In the wake of the Second World War, . . . was asked what Jesus meant to him. His answer was published in the popular weekly magazine Liberty.
To me (Jesus) is a great world teacher. To his followers, he was and is the only-begotten Son of God. Whether or not I accept this, does he affect my life the less? Is all the grandeur of his teaching thus automatically barred from me? I cannot believe so.
The adjective "begotten" has a meaning for me that I like to think is deeper and possibly grander than its literal one. To my mind it implies spiritual birth. My interpretation, in other words, is that in his own life Jesus stood nearest to God. And it is in this sense that I look upon him as the Son of God.
