Christ: “Only Begotten and First Born”

Dear Gramps,

Did God create our spirits or did he conceive them?  Did he just say like, “Spirits be created” or did He have spiritual children with our Heavenly Mother? If so, why do the scriptures say Jesus is the only begotten?

Ethan

Dear Ethan,

In 2000, the Frst Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve published a document entitled:  “The Living Christ:  The Testimony of Apostles”.  An excerpt from that document reads:  “We solemnly testify that His life, which is central to all human history, neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary. He was the Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Redeemer of the world”.

Jesus Christ is the “Firstborn of the Father”, because He was the first to be born spiritually of the Father.  We are all spiritually born of our Father in Heaven.  Christ being the firstborn of the spirit, we refer to Him as our “Elder Brother”.  In the book, “Man:  His Origin and Destiny”, The First Presidency of the Church, Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder and Anthon H. Lund stated:  “…man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father,” that man is the “offspring of celestial parentage.”  (pp. 348-355)

Jesus Christ is the “Only Begotten of the Father” because He is the only one born of the Father in the flesh.  President Heber J. Grant gave the following testimony:  “We believe absolutely that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, begotten of God, the first-born in the spirit and the only begotten in the flesh; that He is the Son of God just as much as you and I are the sons of our fathers.”

Gramps