How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus' Divine Nature—A Response To Bart Ehrman

by Michael F. Bird

The reason Ehrman’s presentation is misleading is that for Justin, Christ, the Logos, is begotten of the Father, and Justin makes a clear distinction between what is begotten of God and what is “created.” As Kelly summarizes, for Justin, “while other beings are ‘things made’ (poiēmata) or ‘creatures’ (ktismata), the Logos is God’s ‘offspring’ (gennēma), His ‘child’ (teknon) and ‘unique Son’ (ho monogenēs): ‘before all creatures God begat, in the beginning, a rational power out of Himself.’ ”18 Justin is emphatic on the distinction between being begotten and being created. Christ is not “a kind of second God created by God the Father.”