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ways. The verb gennao is used in Matthew in such passages as "Abraham begat Isaac",
"Of whom was born Jesus", "That which is conceived in her", "When Jesus was born in
Bethlehem". In the epistle to the Hebrews itself it occurs four times, thus:
"This day have I begotten Thee."
"To day have I begotten Thee."
"Therefore sprang there even of one."
"By faith Moses, when he was born" (Heb. 1: 5; 5: 5; 11: 12, 23).
John, in his first epistle, has no hesitation in intertwining references to those who have
been "born" or "begotten" of God, and the Saviour Who was "born" or "begotten" of
God (1 John 2: 29; 3: 9; 4: 7; 5: 1, 4, 18). While therefore we can discover no
warrant from Scripture usage to project this "begetting" back before time began, we are
warned by the selfsame usage of Scripture not to limit this term to the Incarnation. "This
day" have I begotten Thee, cannot refer to the birth at Bethlehem for this is a quotation
from Psalm 2::
"Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the
LORD hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee" (Psa. 2: 6, 7).
On either side of this quotation from Psa. 2:, Paul, in Acts 13: 33-37, stresses the
resurrection of Christ:
"He hath raised up Jesus again" (Quotation follows from Psa. 2: 7).
"And as concerning that He raised Him up from the dead" (Quotation follows from
Isa. 55: 3).
This begetting at the Resurrection differed from that at the Incarnation, the one being
the entrance into a life of flesh and blood through the overshadowing of the Virgin by the
Spirit of God; the other being the quickening power of the selfsame Spirit of that body
which was laid in the sepulchre, yet which saw no corruption. This second "birth" was
by "decree". The reader should have no difficulty in believing this twofold "begetting",
for that is also true, in its limited way, of every believer. All men are "born" by natural
processes gennao, and the believer is "born again", gennao and anothen (John 3: 3) and
anagennao (I Pet. 1: 23). If the believer therefore can be said to have been begotten at his
natural birth, and to have been begotten again at conversion, there should be no difficulty
in believing the double references to the Saviour. In Colossians the title given the Lord
in this connection is prototokos "Firstborn of all creation", "Firstborn from the dead"
(Col. 1: 15, 18). Again a double use of the same title. This word prototokos is found in
Heb. 1: 6:
"And again, when He bringeth in the firstborn into the world, He saith, And let all the
angels of God worship Him."
"And again." Readers will remember the repetition of this phrase in Rom. 15: 9-12,
but in this passage the words "He saith" are either actually written or implied. The R.V.
reads, however, "And when He again bringeth", attaching the word "again" to the act of
"bringing" and not with the words "He saith". Weymouth reads "But speaking of the
time when He once more brings His Firstborn into the world, He says". There is by no