Begotten Begetters

If this content resonates with you, share your thoughts in the comments below.

As a child, the first chapter of Matthew not only puzzled me, but it also bored me:

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon (Matthew 1: 1-14, KJV).

Every time my parents or Sunday School teachers read that chapter aloud or assigned it to me as a personal reading activity, I usually skipped over all the begats and moved on to Verse 18, where the actual story of Jesus’ birth started.

Granted, I was just a child, but those 42 generations of the lineage of Jesus did not interest me, especially since I did not really know most of the 42 men and five women mentioned in the family tree of Jesus. And the biblical characters I did know back then had been introduced to me via flannel boards and picture Bibles. Consequently, my insight into this unprecedented chapter of the Bible was limited and lacking.

Through personal study and great pastoral leadership, those characters became multi-dimensional over the following six decades of my life, and my respect and awe over some of their stories grew exponentially. Just the fact that five women were listed in the lineage of our Savior amazed me – not to mention the fact that four of those women were a whole lot more flawed than the last one mentioned: Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Honestly, there are countless lessons and insights to be gleaned from Matthew 1, but no matter how many times I read this chapter or how many stories emerge from it, I still think of it as the “begat chapter” of the New Testament. And now, whenever I read this passage, it is still the word begat that hits me first and hardest.

Begat!

According to BibleGateway.com, the word "begat" is used 139 times in the King James version of the Bible. Other forms of this word are used 34 additional times, for a total of 173 usages of this terminology. But it was another particular form of begat – the word begotten – that led me to ponder its possible impact on our spiritual lives.

Now, I love word studies in general. I’m not sure why that’s the case, but perhaps my love of etymology stems from my years as a Language Arts and Creative Writing teacher.

I do know for certain that my current interest in the etymology and lexicology of the word begat was connected to a Bible study that several local teenage girls were planning to conduct at our home. It was meant to be an end-of-summer celebration and a prayerful start to their new school year.

But every time I thought of this upcoming study, I kept hearing one biblically based phrase resound in my heart, “We are begotten by the Word.”

The source of my repetitious thought was James 1:18, which states, “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”

This verse made complete sense to me because these young women initiated a student-led Bible study several years back. Their study group is led solely by this volunteer group of girls, and it continues to grow and positively impact everyone around them.

Truly, these young women were begotten by the Word, and in turn, they have begotten many more sisters in Scripture within their circle of friends. They’ve also begotten much more kindness, concern, and unifying love to people throughout their school and community, including me.

Contemplating these amazing young women, I finally sat down at my computer to study this mighty little word. And as usual, what I discovered taught me more than I could ever hope to share with others, even those young ladies coming to my house for a taco party to celebrate the beginning of a new school year.

After looking through Strong’s Concordance at definitions of begat, beget, and begotten in various forms of Hebrew and Greek usage, I found multiple possible meanings, depending on the word’s biblical context:

to bring forth from the womb, to give birth to, to produce, to breed forth, to generate, to bring forth, to create, to father, to gender, to produce, to travail for, to bring up, or even to hatch or to calve.

That’s a whole lot of meaning packed into one word. So much meaning that it seemed confusing to me at times.

That’s why I especially loved how Matthew Henry’s Commentary took the somewhat confusing concepts of begat and explained its usage within James 1:18 through two simple points

A true Christian is a creature begotten anew. He becomes as different a person from what he was before the renewing influences of divine grace as if he were formed over again, and born afresh.
The original of this good work is here declared: it is of God's own will; not by our skill or power; not from any good foreseen in us, or done by us, but purely from the good-will and grace of God.

Hallelujah, God gave us the good, good gift of salvation when He begat us by His Word of truth. But that was only the beginning. It’s a continual process of regeneration and renovation.

It is also a process that involves another gift from God. Unbelievably, He allows us (even commands us) to share the Good News of Jesus throughout the world (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16).

In essence, the begotten get to be the begetters.

Alright, that might be an extreme linguistic overreach for exegeting the use of the word begat within James 1:18. But it really is our gift and privilege to be able to share the gospel message of salvation with those around us.

Perhaps the late Dr. Billy Graham explained the begat concept best when he said, “God has given us two hands — one to receive with and the other to give with. We are not cisterns made for hoarding; we are channels made for sharing.”

Yep, we really are begotten begetters.

Please Note: We moderate all reader comments, usually within 24 hours of posting (longer on weekends). Please limit your comment to 300 words or less and ensure it addresses the content. Comments that contain a link (URL), an inordinate number of words in ALL CAPS, rude remarks directed at the author or other readers, or profanity/vulgarity will not be approved.