GENERATION, in Theology. The Father is said by some divines to have produced his Word or Son from all eternity, by way of generation; on which occasion the word generation raises a peculiar idea: that procession, which is really effected in the way of understanding, is called generation, because, in virtue thereof, the Word becomes like to him from whom he takes this original; or, as St Paul expresses it, is the figure or image of his substance, i. e. of his being and nature. And hence it is, they say, that the second Person in the Trinity is called the Son.