The Only Begotten Son of God
God The Father only has one Son. Even though it’s common in the Old Testament to find the term used to refer to angels, and the Israelites and so on. In Old Testament times, because the Son of God had not yet become incarnate, the writers didn’t define the second person of the Holy Trinity as the Son of God. It wasn’t until the Son of God became incarnate that he was revealed as the Only Son of the Father.
In the Scriptures, the angel Gabriel is the first person to name Jesus as the Son of God. Or, more accurately, to name the Only Son of God, Jesus. The Father twice declares Jesus to be his Son, first at his baptism and also at the Transfiguration. But we humans didn’t really even begin to understand it until Peter declares that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16: 16 NABRE) The only reason Peter could say that was because the Father had revealed it to him.
It was only after the resurrection that the apostles and disciples began to clearly understand the Jesus was the incarnate Word of the Old Testament. That he was one of persons God was talking to in the creation narrative when He said, “Let us…” The other person was the Holy Spirit.
It was only after the resurrection that the apostles and disciples began to understand that the Only Begotten Son of God had stepped down from heaven and into the pages of human history to become the Son of Man. That he was fully human. That he was fully divine. And by virtue of being both, he bridged the chasm separating the Divine Unity from fallen humanity.
Jesus is the Only Begotten Son of God. And he grants to us a special privilege. We also can become sons and daughters of God. Through faith in him, through the waters of baptism, we are adopted into the family. It doesn’t matter who we are. It doesn’t matter how much we know or how little we know. I doesn’t matter what we’ve done, or what we’ve failed to do. If we belong to him, we are family.
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