It's important to note that the Gospels are not referring to the Son coming into being as a man. In other words, the virgin birth is not saying a preexistent Son entered Mary’s womb in order to take on human flesh. This interpretation contradicts the account of the genesis and coming into being of the Son given by Matthew and Luke.
Matthew 1:
1 "This is an account of the origin [genesis] of Jesus the Messiah…"
18 "The origin [genesis] of Jesus the Messiah happened this way...."
And then the witness of the angel of the Lord in Matt 1.20:
"Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is begotten [not just conceived] in her is from the Holy Spirit."
Luke 1
31a The angel [Gabriel] said to Mary, “You will conceive and give birth to a son…"
32a "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High…"
35 "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. For this reason the child will be the Son of God.”
The inspired testimony clearly shows the Son comes into being for the very first time and we all know human beings do not pre-exist their birth. That’s why John in his Gospel consistently refers to Jesus as the only-begotten Son of God. This has been the traditional rendering of the Greek compound word monogenes, monos = unique or only one and genes kind, from the Greek gennao.
The latter is used throughout the genealogies of both Old and New Testaments to refer to fathers begetting or procreating children. The Greek word gennao means “to cause something to come into existence, primarily through procreation.” See Alfred Rahlfs, Genesis 1926, 39.
Accordingly, for the Apostle John the Son is not co-equal, co-eternal with God the Father.
(Who John, BTW, consistently identifies as the one God, or the only God and Jesus calls the only true God in John 17:3, I.e., the Father is the only Person in the category of Deity!)
So for Jesus "the Father is greater than all” including His own Son, according to John 10.29; 14.28. This explains how John 3:35; 5:22, 27; 17:2 can say that God has given the Son the authority and power to judge the living and the dead!
And John 6:57 says the Son lives “because of the living Father.”
This was the understanding of the Apostle Paul when he says in Gal 4.4a:
“When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son made [genomenon] of a woman.”
The Greek translated "made" is from the verb ginomai which according to Bauer’s Lexicon means:
“To come into being, existence through the process of birth.”
And Thayer’s Lexicon:
“To become, i.e. to come into existence, begin to be, receive being.”
So for Paul the Son comes into being inside (not outside) his mother’s womb, just as Matthew and Luke describe.
Matthew 1:
1 "This is an account of the origin [genesis] of Jesus the Messiah…"
18 "The origin [genesis] of Jesus the Messiah happened this way...."
And then the witness of the angel of the Lord in Matt 1.20:
"Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is begotten [not just conceived] in her is from the Holy Spirit."
Luke 1
31a The angel [Gabriel] said to Mary, “You will conceive and give birth to a son…"
32a "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High…"
35 "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. For this reason the child will be the Son of God.”
The inspired testimony clearly shows the Son comes into being for the very first time and we all know human beings do not pre-exist their birth. That’s why John in his Gospel consistently refers to Jesus as the only-begotten Son of God. This has been the traditional rendering of the Greek compound word monogenes, monos = unique or only one and genes kind, from the Greek gennao.
The latter is used throughout the genealogies of both Old and New Testaments to refer to fathers begetting or procreating children. The Greek word gennao means “to cause something to come into existence, primarily through procreation.” See Alfred Rahlfs, Genesis 1926, 39.
Accordingly, for the Apostle John the Son is not co-equal, co-eternal with God the Father.
(Who John, BTW, consistently identifies as the one God, or the only God and Jesus calls the only true God in John 17:3, I.e., the Father is the only Person in the category of Deity!)
So for Jesus "the Father is greater than all” including His own Son, according to John 10.29; 14.28. This explains how John 3:35; 5:22, 27; 17:2 can say that God has given the Son the authority and power to judge the living and the dead!
And John 6:57 says the Son lives “because of the living Father.”
This was the understanding of the Apostle Paul when he says in Gal 4.4a:
“When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son made [genomenon] of a woman.”
The Greek translated "made" is from the verb ginomai which according to Bauer’s Lexicon means:
“To come into being, existence through the process of birth.”
And Thayer’s Lexicon:
“To become, i.e. to come into existence, begin to be, receive being.”
So for Paul the Son comes into being inside (not outside) his mother’s womb, just as Matthew and Luke describe.
