John 1:14-18
Verse 14
"And the Word was made flesh" (KJV)
"The Word became a human being" (GNB)
"The Word became flesh" (NIV, RSV, Ricker Berry)
In becoming human, Christ becomes...
1. The Perfect Teacher, a model of how God thinks and how we should think (Phil. 2:5-11).
2. The Perfect Example, a model of how God acts and how we should act (1 Peter 2:21, 1 John 2:6).
3. The Perfect Sacrifice, Jesus came as a sacrifice for sins, and his death satisfied God’s just requirements (Colossians 1:15-23).
Question: In what ways did Jesus take upon Himself human nature?
• Born of a woman.
• Grew from infancy to boyhood to adulthood, in wisdom and in stature (Luke 2:52).
• He was hungry, thirsty, ate, drank, slept, was weary, felt pain, wept, rejoiced, marvelled, was moved to anger and to compassion.
• He prayed, read the Bible, was tempted, submitted His human will to the Father.
• In this body, He suffered, died, was buried, rose again, ascended into heaven.
• But He never sinned (Hebrews 4:15).
Question: How can Jesus be both God and man?
2nd of 39 Articles:
"The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, and of one substance with the Father, took man’s nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin of her substance: so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and the manhood, were joined together in one Person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God and very man."
Athanasian Creed:
"Christ is God and Man; God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the world, and man of the substance of His mother, born in the world; perfect God and perfect man. Who, although He be God and man, yet He is not two but one Christ; one not by conversion of the godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God."
• Jesus was never not God- not in the womb, not as a child, not in the Temptation, not in Gethsemane, not on the Cross (Acts 20:28), not in the Tomb.
• Jesus has never not been human since the incarnation- not when he walked on water, not when he raised the dead, not in His resurrection body, not when He ascended into heaven.
He is
4. The Perfect Advocate, being both God and man, He can sympathise with us, and intercede for us. He can "lay his hand upon us both" (Hebrews 2:17, Job 9:33).
"The first Adam was only man, and so he fell. The second Adam was God as well as man, and so He completely conquered" (Ryle).
Note: this is the last time John uses the name, ’The Word’.
Question: why does the text say ’flesh’ and not ’man’?
Westcott suggests that "the Lord’s humanity was universal, not individual, as including all that belongs to the essence of man, without regard to sex or race or time".
"Sarx- ’the holy humanity’ of the Lord Jesus, i.e., spirit, soul, and body, John 1:14, 1 Tim.3:16, 1 John 4:2, 2 John 7" (Vine’s).
It is interesting that the Word of God which never fails (Ps.119:89) should become flesh which is as grass (Isaiah 40:6).
The nature of the Word who became flesh:
• I am what I was, that is God
• I was not what I am, that is man
• I am now called both, that is both God and man
Henry notes that Job desired to "see God in my flesh" (19:26).
Various heresies (still around with different names!)
1. Arianism: Jesus was not true God.
Bible: "The Word was God...the Word became flesh" (John 1:1, 14).
Divine and human natures were united truly (Colossians 2:9).
Neo-charismatic, Latter Rain, Health & Wealth, Dominion, Kingdom, Restoration and Reconstruction theologies, as well as Christian Scientists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Christadelphians, all claim that Jesus was a Spirit-filled man but not God. Or they claim that if Jesus is God, then so are we all incarnations of God.
The Roman Catholic Church similarly elevates Mary to the status of God (sinless, born of virgin, assumed into heaven, Queen of Heaven and Mother of God), thereby undermining the truth of the Trinity and the Deity of Christ.
2. Apollinarianism: Jesus is God and took a man’s body, but not a human soul- "His divinity supplied the room of a soul".
Bible: "The Word became flesh". ’Flesh’ is the whole human nature (see Vine’s above).
Divine and human natures were united perfectly.
"The Word did not merely indwell a human being. Absolute identity is asserted. The Word is Jesus; Jesus is the Word. And it is said that the Word became flesh because ’flesh’ is that part of human nature commonly associated with frailty and evil; commonly, but not necessarily. In Jesus the flesh is the completely responsive vehicle of the spirit. The whole of Him, flesh included, is the Word, the self-utterance of God" (Temple).
"The Word became flesh, and not a body or the like" (Westcott).
3. Nestorianism: Christ both God and man, but two separate persons.
Bible: "The Word became flesh". Christ assumed a human nature, not adopted a separate personality.
Divine and human natures were united undividedly.
"The Word became flesh and dwelt, etc. without any change of the subject to the verb" (Westcott). Human and divine natures operated in unity within the one person.
4. Eutychianism: Christ is God and man mixed together to produce a third thing, a hybrid.
Bible: "The Word became flesh"- not the Word mixed with flesh.
Divine and human natures were united unmixedly.
"The Lord’s human and divine natures remained without change, each fulfilling its part according to proper laws...The Word became flesh, both terms being preserved side by side" (Westcott).
5. Docetism. Christ is God but didn’t really become man.
Bible: "The Word became flesh" (similar to 2.).
"The Lord’s humanity was real and permanent, as against various forms of Gnosticism, according to which He only assumed an appearance, or for a time...The Word became flesh, and did not clothe Himself in flesh" (Westcott).
6. Socinianism. Christ was man, and was made God.
Bible: "The Word was God...The Word became flesh" (1,14), i.e. the Socinians have got it the wrong way round.
Westcott also warns us that "the Word did not acquire personality by the Incarnation. He is spoken of throughout, not as a principle or an energy, but, whatever may be the inherent imperfection in such language, as a Person".
Question: why is it important to believe in Christ as both God and man? What does believing in Christ as God and man do to help our faith?
"dwelt among us" (KJV, RSV)
"lived among us" (GNB)
"made his dwelling among us" (NIV)
"tabernacled among us" (Ricker Berry)
"For 33 years He pitched His tent in Palestine, and was going to and fro among its inhabitants" (Ryle). Ryle is at pains to point out that Jesus did not doff His human body when He ascended into heaven.
"Rejoicing in His inhabited world, and my delight was with the sons of men" (Proverbs 8:31).
Divine presence of God- tabernacle>>temple>>Incarnation!
Henry compares the Son living with us to David in Mesach and Kedar, Ezekiel dwelling among scorpions, and the church of Pergamos dwelling where Satan’s seat is.
"He shall dwell in the tents of Shem" (Gen. 9:27).
Henry and Arrowsmith point out that shepherds, soldiers and travellers (with all their symbolic resonances!) dwell in tents. Ryle thinks this is interesting but fanciful.
Question: why did God choose to live amongst us for 33 years at such a time?
"We beheld his glory" (KJV, RSV)
"We saw his glory" (GNB, NIV)
"We discerned his glory" (Ricker Berry)
1. Ascension?
2. Transfiguration (2 Peter 1:16-18)?
"Doxa- glory- of the nature and acts of God in self-manifestation, i.e. what He essentially is and does, as exhibited in whatever way He reveals Himself in these respects, and particularly in the person of Christ, in whom essentially His ’glory’ was ever shone forth and ever will do; it was exhibited in the character and acts of Christ in the days of His flesh" (Vine’s).
Temple stresses that "the Cross of shame is the throne of glory"
Plummer suggests that the glory lacking in the tabernacle and the temple was ’tented’ in the personal glory of Christ.
Question: how can we behold Christ’s glory today, and how can we display the glory of Christ to others?
"The glory as of the only begotten of the Father" (KJV)
"The glory which he received as the Father’s only son" (GNB)
"The glory of the One and Only" (NIV)
"Glory as of the only Son from the Father" (RSV)
"A glory as of an only-begotten with a father" (Ricker Berry)
"As" here means "is, equal to". It is a definition, a confirmation, not a simile or a comparison. Plummer says, not a mere likeness but an exact likeness.
Jesus is the sole true representative of the Being and character of the One who sent Him. But Jesus was not generated from nothing, he was not created, for "without him was not any thing made that was made" (3). "The begetting is not an event of time, however remote, but a fact irrespective of time. The Christ did not become, but necessarily and eternally is the Son. He, a Person, possesses every attribute of pure Godhood. This necessitates eternity, absolute being; in this respect He is not ’after’ the Father" (Moule).
The expression also suggests deepest affection- see verse 18. Jesus did not become God’s only begotten Son at the incarnation- His eternal Sonship is the very reason why God’s gift was so precious and so loving (John 3:16).
’Sonship’ describes the everlasting relation which exists between the First and Second Persons in the Trinity (John 17:24).
"The Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal" (Athanasius).
’Son’ does not equal ’inferior to Father’. In mortal terms it might, but not in eternal terms. We cannot analogise from human experience.
"Show me and explain to me an eternal Father, and I will show you and explain to you an eternal Son" (Augustine).
"He is equal to the Father as touching His godhead, though inferior to Him as touching His manhood."
Only-begotten here, according to Temple, "suggests uniqueness rather than mode of origin".
"Full of grace and truth" (all versions!)
1. Jesus’ character on earth- His words, His love, His kindness, His deeds.
2. The spiritual riches Christ brought into the world. "True" not like the shadows and types of the OT; "grace" not like the burdensome requirements of ceremonial law (cf. verse 17).
Question: Temple says that John the Baptist was "full of truth, but there was not much grace about him!" Do we agree? Is it possible for us to be ‘too gracious’ or ‘too truthful’, or to have an imbalance of these qualities?
Verse 15
"John bare witness of Him, and cried" (KJV)
"John spoke about him. He cried out" (GNB)
"John testifies concerning him. He cries out" (NIV)
"John bore witness to him and cried" (RSV)
"John witnesses concerning him and cried" (Ricker Berry)
Because we are not told when John did this, it suggests that he cried out about Jesus habitually! The word ’cried’ implies a very loud cry, like that of one making a proclamation. Parkhurst defines it in this place as "speaking out very openly". Plummer says the word "indicates strong emotion, as of a prophet". Henry observes that "false teachers entice secretly, but wisdom publishes her dictates in the chief palaces of concourse". He was sure of what he was saying, and excited by it. He leapt in his mother’s womb, and exulted to see the Lamb of God.
Question: how are we testifying? Are we crying out to people about Jesus? In what ways?
"This was He of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for He was before me" (KJV)
"This was he of whom I said, ’He who comes after me ranks before me, for He was before me" (RSV)
"This was he of whom I said, ’He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me’" (NIV)
"This is the one I was talking about when I said, ’He comes after me, but He is greater than I am, because He existed before I was born’" (GNB)
1. The first ’before me’ (KJV) signifies before in place, position or dignity.
2. The second ’before me’ (KJV) signifies before in point of time or age.
This is a clear statement of the doctrine of Christ’s pre-existence (cf. Proverbs 8:22f).
Verse 16
"And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace" (KJV)
"Out of the fulness of his grace he has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another" (GNB)
"And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace" (RSV, Ricker Berry)
"From the fulness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another" (NIV)
All our spiritual wants are supplied in Christ (Eph.1:3, 2 Peter 1:3, Phil. 4;19). It is not just an elite, Gnostic few who have received the fulness of Christ, it is all who "believe on His name" (12). And all other sources of fulness are excluded- there is nothing of grace or blessing outside of the fulness of Christ. Everything else is empty.
"Note, all true believers receive from Christ’s fulness; the best and greatest saints cannot live without him, the meanest and weakest may live by him. This excludes proud boasting, that we have nothing but we have received it; and silences perplexing fears, that we want nothing but we may receive it" (Henry).
"Grace for grace"
1. The new grace of the Gospel in place of the old grace of the law?
2. Grace on account of God’s favour towards His Son?
3. Grace on account of the grace of faith in us?
4. Grace commensurate with the grace in Christ?
5. Grace for the propagation of grace?
6. Accumulated, abundant, unfailing grace?
Ryle holds with the last one, Henry highlights the freeness, fulness, serviceableness, substitution, augmentation, continuance, agreeableness and conformity of grace.
Question: do we feel this abundant grace in our lives? What difference does the grace of God make to our behaviour and attitudes?
Verse 17
"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (KJV)
"God gave the Law through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (GNB)
"For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (NIV, RSV, Ricker Berry)
The law was holy, just and good. But it could not justify. It could only point out people’s wickedness- it could not give them power to overcome that evil. It is a schoolmaster (Gal.3:24) to guide men to see their need of the grace of Christ. Jesus brought God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense (GRACE) when He came as the TRUE and final sacrifice, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (v.29). The Gospel is greater than the Law, as it is the "power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Romans 1:15).
"The law threatened, not helped; commanded, not healed; showed, not took away, our feebleness. But it made ready for the Physician, who was to come with grace and truth" (Augustine).
Law was given. Grace Himself came to us. Jesus brought "truth not as truth opposed to falsehood, but as a perfect to an imperfect revelation" (Plummer).
Question: do we make an attempt to preach the law as the Reformers did so as to bring people to feeling their sins and their need of salvation? Or do we simply declare forth the beauties of Christ? How much ‘negative’ and how much ‘positive’ needs to go into our gospel preaching?
Verse 18
"No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared Him" (KJV)
"No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father’s side, he has made him known" (GNB)
"No-one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known" (NIV)
"No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known" (RSV)
"No man shall see Me and live" (Exodus 33:20). But Jesus, "during the time of His earthly ministry here, fully showed to man all that man can bear to know concerning His Father" (Ryle).
When God appeared to men (Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Isaiah & Daniel) in the OT, it was always as the 2nd Person of the Trinity.
The Son, in the bosom of the Father, is intimate with Him, knows all His secrets, and possesses all His affections, and is indeed One with Him. Temple points out that "in the bosom of" contains the ideas of knowledge and love, and argues that they must go together.
Question: If Paul says that "knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth" (1 Corinthians 8:1)- does this mean that a greater knowledge of God will not stimulate greater love for Him, but rather pride?
In life and lip, Jesus has declared, has expounded, has given an exegesis, an explanation of the Father. He has revealed the mystery.
One day, when we are sanctified, glorified and made pure in heart, we shall see God and know Him even as we are known by Him (Matthew 5:8, 1 Corinthians 13:12).
Henry reminds us of the insufficiency of man’s discoveries, and our need for God-sent revelation. This revelation in Christ, in His Gospel is all-sufficient, as Christ was both fit (being perfect man) and free (being perfect God) to come to earth and die on our behalf to the complete satisfaction of God’s righteous anger.
Question: how much do we see of God now? How do we hope to see Him?
