“I will declare the decree:
the Lord hath said unto me,
Thou my Son;
this day have I begotten thee.”
– Psalm 2:7 (KJV)
(Emphasis mine, left the word “art” out, since, as the King James Version indicates, it is not in the original manuscripts.)
It is clear that this verse, in its original context, is talking about king David (“the son”) and Yahweh (“The Lord”) [Read Psalm 2:2b]. But as I was thinking about what this verse could mean, prophetically, conecrning Jesus,
two thoughts came up in my mind:
1. Maybe Arius (and non-trinitarians before him) was right, in that he believed that “if the Father begat the Son, he that was begotten had a beginning of existence: and from this it is evident, that there was a time when the Son was not” (source: Socrates of Constantinople, The Dispute of Arius with Alexander, his Bishop).
2. Maybe this is talking about the virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18,20-23; Luke 1:30-35).
In “The Oxford Bible Reader’s Dictionary & Concordance (Cyclopedic Concordance)” references to other places in the Bible are made, namely: Acts 13:33, Hebrews 1:5. I immediately checked how it is used there:
In Acts 13:33 Paul is talking, on a certain sabbath day, to non-messianic Jews, in a synagogue, located in Antioch, Pisidia. He just received the opportunity to speak a word of exhortation, according to Jewish tradition (Acts 13:14-16).
Paul is trying to convince those Jews that through Christ’s death and resurrection, they can have forgiveness through faith and not by the works of the law (Acts 13:38-39) and that Yahweh is behind all of this. He tries to show this by going through many parts of the Old Testament (Acts 13:17-35).
Acts 13:33 must be seen in this context, when Paul is talking about the resurrection (Acts 13:30-37).
Paul says: "God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." - Acts 13:33 (KJV).
Again in Hebrews 1:5 Paul (or Apollos or whoever wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews) finishes his paragraph on resurrection (Hebrews 1:3b-5).
The first verse reminds us of how Paul defended Yahweh’s approval, by making a build-up from prophecies, concerning Jesus, to His resurrection, which shows the Father’s faithful approval of Jesus’s perfect obedient life.
Picture source: catholictradition
So Psalm 2:7 has not been used, in the Bible, to defend the virgin birth,
neither can non-trinitarians use it to defend Arius’s position (and thus the position of non-trinitarians before and after him) that the Son was brought into exsistence before the creation of the universe.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
‘On the day of his enthronement, the king was begotten of God as His servant to guide the destinies of His people. When the throne was promised to Solomon, God gave the assurance: I will be to him for a father, and he shall be to Me for a son (2 Sam. 7:14)” (Abraham Cohen, ed., Soncino Books of the Bible (London: The Soncino Press Ltd., 1958), 4). Cohen understands “begotten” to indicate that the Messiah will be exalted as king and given dominion. He justifies this figurative understanding by citing Psalm 89:27 (verse 28 in the Hebrew Bible): “Also I will make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever, and My covenant shall stand firm with him” (Ps. 89:27–28).’
Source: Daniel Mann, ‘Jesus: The “Begotten” of The Father’, Equip
Read “The Trinity Logically Explained” to get to know my view on the Trinity.
For a thorough explanation of the Biblical characteristics of the Trinity, Check out the article called “The Trinity“.
On the concept of “justification by faith”, check out “Imputed Righteousness” (Governmental view) and “Sola Fide“, to get to know what I believe concerning the link between “justification by faith” and “justification by works”. [It is only by faith that we can indeed approach God, Ephesians 3:12.]
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