I think a compelling case can be made biblically from the first fourteen verses of the Gospel of John that the phrase “begotten, not made” is biblical. So, we now should ask, Since the Bible and not creeds is our final authority that we really esteem - I esteem highly and love to ponder the wisdom of the creeds - is it biblical, and why does it matter? The phrase “begotten, not made” comes from that Council of Nicaea, the Nicene Creed. Now, that has been, and is today, the historic, biblical, orthodox position of the church throughout history.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, only begotten of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made. The summary and the end of that dispute was the Council of Nicaea. And one of those disputes came to a head in the fourth century, when a group called the Arians argued that Jesus Christ was created, made, and was not God. The early church had to settle certain really crucial disputes over the nature of Christ. Well, hello brother, fellow lover of Minneapolis - our sad city, our sinful city. What does it mean that the Son was ‘begotten’ by the Father, and ‘not made’? Why this distinction? And why does it matter so much?” It raised again a question that has been gnawing at me for a number of years.

As we endured the inability to gather in person as a congregation in the midst of the virus, I emailed the church weekly, slowly working through the questions in the New City Catechism. “Pastor John, hello! I pastor a small congregation in Minneapolis. Pastor John joins us today over Skype remotely, even though today’s question comes in from a pastor not far from you.

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