Who was Christ ‘…begotten of…”? — Section 56
Was Elder James E. Talmage mistaken about Christ’s progenitor?
Representative of a Christian church:
In the book ‘Jesus the Christ’, written by an apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Elder James E. Talmage), it is stated that Christ was begotten of Elohim, or God the Father, yet we read in Matthew 1:18 that “mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, and she was found with child of the Holy Ghost”. Since Matthew teaches that Christ was begotten of the Holy Ghost, why did your apostle teach that Christ was begotten of the Father?
Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:
Luke records, “He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest”. (Luke 1:32) Thus, Christ was called the “Son of God”. Then, in Luke 1:35 we read, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called The Son of God”. We can see that he was not to be the son of the Holy Ghost, but the Son of God. The Father was God and the Holy Ghost bore record of the Father. The mother was the Virgin Mary, and as scripture tells us, “he was the only begotten of the Father”. Therefore, Matthew is answered by Luke’s account which is much clearer and deals with the details of the life and birth of Christ in greater detail.
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