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Re: Same mother ?

Will Wagers wrote:

> Dear B-Greeks,
>
> In my abridged Liddle & Scott, I find the following definition of
> monogenes:
>
>         "only-begotten: born from one and the same *mother*."
>
> I have not found the same definition in my new LSJ. Can anyone shed
> light on this? Are there other sources for the above definition?
>
> Assuming it's a valid definition, what do you make of it?
>
> Regards,
>
> Will webmechanix@10mb.com

MONOGENHJ means "single of a kind."  It is an ONLY BEGOTTEN son or
daughter.  An addendum to that of "born of one and the same mother" does
not make sense since a single child can only have one mother
(obviously).  You will find precedence for its use in Josephus' Ant.
1:13.1 and in Plato's Critias 113d.

     In comparison, FIRSTBORN in the New Testament is an original Greek
rendering prwtotokon "PROTOTOKON" (Matt. 1:25).  If Mary would not have
had other children it would not have been written uion prwtotokon (UION
PROTOTOKON) "Firstborn son"  but instead, uion monogene (UION MONOGENE)
"only born son."  There is no confusion between these concepts in New
Testament Greek that purportedly "carries over" from Hebrew. You will
find MONOGENE effectively used in John 3:16. The Gospel writers had a
clear choice between MONOGENE and PROTOTOKON and chose "firstborn."

Jack Kilmon
jpman@accesscomm.net
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