The Creed—Can It Be Possible?

Q: In the Nicene Creed we read the words “begotten, not made.” In other writings we find the phrase, “the only begotten Son of God.” Such references to Christ appear to express an impossibility. Since we believe that Christ is God, he must have existed for all time. Without a beginning how could he have been begotten?

A: I wish I could make a simple, lucid explanation of who God is and how he exists so that you would or could say, “Ah! Now I see! It’s so plain and obvious.” But that cannot be. We are always limited creatures trying to understand an infinite God—a being far beyond our comprehension and intelligence.

To understand him as God understands himself would make us God or the equals of God.

In speaking of Jesus we must always remember we are talking about the second person of the Blessed Trinity—God the Son—become incarnate. In Jesus, the Son, are united two natures: the divine and human. The divine person possesses two natures.

In the divine nature the Son exists from eternity. He always was, is and shall be. There never was a time when the Son did not exist and never will be a time when he will not exist. From eternity or in eternity, the Son is begotten of or proceeds from the Father. To use comparisons that limp, it is as a thought proceeds from or is begotten by the mind (not made, not created) or as light proceeds from the sun. Just as the Father is always there, the Son (second person) is always there being begotten by the Father.

In time the second person, the Son, took to himself a human nature—he became flesh, he became man, Jesus. In his human nature the Son (Jesus) did not exist forever. It is this event we proclaim in the Angelus prayer and celebrate at Christmas—“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus, in whom are united the divine and human natures, began to exist in time.