The “Only Begotten” Phoenix?

The popular title of Jesus as “only begotten Son” comes from the rendering of John 3:16 in the King James Version (KJV):

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

In a previous article, we saw that the rendering “only begotten” is mistaken because the underlying Greek word, monogenēs (μονογενής), does not mean “only begotten”. Rather, it means “only-kind”, or “unique”.

We can also see this by looking at how monogenēs is used in Jewish and Christian Greek literature outside the Bible. Let us take a look at how the word monogenēs is used in a letter by Clement, a Christian elder in Rome who lived during the first century CE:

Ἴδωμεν τὸ παράδοξον σημεῖον τὸ γινόμενον ἐν τοῖς ἀνατολικοῖς τόποις, τουτέστιν τοῖς περὶ τὴν Ἀραβίαν. 2 ὄρνεον γάρ ἐστιν, ὃ προσονομάζεται φοῖνιξ· τοῦτο μονογενὲς ὑπάρχον ζῇ ἔτη πεντακόσια, γενόμενόν τε ἤδη πρὸς ἀπόλυσιν τοῦ ἀποθανεῖν αὐτό, σηκὸν ἑαυτῷ ποιεῖ ἐκ λιβάνου καὶ σμύρνης καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀρωμάτων, εἰς ὃν πληρωθέντος τοῦ χρόνου εἰσέρχεται καὶ τελευτᾷ. 3 σηπομένης δὲ τῆς σαρκὸς σκώληξ τις γεννᾶται, ὃς ἐκ τῆς ἰκμάδος τοῦ τετελευτηκότος ζώου ἀνατρεφόμενος πτεροφυεῖ· εἶτα γενναῖος γενόμενος αἴρει τὸν σηκὸν ἐκεῖνον, ὅπου τὰ ὀστᾶ τοῦ προγεγονότος ἐστίν, καὶ ταῦτα βαστάζων διανύει ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀραβικῆς χώρας ἕως τῆς Αἰγύπτου εἰς τὴν λεγομένην Ἡλιούπολιν, 4 καὶ ἡμέρας, βλεπόντων πάντων, ἐπιπτὰς ἐπί τὸν τοῦ ἡλίου βωμὸν τίθησιν αὐτὰ καὶ οὕτως εἰς τοὐπίσω ἀφορμᾷ. 5 οἱ οὖν ἱερεῖς ἐπισκέπτονται τὰς ἀναγραφὰς τῶν χρόνων καὶ εὑρίσκουσιν αὐτὸν πεντακοσιοστοῦ ἔτους πεπληρωμένου ἐληλυθέναι.

1 Clement 25:1–5 Let us look at the strange sign that happens in the Eastern places, that is, the [places] around Arabia. 2 For there is a bird that is named phoenix. This [bird], being unique [monogenēs], lives for five hundred years. When it comes near destruction to die, it makes for itself a sepulchre from frankincense, myrrh, and the other spices, into which, when the time has been fulfilled, it enters and dies. 3 But as the flesh decays, a certain worm is born, which is nourished from the juice of the dead animal and grows wings. Then, when it has become strong, it takes up that sepulchre where the bones of its parent are, and carrying them away, it makes its way from the Arabic country until Egypt, to the city called Heliopolis. 4 And when it is day, when all are looking, flying over the altar of the sun, it puts them [there], and thus departs to return. 5 Then the priests examine the records of the times, and find that it has come to the fulfilling of the five hundredth year.

In context, Clement was writing about the resurrection of Jesus. In the previous section, he points to the day-night cycle and sowing-reaping cycles as analogies to the resurrection. Here in this section, Clement points to the life cycle of the phoenix.

Clement describes the phoenix as being “unique”, using the Greek word monogenēs. Obviously, he did not mean that the phoenix was “only begotten”, but that it was the only one of its kind; the phoenix alone—among all other birds—experiences this special life cycle.

By studying how a word was used by ancient writers, we get a sense about what the word meant to them. From how Clement used the Greek word monogenēs, we can see that even during his time, people did not perceive that the Greek word monogenēs specifically meant “only-begotten”.