The Eternal Generation of the Son is a trinitarian doctrine, which is defined as a necessary and as an eternal act of God the Father, where he generates (or begets) God the Son through communicating the whole divine essence to the Son. Generation is not not defined as an act of the will, but is by necessity of nature.[1][2] To avoid anthropomorphistic understandings of the doctrine, theologians have defined it as timeless, non bodily, incomprehensible and not as a communication without but within the Godhead.[3][4][5] The view is affirmed by the Catholic church,[6] Eastern Orthodoxy,[7] the Westminster confession[8] the London Baptist confession,[9] by Lutheran confessions[10] among others.
The doctrine has been an important part of Nicene trinitarianism, however some modern theologians have proposed different models of the trinity, wherein eternal generation is no longer seen as necessary and thus rejected.[11]
History
The doctrine of eternal generation has been affirmed by the Athanasian creed,[12] the Nicene creed[13] and by church fathers such as Athanasius of Alexandria, Augustine, Basil of Caesarea[14][15][16][17] being mentioned explicitly first by Origen of Alexandria.[18]
The doctrine was often disputed by the Socinians, arguing that the sonship of Christ is not derived from his eternal begetting.[19][20] The view has also been disputed by some modern theologians, including some Social Trinitarians, such as William Lane Craig.[21][22] Other trinitarian theologians to have criticized the view include Charles Ryrie,[23] John MacArthur (although later recanting of his position)[24] and J. Oliver Buswell among others.[25][26] The doctrine was also disputed by the popular Evangelical theologian Wayne Grudem, arguing that the doctrine is derived from a misunderstanding of the Greek word monogenes.[11] However, he later recanted of his opposition to the doctrine of eternal generation.[27]
The Bible
Those who teach the traditional doctrine of eternal generation have often used texts such as Proverbs 8:23, Psalm 2:7, Micah 5:2, John 5:26, John 1:18, 3:16, Colossians 1:15 and Hebrews 1:3. The ideas of "image" and "radiance" expressed in these texts have been argued to imply the idea of generation. Additionally, the idea of being "begotten" in Psalm 2:7 and John 3:16 has been applied by theologians to support eternal begetting or generation. The text of John 5:26 is one of the most central texts used to defend the idea of eternal generation, which references the Son being granted to have "life in himself" by the Father.[28][29][30][31][32][33] However, the idea that these texts teach the doctrine of eternal generation has been disputed by its critics. The critics of the theory such as William Lane Craig have argued that it introduces subordinationism into the Godhead. A major issue in the debate is the translation of the Greek term monogenes, translated as "only begotten". Those who hold to eternal generation generally argue the word to involve an idea of derivation or begetting, while its critics have denied that the word has such connotations.[34][11]