.
There is an increase in the use of monogenes in later versions of the Septuagint. Gen 22:2 "the beloved one whom you have loved" (ton agapeton, on egapesas) in Aquila's Greek translation uses monogenēs to translate yachid, the common Hebrew word for "only".
Greek New Testament usage
The New Testament contains 9 uses, all adjectival:
Hellenistic Jewish usages
Early Patristic usage
Gnosticism and magic texts
Platonic usage also impacted Christian usage, for example in Gnosticism. In Tertullian's Against the Valentinians, he gives the name to one of their thirty aeons as monogenes in a syzygy with makaria, Blessedness.
Similar content is found in:
The problem with magical inscriptions, on papyri, walls or ostraca, is firstly dating the source, secondly that magical spells by their nature tend to be syncretic. In the example above lovestruck Capitolina summons "all the divinities" to release the spirits of "all who drowned in the Nile, the unmarried dead" etc. to sway the heart of her young man, yet she may not have known enough about Judaism or Christianity, or even Gnostic Christianity, to know whether "YAHWEH SABAOTH" and "the Only-Begotten" were the same god or not.
Later uses in Christianity
Interpretation of New Testament usage
Some aspects of the meaning, or range of meanings, of monogenēs in the New Testament are disputed. Lexicons of the New Testament both reflect and determine debate:
Begetting
The entrance of "only begotten" into the English Bible was not directly from mono-genes but from the Latin of the Vulgate, which had uni-genitus (one-begotten):
The meaning of monogenēs was part of early Christian christological controversy regarding the Trinity. It is claimed that Arian arguments that used texts that refer to Christ as God's "only begotten Son" are based on a misunderstanding of the Greek word monogenēs and that the Greek word does not mean "begotten" in the sense we beget children but means "having no peer, unique".
Alternatively in favour that the word monogenēs does carry some meaning related to begetting is the etymological origin mono- (only) + -genes (born, begotten). The question is whether the etymological origin was still "live" as part of the meaning when the New Testament was written, or whether semantic shift has occurred. Limiting the semantic change of monogenes is that the normal word monos is still the default word in New Testament times, and that the terms co-exist in Greek, Latin and English:
Greek monos → Latin unicus → English "only"Greek monogenes → Latin unigenitus → English "only-begotten"Also there is a question about how separate from the idea of -genes birth and begetting the cited uses of monogenes in the sense of "unique" truly are. For example, the ending -genes is arguably not redundant even in the sense of "only" as per when Clement of Rome (96 AD), and later Origen, Cyril and others, employ monogenes to describe the rebirth of the phoenix. At issue is whether Clement is merely stressing monos unique, or using monogenes to indicate unique in its method of rebirth, or possibly that there is only one single bird born and reborn. Likewise in Plato's Timaeus, the "only-begotten and created Heaven", is still unique in how it is begotten, in comparison to the begetting of animals and men, just as Earth and Heaven give birth to Ocean and Tethys. Of the Liddell Scott references for "unique" (monogenes being used purely as monos) that leaves only Parmenides, which (as above) is no longer considered a likely reading of the Greek text.
Additionally the New Testament frame of reference for monogenes is established by uses of the main verb "beget", and readings of complimentary verses, for example:
Heb. 1:5 "For unto which of the angels said he at any time, "Thou art my Son (uios mou ei su), this day have I begotten thee (ego semeron gegenneka se)"? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?" (citing Ps.2:7, also cited Acts 13:33, Heb.5:5)1 John 5:18 "We know that everyone who is begotten of God does not sin" or1 John 5:18 "We know that the One who is begotten of God does not sin"Uniqueness
This issue overlaps with, and is interrelated with, the question of begetting above. Interpretation of the uniqueness of monogenes in New Testament usage partly depends on understanding of Hellenistic Jewish ideas about inheritance. Philo stated:
In his 1894 translation of Philo Charles Duke Yonge rendered "loved-and-only son" (agapetos kai monos uios) as "only legitimate son", which is not unreasonable given Philo's parallel comments in On Sacrifice X.43. It also parallels Josephus' use (see above 20:20) for a legitimate son of the main royal wife.
Likewise in the later Jewish Septuagint revisions:
In contrast in Proverbs 4:3 Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion all have monogenes of a mother's only-begotten son where legitimacy is not an issue.
Textual issues in John 1:18
In Textual criticism opinions are divided on whether Jesus is referred to as "only-begotten God" or "only-begotten Son", in John 1:18.
This textual issue is complicated by the scribal abbreviations of nomina sacra where "G-d" and "S-n" are abbreviated in the Greek manuscripts by ΘΣ and ΥΣ (theta-sigma vs upsilon-sigma) increasing the likelihood of scribal error.