As an example of what I find to be faulty reasoning from the BRI, I offer the following.

On pg 58, in the new book “Revisting the trinity: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Reflections” we read the standard argumentation that “monogenes” doesn’t really mean “only begotten.” Yet there’s a follow up argument made there as well. Let’s quote it.

“…John employs the term monogenes in a context where he also speaks about those who are “born” by God, using the Greek word “gennao.” The believers are said to be “born/begotten” (gennao) by God and receiving the right to be called the sons of God. Immediately following, John in verse 14 calls Jesus the monogenes. It would not make sense if John, having just stated that we all as believers are born/begotten by God, went on to say that only Jesus is born/begotten by God! However, the meaning “unique” fits the context very well: we have become God’s children because of Jesus, who in a unique sense is the Son of God!” (pg 58)

I believe this argument is a bird that cannot fly when we look at the Scriptures in context. Let’s go back to John 1:9 and start there.

“That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. 11 He came unto His own, and His own received him not. 12 But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:9-13)

Here we see Jesus as “the true light” who came into the world. Jesus has to be received first and then He gives the power to become the sons of God. This is the key contextual point that the BRI commentary completely overlooked. The power that we receive, to become God’s Sons, is contingent upon first receiving God’s Son, who so happens to be His only begotten. We are not directly begotten of God, apart from this conduit. It only happens through believing upon the Son’s Name. So, again, you have to receive the Son first before God brings about rebirth. Let’s move forward in the text.

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 15 John bare witness of Him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. (John 1:14, 15)

When we consider Jesus as “monogenes para pantos” which is “only begotten from [the] Father” the previous assertions makes perfect sense contextually. How so?

Simply this – Jesus, is the only One born (begotten) directly of the Father without any other agency. We, on the other hand, are begotten of God only by receiving Jesus. In other words, we cannot be said to be “monogenes” because this term is only applicable to a Being directly from God’s substance. This is what the BRI completely overlooked. I’ll be frank. I think they have a theological agenda that is causing them to try to turn “monogenes” into unique. They are trying to find a reason not to believe in Jesus as God’s only begotten. Yet John really could have used the Greek word “monodikos” if he had been trying to say “unique” and there could be no question over the matter.

Also, let’s consider verse 15. When the KJV says “He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for He was before me” the Greek is this:

Ὁ ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος ἔμπροσθέν μου γέγονεν ὅτι πρῶτός μου ἦν

I will translate this word for word

The [One] after me coming in front of me caused to be because before me He was

Now I suppose, just here, I could make an argument here similar to what the BRI did. After, all back in John 1:3 we read that all things through Christ came into being [Gr: ἐγένετο]. So then why would John 1:15 speaks about Christ Himself as being “caused to be” [Gr: γέγονεν]. It’s literally the same Greek word. It would not make sense if John, having just stated that all things came to be through Christ, for him to turn around and speak of Christ Himself having been cause to be.

Now, of course, the BRI would object (and rightfully so) because I would be abusing the text by making this argument. Yet they do not seem to be aware of their own similar abuse when it comes to the fact that we can be “born” of God by receiving Christ yet that does not make us “monogenes” nor does it change the proper meaning of this Greek word when applied to Christ as meaning the “only begotten.”

Now, I hate to say this but I believe the BRI theologians have been mislead by an altogether different teacher than the Lord Jesus Christ. I am not saying that they are insincere, or calling them Jesuits, or any of that nonsense. They may very well be men who truly love the Lord Jesus with all their heart, mind, and soul but I think they are being blinded by traditional ideas of unbegottenism that have been within Seventh-day Adventism for several decades now. This does not make them bad or evil men, no more so than it did Jesus’ original disciples.

“…Not infrequently the minds of the people, and even of God’s servants, are so blinded by human opinions, the traditions and false teaching of men, that they are able only partially to grasp the great things which He has revealed in His word. Thus it was with the disciples of Christ, even when the Saviour was with them in person. Their minds had become imbued with the popular conception of the Messiah as a temporal prince, who was to exalt Israel to the throne of the universal empire, and they could not understand the meaning of His words foretelling His sufferings and death. {GC 344.4}

Yet where did the disciples get the idea from of Jesus as a temporal prince? They got it from the religious leaders of their day.

The mass of tradition that has been accumulating for ages, and that was taught by the priests and rulers, was regarded as truth by the disciples {RH October 3, 1899, par. 4}

Jesus was constantly combating those issues, even among His own disciples.

While they had been with Him, the disciples had often been perplexed by the teaching of the priests and Pharisees, but they had brought their perplexities to Jesus. He had set before them the truths of Scripture in contrast with tradition {DA 349.2}

Oh help us likewise Lord Jesus!

“It was most difficult for the disciples of Christ to keep his lessons distinct from the traditions and maxims of the rabbis, the scribes and Pharisees. The teachings which the disciples had been educated to respect as the voice of God, held a power over their minds and moulded their sentiments… {ST November 16, 1891, par. 11}

Tell me whom do SDAs believe is the voice of God today? Can they tell the difference when it is not?

Now where did the religious leaders of Jesus’ day get their ideas from?

“When God’s written word was given, Satan studied the prophecies of the Saviour’s advent. From generation to generation he worked to blind the people to these prophecies, that they might reject Christ at His coming. {DA 115.1}

“He determined to blind the eyes of the people, so far as might be possible, to the real significance of the Messianic prophecies, in order to prepare the way for the rejection of Christ at His coming {PK 686.1}

And in Jesus’ actual day what did the leaders not want to hear? The Scriptures that set forth the truth about Christ!

It was necessary that Christ should humble Himself and become a Man of sorrows. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” {ST August 22, 1900, par. 4}

“Thus plainly had the Messiah been set forth in prophecy; but the Jewish leaders did not want to understand these words. They believed not in the Christ represented in the Scriptures, but in a Christ of the imagination, who, they claimed, would come with great power, to conquer every nation, and put down all authority but the authority of the Jews. They looked for a Messiah who would reign as a temporal prince in Jerusalem, and who would exalt the Jews above every other nation. Christ did not come according to their ideas, and therefore they refused to receive Him {ST August 22, 1900, par. 5}

“The principle of the Baptist’s own life of self-abnegation was the principle of the Messiah’s kingdom. John well knew how foreign all this was to the principles and hopes of the leaders in Israel. That which was to him convincing evidence of Christ’s divinity would be no evidence to them. They were looking for a Messiah who had not been promised. John saw that the Saviour’s mission could win from them only hatred and condemnation. He, the forerunner, was but drinking of the cup which Christ Himself must drain to its dregs. {DA 218.1}

And so what did they end up doing to Jesus’ disciples? Let’s read:

The leaders in the Jewish nation had signally failed of fulfilling God’s purpose for His chosen people. Those whom the Lord had made the depositaries of truth had proved unfaithful to their trust, and God chose others to do His work. In their blindness these leaders now gave full sway to what they called righteous indignation against the ones who were setting aside their cherished doctrines. They would not admit even the possibility that they themselves did not rightly understand the word, or that they had misinterpreted or misapplied the Scriptures. They acted like men who had lost their reason. What right have these teachers, they said, some of them mere fishermen, to present ideas contrary to the doctrines that we have taught the people? Being determined to suppress the teaching of these ideas, they imprisoned those who were presenting them {AA 78.3}

And what is happening now within Adventism? As the wise man says:

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun (Eccl 1:9)

And what did Jesus say about the ministers of the Seventh-day Adventist church in these last days?

“And unto the angel [messenger] of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (Rev 3:14-17)

In other words, they are blind, thinking they do not need anything. They do not know their poverty. I have talked with many SDA scholars and ministers. That is who God sent me to. In general, they are probably the most difficult bunch that I have ever worked with. It’s a toss up between them and ex-SDA critics. It seems next to impossible to reason with quite a few of them. I have seen many things and I will not say it all. There are sleeping ministers preaching to sleeping people. Even worse, I have seen false doctrine preached from the pulpit. Heaven help the SDA people! Are we not repeating the same history as Israel after the flesh?

“Men and women are in the last hours of probation, and yet are careless and stupid, and preachers have no power to arouse them; they are asleep themselves. Sleeping ministers preaching to a sleeping people! {GW92 121.2}

“Many will stand in our pulpits with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan. If doubts and unbelief are cherished, the faithful ministers will be removed from the people who think they know so much {SpTA11 8.1}

I went to school with several generations of SDA ministers and I fear that many of them are blind Laodicean ministers leading blind Laodicean members. Oh Lord Jesus, help Your people!

“Satan is constantly endeavoring to attract attention to man in the place of God. He leads the people to look to bishops, to pastors, to professors of theology, as their guides, instead of searching the Scriptures to learn their duty for themselves. Then, by controlling the minds of these leaders, he can influence the multitudes according to his will. {GC 595.2}

The salient point here is that we see where the 1st century Jewish religious leaders got their ideas about Christ. Those idea were then transmitted to the people. That is a large part of the reason why the Jewish nation rejected Him.

Now I ask, rhetorically, where are the 21st century Seventh-day Adventist leaders getting their ideas about Christ from? Where does the conception originate from that He is not the pre-incarnate only begotten Son of God? What does the prophet say? We read:

“Christ was the only begotten Son of God, and Lucifer, that glorious angel, got up a warfare over the matter, until he had to be thrust down to the earth {25LtMs, Ms 86, 1910, par. 29}

Again:

“This fact the angels would obscure, that Christ was the only begotten Son of God, and they came to consider that they were not to consult Christ. One angel began the controversy and carried it on until there was rebellion in the heavenly courts among the angels. {25LtMs, Lt 42, 1910, par. 3}

Once more:

“A complete offering has been made; for “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son,”—not a son by creation, as were the angels, nor a son by adoption, as is the forgiven sinner, but a Son begotten in the express image of the Father’s person, and in all the brightness of his majesty and glory, one equal with God in authority, dignity, and divine perfection. In him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily {ST May 30, 1895, par. 3}

Thus we stand at something of an impasse don’t we?

During the video presentation, advertising these books, we were told that these books are a landmark publication and that they are the voice of the Seventh-day Adventist church.

Yet is this the voice of God about His Son?

What is this new landmark position that the leading brethren are speaking of? Is it in harmony with the Testimony of Jesus, which teaches that the pre-incarnate Christ was the only begotten Son, meaning a Son begotten? Or is it in harmony with the enemy of God and Christ who started a controversy over the matter that Christ was the only begotten Son and deceived angels into trying to obscure that fact?

Let every man judge for himself! Let every woman judge for herself!

“Those who seek to remove the old landmarks are not holding fast; they are not remembering how they have received and heard. Those who try to bring in theories that would remove the pillars of our faith concerning the sanctuary, or concerning the personality of God or of Christ, are working as blind men. They are seeking to bring in uncertainties and to set the people of God adrift, without an anchor {20LtMs, Ms 62, 1905, par. 14}

I must continue to protest, by pen and voice, the censorship, bigotry, and close-mindedness of the leading brethren. There has been a departure from one of the old landmarks, a most startling change in Adventism. The true doctrine of Christ has been exchanged for a doctrine that originated with the rebellious cherub.

Be not deceived; many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. We have now before us the alpha of this danger. The omega will be of a most startling nature. {SpTB02 16.2}

“Adventist beliefs have changed over the years under the impact of ‘present truth’. Most startling is the teaching regarding Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord…the Trinitarian understanding of God, now part of our fundamental beliefs, was not generally held by the early Adventists. {Adventist Review, Jan. 6, 1994 p 10, 11.}

While there are some in our ranks who give me a hard time because I believe that God began time through (or by means of) His only begotten Son, I will continue to present the truth in Jesus as best as I understand it.

I believe there is a Son begotten (of the Father’s substance or material) as the express image and likeness of the Father from all eternity or prior to the commencement of time. Christ has His origins in God and though He cannot be reckoned by time (a technical impossibility in my understanding) He is nevertheless the true and only begotten Son of God. This is the reality of His Divine Being and why He is God’s Son.

He is the One who pledged Himself to be our Redeemer if sin should enter our world and He kept that pledge. And God the Father is the One who allowed it, sending Him freely (even though He struggled three times over it) because He loved us.

Christ is declared in the Scriptures to be the Son of God. From all eternity He has sustained this relation to Jehovah. Before the foundations of the world were laid, He, the only begotten Son of God, pledged Himself to become the Redeemer of the human race should men sin {20LtMs, Ms 22, 1905, par. 4}

Said the angel, “Think ye that the Father yielded up His dearly beloved Son without a struggle? No, no.” It was even a struggle with the God of heaven, whether to let guilty man perish, or to give His darling Son to die for them. Angels were so interested for man’s salvation that there could be found among them those who would yield their glory and give their life for perishing man. “But,” said my accompanying angel, “that would avail nothing.” The transgression was so great that an angel’s life would not pay the debt. Nothing but the death and intercession of God’s Son would pay the debt and save lost man from hopeless sorrow and misery. {EW 127.1}

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. (John 3:16)

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. (1 John 4:9)

God’s character is expressed in his law, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” He has expressed this love in giving his only begotten Son to a life of humiliation, of poverty, of shame, of denial, of rejection, mockery, and anguish….God proved that he loved his neighbor as himself by giving his only begotten Son to die for the world {RH October 15, 1895, par. 6}

Here I stand, I can do no other. So help me God! As always beloved, I am yours in Christ Jesus Maranatha! The Lord’s coming is at hand!