The Old Testament Background of Jesus as Begotten of God

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In recent issues of Bible Review, two quite different articles have examined the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke—the only two Gospels that include an account of Jesus’ infancy. The first article—by Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis—was a literary study in which the author examined the differing literary techniques used by these two Gospel accounts to highlight their differing viewpoints.^a In the second article, John Dominic Crossan identified the dominant narrative strategy of the Gospel accounts, especially of Matthew; according to Crossan, the infancy narratives seek to draw a parallel between Moses as Israel’s liberator and Jesus.^b

Neither article, however, explores the function of the main point of the story: Jesus was begotten of God. To say that Jesus was begotten of God is another way of saying that Jesus is the Messiah.

In the Old Testament, the messiah was to be begotten of God. That is why it was so important in the infancy narratives to affirm this about Jesus. To understand Jesus as begotten of God, we must first understand the nature of this concept in the Old Testament and its relationship to the concept of the messiah.

The word “messiah” comes from the Hebrew verb maµsûah, which means “to anoint.” Ancient Israelite kings were regarded as “the anointed of the Lord,” that is, as messiahs. In 1 Samuel 10:1 we read that “Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it on [Saul’s] head, kissed him, and said, ‘Has not Yahweh anointed [maµsûah] you prince over his people, Israel?’ ” Thus was Israel’s first king consecrated. In 1 Samuel 15:1, we read that “Samuel said to Saul, ‘Yahweh sent me to anoint [limsûaµh‡kaµ] you king over his people, Israel.’ ”

On two occasions when David has an opportunity to kill King Saul, David refrains because Saul is God’s “anointed.” In 1 Samuel 24:6 (in Hebrew, verse 7) David says to his men, “Yahweh forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the anointed of Yahweh [m^esûiÆah yhwh], to raise my hand against him, for he is Yahweh’s anointed!” In verse 11, David says to Saul, “I have said, ‘I shall not raise my hand against my lord, for he is Yahweh’s anointed.’ ” In 1 Samuel 26:11, David says, “Yahweh forbid that I should raise my hand against the anointed of Yahweh [m^esûiÆah yhwh].” Later, David upbraids Abner, the commander of Saul’s army: “As Yahweh lives, you, who should have kept watch over your lord, the anointed of Yahweh, are dead men!” (1 Samuel 26:16).

David himself was anointed by Samuel when he ascended to the throne (1 Samuel 16:13). So was 023Solomon—not by Samuel, but by Zadok. In 1 Kings 1:38–40, we find the account of Zadok’s anointing of Solomon: “There Zadok, the priest, took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed [maµsûah] Solomon” (verse 39). While priests and objects might be anointed, “anointing was first of all a royal rite…. The king was ‘the anointed one’ or ‘messiah’ (Hebrew, m^esûiÆah) of Yahweh.”¹

Psalm 2, one of the most moving of the so-called royal psalms, was apparently composed to be recited on the occasion of the enthronement of the king in the cultic enthronement ceremony. According to one scholar, “It was composed for the occasion of the enthronement of a king of Judah at Jerusalem in the time after David.”² The psalm may have been recited by the king himself. Or perhaps different parts were declaimed by different speakers: the poet, the priest and the king. The psalm identifies the king as the anointed, that is, the 024messiah, of Yahweh: “The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers conspire together against Yahweh and his anointed [m^esûiÆhoÆ]” (Psalm 2:2).

Verse 7 is of special importance. Here undoubtedly are words recited by the king himself as he is invested with royal powers: “I will proclaim the decree of Yahweh: He said to me, ’You are my son; today I have begotten you.’ ” With his anointment as king, he becomes begotten of God. This is a formula of adoption by which the king became God’s son.

This idea of the sonship of the king is also reflected in a passage from 2 Samuel. In a vision or dream, Yahweh himself appears to the prophet Nathan; Yahweh tells the prophet to inform David that David’s offspring, rather than David himself, Will build the temple of Yahweh; as to that offspring, Yahweh says, “I Will be his Father and he will be my son” (2 Samuel 7:14).

Psalm 89 seems to refer specifically to this passage from 2 Samuel: “Once [referring to the passage from 2 Samuel] you spoke in a vision… saying: ‘…I have anointed [David]. My hand will sustain him; surely my arm Will strengthen him…He will call unto me, “You are my Father, my God and the Rock of my salvation.” And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth’ ” (Psalm 89:20–22, 26–27).

Thus we see that in ancient Israel and Judah, kings were viewed as having a special Father-son relationship with God, a relationship emphasized in Psalm 2:7, “Today I have begotten you,” and in Psalm 89, .“the firstborn.”

This has nothing to do with physical descent, however, or with divine kingship as in Egypt. What we find in the Hebrew Bible is adoption language, qualifying the king for the patrimony Yahweh wishes to bestow upon him.³

How this concept persisted is reflected in one of the Dead Sea Scrolls from the first century B.C., a manuscript that was probably once a part of the so-called Manual of Discipline⁴ (which was a manual for the restored congegration of Israel). It sets forth the rules for participation in the future community. Among other things, it describes a meal of bread and wine at which the messiah will be present. It refers to a time “when Yahweh will beget the messiah” (’m ywlyd [yhwh] ’[t] hmsûyh).⁵ The passage is difficult to read because discoloration of the leather has obscured some letters. However, infrared photography has verified the correctness of ywlyd, “will beget.” The word for Yahweh (yhwh) has been restored, but in the light of all we have noted above—and especially Psalm 2:7—this is a highly probable reading.⁶ Thus the Essene community of the first century B.C. clearly affirmed that the messiah will be begotten of God.

This is precisely what the infancy narratives in the Gospels want to emphasize: the “begottenness” of the Messiah—that Jesus is begotten of God. For the author of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus was the Messiah. Matthew tells us that Mary “was with child of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18) and, two verses later. “That which is conceived in her is through the Holy Spirit.” In this way, Matthew means to affirm that as the messiahs of old were begotten of Yahweh, so this Messiah also is begotten of God.

The Gospel of Luke makes the same point: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35). Luke also stresses that the one to be born “will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David.” In this way, Luke echoes those Old Testament texts that reflect the Father-son relationship of God and king.

There is a difference, however. In the texts from the Hebrew Bible, the king becomes the son of God when he is anointed (maµsûah). Recall that to be the messiah means to be anointed. In the Gospel texts, Jesus is the son of God from the moment of conception. (We should really speak of the virgin conception, rather than the virgin birth.)

Thus, while the king of Israel as messiah was thought to have been begotten of God at the time of his accession to the throne, the Gospel infancy narratives put the time at the moment of conception.

Whether this was the earliest Christian understanding is questionable. Some New Testament scholars have attempted to trace a development in the tradition regarding the time when Jesus became begotten of God. In the earliest stage of the tradition, Jesus was begotten of God only at the time of the resurrection; later, the time when Jesus became begotten of God was pushed back to his baptism; finally, in the canonical version of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, it was pushed back to the moment of conception.

In support of this contention, an ancient manuscript of Luke is cited. This manuscript differs from the canonical version of Luke. In the canonical version of Luke, we read that when Jesus was baptized a voice announced from heaven: “Thou art my beloved Son. With thee I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). In a fifth- sixth-century manuscript known as the Codex Bezae,^c the voice from heaven 026announces, “Today I have begotten you,” instead of “With thee I am well pleased.”

The reading in Codex Bezae was preferred by some early Church fathers, such as Methodius of Olympus, Hilary of Poitiers and Augustine of Hippo. According to this version, Jesus became God’s begotten son only at his baptism, a clear contradiction of the view in the Lukan infancy narrative that it was at the time of conception that Jesus became the begotten messiah. Consequently, the reading in Luke 3:22 was changed.

In other contexts, the Christological language of “begotten son” appears only at the resurrection. In the Book of Acts, we read that Paul tells his listeners “God raised [Jesus] from the dead…. We bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’ ” (Acts 13:30, 32, 33). In this way, Paul makes the language of Psalm 2:7 applicable to the resurrection. In short, Jesus becomes the begotten of God at the resurrection.

In this same vein, in Paul’s letter to the Romans we are told that Jesus was “born [genoménou] of the seed of David according to the flesh [but] designated son of God in power according to the Holy Spirit from the time of his resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:3, 4).

This passage from Romans and the passage from Acts clearly reflect an early Christological belief that Jesus was the begotten Messiah, the Son of God, from the time of his resurrection. According to most critical scholars, Romans and Acts represent the earliest expression of the Christological concept of the time of the Messiah’s begottenness. In this earliest expression, the Messiah was begotten of God at the time of the resurrection. Later, the moment was pushed back to the time of Jesus’ baptism experience—as reflected in the Codex Bezae. Finally, 027in the canonical versions of Matthew and Luke the moment was pushed back to the time of conception/birth.

The concept of the Messiah as begotten of God is clearly derived from the Hebrew Bible. This concept begins in the time of Saul and David, continues through the Qumran literature, and into the thought of early Christians as evidenced in the New Testament In the development of Christological doctrine, the time when the Messiah was begotten changed. But what remains constant throughout is that the messiah/Messiah, begotten of God, and therefore the son/Son of God, who is called the Father, is the inheritor of God’s patrimony.

In recent issues of Bible Review, two quite different articles have examined the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke—the only two Gospels that include an account of Jesus’ infancy. The first article—by Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis—was a literary study in which the author examined the differing literary techniques used by these two Gospel accounts to highlight their differing viewpoints.a In the second article, John Dominic Crossan identified the dominant narrative strategy of the Gospel accounts, especially of Matthew; according to Crossan, the infancy narratives seek to draw a parallel between Moses as Israel’s liberator and Jesus.b Neither article, […]