The only begotten son has no brothers.
The etymology of the term only begotten takes us to the late Latin word unigenĭtus . The first meaning mentioned in the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) refers to the only child .
No brothers
The only begotten, in this framework, is the descendant of a couple that has no other offspring . Therefore, the only begotten has no brothers.
When two people have their first child , he or she becomes the only begotten child. This condition is left behind if their parents later have another or other children: in that case, the only-born becomes the first-born (that is, the first child in terms of the order of births).
It is important to clarify that these two words are not common in everyday speech, where instead of first-born we usually say "first son" and only-born , "only son." However, we do find them in literature and journalism, where they provide greater beauty and variety, with the important addition of concision : with one word they express more than one idea clearly and correctly. Just like many other adjectives in our language, these two can be used masculine or feminine, simply by altering the last letter: first-born, only-born .
Some examples
Suppose that Carlos and Mariana have a son, named Pedro . The years go by and the family does not expand. Pedro , thus, is the only begotten son of Carlos and Mariana .
Now let's take the marriage formed by Javier and Laura . The family group grows with the arrival of Marcos and then continues to expand with the births of Silvia , Jorge , Nilda and Bautista . As you can see, Marcos is only begotten for a short time , although he will always maintain his status as firstborn.
The son of God
In the field of religion , there is a quintessential use of this notion. The son of God is called Only Begotten : in this context, Only Begotten is written with an initial capital letter.
This meaning of the concept appears in the Bible ; The passage in which we can find it for the first time is the book of John, chapter 3, verse 16, where it is said that God felt such love for the world that he gave his only begotten Son . It is a translation of the Greek monogenes , which refers to one who is one of a kind. The clarification is important regarding the definition of the Holy Trinity , which establishes that God is Father , Son and Holy Spirit .
The Bible speaks of Jesus as the only begotten son, because he is the only one of God.
It should be noted that there is controversy regarding the use of this term and the theory of the Holy Trinity, since there are those who oppose the idea that Jesus is God, based on the fact that he cannot be Father and Son at the same time. The argument they use revolves around the phrase "only begotten son", since if we understand it in the literal sense, as it can apply to normal human beings, Jesus should be a creation of his father, someone different, independent, who was born with their genetic inheritance. However, the Bible does not express it in that sense but rather in that of monogenes .
Returning, therefore, to the meaning of this word, we can add the following meaning: someone unique in his class but within a given relationship. In the book of Hebrews, chapter 11 and verse 17, the author speaks of Isaac using this adjective, to refer to his status as an only son. Although his father, Abraham, had more children, this was the only one born from his union with Sarah. Regarding its use to speak of someone unique in its kind , type or class, it can be found in John 3:16 when it speaks of Jesus, noting that he is the only Son of God , with his same nature.