Bible Word Meanings
What does “begotten” mean in the Bible?
“Begotten” is the old past participle of “beget,” meaning to father a child. In the King James Version it translates the Greek word monogenēs, used of Jesus five times in John’s writings — and it points to relationship, not to a moment when the Son began. Most modern scholarship reads monogenēs as “only” or “one of a kind,” stressing that this Son is the Father’s own, uniquely His. That is why the Father’s Heart Bible renders John 3:16 as “For our Father so loved the world that he gave his only Son” rather than “his only begotten Son.” You can read John 3 free and compare.
The plain meaning of “begotten”
Begotten is the old past participle of the verb beget, meaning to father a child. In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English it was ordinary speech: a man begot sons and daughters. It has since dropped out of everyday use, surviving almost entirely inside older Bible translations and the creeds — which is why most people meet the word for the first time in John 3:16 and have to stop and ask what it means.
In the King James Version it renders the Greek word monogenēs, used of Jesus in five places in John’s writings. So when a familiar Bible calls Jesus the “only begotten Son,” it is not describing a moment when the Son started existing. It is saying something about relationship: this Son is the Father’s own, uniquely and irreplaceably.
What the Greek word actually emphasises
Monogenēs is built from monos (only) and a root carrying the sense of kind or origin. Most modern scholarship reads it as “one of a kind” or “only,” stressing uniqueness rather than the mechanics of being born. The same word is used in Luke 7:12 of a widow’s only son and in Hebrews 11:17 of Isaac — who was not Abraham’s only child, but was his unique son of promise.
That is why nearly every modern translation moved away from “only begotten.” The older phrase invited a misunderstanding it never meant: that the Son was made or originated at some point. Historic Christian teaching has always said the opposite — the Son is eternally the Father’s, “begotten, not made,” in the language of the Nicene Creed.
The translator’s problem, then, is that the accurate old word has become an inaccurate signal to a modern ear.
What the Father’s Heart Bible does with it
The Father’s Heart Bible does not use the phrase “only begotten” anywhere. It renders monogenēs as “his only Son” or “the one and only Son,” keeping the uniqueness the Greek is pressing and dropping a word that now obscures more than it reveals.
There is one deliberate exception. In Psalm 2:7 the word is kept, because there the point is precisely the Father’s eternal declaration over His Son: “I will proclaim the decree of our Father: he said to me, ‘You are my Son — Jesus — today I have begotten you.’” The New Testament quotes that verse of Jesus in Acts 13:33 and Hebrews 1:5 and 5:5, and the footnote in the text says so.
So the pattern is consistent rather than mechanical: plain English where “begotten” would confuse, and the older word retained in the one place where the Father-Son declaration is the whole subject.
Why the choice matters for what you hear
Read the two versions of John 3:16 side by side and the difference is not decorative. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” puts two pieces of unfamiliar vocabulary between the reader and the sentence — a category word for the One who loves, and an archaic word for the One given.
The Father’s Heart Bible reads: “For our Father so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” The relationship is now audible in both halves. A Father gave His own Son. That is what the verse has always said; the wording simply stops muffling it.
None of this is a claim that older translations are wrong. “Only begotten” was good English once. Language moved, and a translation made now has to serve the ear that is actually reading.
The five “begotten” verses, side by side
Each quotation is the Father’s Heart Bible’s own wording, with the King James rendering beside it. Every reference links into the full chapter, free, with verse-by-verse audio in English.
John 3:16
For our Father so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Familiar older wording: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…” (KJV)
Read & listen to John 3John 1:14
The Word became flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Familiar older wording: “…the glory as of the only begotten of the Father…” (KJV)
Read & listen to John 1John 1:18
No one has ever seen our Father; the only Son, close beside the Father, has made him known.
Familiar older wording: “…the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father…” (KJV)
Read & listen to John 11 John 4:9
This is how our Father’s love was shown among us: our Father sent his one and only Son into the world so we might live through him.
Familiar older wording: “…God sent his only begotten Son into the world…” (KJV)
Read & listen to 1 John 4Psalms 2:7
I will proclaim the decree of our Father: he said to me, “You are my Son — Jesus — today I have begotten you.”
Familiar older wording: The one place the Father’s Heart Bible keeps “begotten” — the Father’s eternal decree over the Son.
Read & listen to Psalms 2Frequently asked questions
What does “begotten” mean in the Bible?
“Begotten” is the old past participle of “beget,” meaning to father a child. In the King James Version it translates the Greek monogenēs, used of Jesus five times in John’s writings. It does not mean the Son was created or started existing; it points to relationship — this Son is the Father’s own, uniquely His. Most modern scholarship reads monogenēs as “only” or “one of a kind.”
What does “only begotten Son” mean?
It means the unique, one-of-a-kind Son of the Father. The Greek monogenēs stresses uniqueness rather than the manner of birth — the same word describes a widow’s only son in Luke 7:12 and Isaac in Hebrews 11:17, who was not Abraham’s only child but his unique son of promise. Historic Christian teaching holds that the Son is eternally the Father’s: “begotten, not made.”
Does the Father’s Heart Bible use the phrase “only begotten”?
No. The Father’s Heart Bible renders monogenēs as “his only Son” or “the one and only Son,” so John 3:16 reads, “For our Father so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” The word “begotten” is kept in exactly one verse, Psalm 2:7, where the Father’s eternal declaration over His Son is the subject — and the text footnotes why.
Why do modern Bibles drop “only begotten”?
Because the English word stopped meaning what it once meant. “Begotten” has fallen out of everyday speech, and to a modern ear it can suggest the Son was made or originated — the opposite of what the phrase was defending. Translators keep the uniqueness the Greek presses and use wording that no longer misleads.
Where does the Bible call Jesus the only begotten Son?
In five places in John’s writings: John 1:14, John 1:18, John 3:16, John 3:18, and 1 John 4:9. Each is linked above so you can read the full chapter free, with verse-by-verse audio in English.
Related: why this Bible says “our Father” instead of “God”, what “Abba, Father” means, and what “hallowed be thy name” means. Read John 1 or the whole Bible free with audio, or browse Bible verses about God as Father. For the Greek, see Blue Letter Bible on monogenēs (G3439) and the Nicene Creed.
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