The Incarnation of God
personified (
1:3 All things came into being through Him. Christ was active in the work of creation (cf.
1:9 enlightens every man. Not that every man is redeemed automatically, for redemption comes through faith in the Savior (1:12). But this light is available to all men.
1:10 did not know Him. The world did not recognize Jesus as the Christ, God’s Son, the Creator, the Savior, etc.
1:11 He came to His own (thing or place—i.e., the world that He made); His own (people—the Jews) did not receive Him.
1:12 even to those who believe in His name. An explanation of what it means to “receive” Him.
1:13 The new birth is supernatural and therefore completely distinct from natural birth. It is not of blood (lit., bloods), i.e., contains no human element; nor does it lie within the scope of human achievement (it is not of the will of the flesh or man).
TITLES OF CHRIST
Son of Man (
1:14 the Word became flesh. Jesus Christ was unique, for He was God from all eternity and yet joined Himself to sinful humanity in the Incarnation. The God-man possessed all the attributes of deity (
1:16 grace upon grace. I.e., grace piled upon grace in the experiences of the Christian life.
1:17 grace. Though grace was manifest in the OT (
Chapter 10—Who Did Jesus Think He Was?
Key Terms
Son of Man; kingdom of God; Christology;
Key Points
• Jesus’s preferred self-designation “Son of Man” is both an Aramaic idiom that means ‘this man’ and a phrase that evokes the vindicated and exalted figure called ‘one like a son of man’ in
is vast, and it is impossible to do justice to it in a short note in a commentary. This Note is not intended to be comprehensive; it is no more than a short indication of some of the more important points.
The expression is a literal translation of the Aramaic בַּר־נָשָׁא, which means “man” or “the man.”
In the Gospels it is used by Jesus as his favorite self-designation, occurring in this way over 80 times. Nobody else ever uses it of him125 except Stephen (
