John Part 3
Notes
Transcript
Text
Text
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Ok, there is a lot to unpack here.
The Word Became Flesh
The word was identified as God the Father in verse 1
And the Light was said to be coming into the world in verse 9.
And in verse 10, the creator of the world was coming into his creation
And here we have that Word becoming flesh.
And flesh here means a person
A human person.
So, the word was not a person
and then the word became a person.
The NIrV says it this way…
The Word became a human being.
Now, we will see in chapter 4 that God is a Spirit
and a Spirit does not have flesh and blood.
Jesus says after the resurrection…
See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
So, something new happened in Jn 1.14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
God, who is a Spirit, became flesh.
That word became is crucial.
I know the Bible says that God never changes
But this word became means exactly that
So, is there a contradiction?
No.
God never stopped being a Spirit.
He never stopped being omnipresent.
And Who God is, and how God acts
That never changed as we will see in verse 18 in one second.
But when the word became flesh
This does not mean God changed
Because… Jn 1.1 says that Word was in beginning.
You see… from eternity past
God had always had this plan for the word to become flesh.
It wasn’t a change… it was how it was always meant to be.
The lamb slain from…
There is something going on here in John’s use of the word Became
He uses the Greek word over and over.
It starts when he talks about creation.
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
That word “made” is the same greek word as “became” in verse 14.
It is a word that relates to creation.
Being made.
And that is closely related to what happens when we are born again…
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
BECOME is the same Greek word.
When you are born again
You become a new creation in Christ.
The words John uses are not by chance
There is meaning in every one of them.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
This word Dwelt…
This is an important word.
It means to abide, to settle, or
To pitch a tent.
So, He didn’t dwell among us in a sense that he was simply just there.
but he lived with us.
He shared life with us.
He existed alongside us.
And this connection to the word TENT.
It is the same word used for Tent or Tabernacle
In the book of Hebrews
And is exactly how God dwelt in the Old Testament
He lived inside a tent made of animals skins.
and here, John says, God was living in a tent made of human skin.
And we have seen his glory…
Who’s glory?
If you say the word is the Son back in verse 1,
then you must say you are seeing the glory of the Son here…
but so far we have not mentioned the Son.
And John explicitly said the Word was God the Father in Verse 1…
So, who’s glory are we seeing when we see the word in a human tent?
Who is the pronoun “his” referring to?
Let me help you…
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Who’s light is it?
God’s
Who’s glory?
God’s
When you see Jesus… you are seeing God’s Glory on full display.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
now, we finally see the word Son.
Only after the word became flesh
and was able to dwell among us…
Then we see the title Son given to the man born from God.
I do want talk about this word “only”
There has been very new debate on this word
It is a Greek word that is pronounced
Monogenes
Mono means one or only
And genes means… well that’s the new debate.
genes is spelled like the word English word pronounced JEANS
It is the root word of generate or generation.
So, monogenes has always been understood to mean only begotten.
And I think that is precisely what it means
If John meant to say “only” he could have just wrote mono
But he wrote monogenes.
And that cannot mean the same thing as mono.
That’s like saying microphone and micro mean the same thing.
When we get to verse 18,
I’ll tell you why I think they want it to say only
instead of only begotten.
(John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”)
This is again John the Baptist
The witness of Jesus.
We will see his testimony shortly
so we will won’t cover it now.
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
From his fullness…
This word is used a few times in Scripture
and I think reading those verses will help us understand John here.
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
Paul also talks about this topic a bit in Ephesians
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
The Fullness to me, is the gift of the Holy Spirit.
It is when Christ dwells in our hearts through faith
acc to vs 17.
Which is the fullness of God.
The fullness of God dwelt in Jesus
Because God is a spirit
and he was manifested in the flesh
But the fullness can dwell in us too
Because Christ should be in our hearts
Which happens when we a filled with His Spirit.
Amen.
And that’s actually what Col 2.10 says
We remember verse 9 by heart,
but look at verse 9 and 10 together:
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
It is such a beautiful picture when you put it all together
And it gets completely distorted if the fullness of God’s nature is not in Christ
like the Bible Says.
It is not God the Son in the flesh
It is God, all of God, the fullness of the One and Only God in flesh.
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
This right here actually sums up the book of Hebrews pretty well.
Moses brought us the law which
taught us what sin was
But Jesus brought us grace
Which saves us from our sin
and truth which Jesus says
Will set you free in Jn 8.32
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
And if you ask, what is the truth?
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So, again, everything from verse 1 to verse 18
is an introduction to the rest of the book of John.
Ok, let me pull verse 17 back up…
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Because, we need to see that Jesus Christ is named here
Because we are about to see a seriers of pronouns in the next verse
and it is important that we see who is being referred to.
So, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ…
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
There is a textual variant in this verse
and I do not agree with the choice that is made by the ESV
Which we are reading here tonight
In the KJV is says this…
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
Now, a variant is different than just a different translation.
Most of the words in KJV that are different from the ESV
are all being translated from the same Greek words
with the exception of the word Son.
The ESV says Only God
And the KJV says only begotten Son.
Which is correct?
Well there are almost 500 copies of John in original Greek.
Exactly 2 of them say God
The other 490+ say Son.
But, the 2 that says God are a few decades older than any of the others.
However, those two copies are from the same city,
so they are essentially the same copy IMO.
One was probably copied from the other.
The age is weighted higher in most cases
but to me the fact that they both come from the same city
Tells me that the error was copied once and did not spread
It seems more logical to have an isolated error
than to have an error that is geographically dispersed.
Also, the word monogenes precedes the word God or Son in both cases
And it seems highly doubtful that John wrote “only begotten God”
Which is why most translators are dropping the word “begotten” IMO.
John used the phrase Only Begotten Son 5 or 6 times in all his letters
He never once said Only Begotten God.
So, I find it hard to believe he did that here.
So, I do prefer the KJV or NKJV of this verse based on my research.
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
The ESV 2025 verse, which I haven’t started using yet
Has made another change to this verse
That I think is 100% theologically driven
Which is sad.
No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known
This didn’t come from any manuscript.
There is no manuscript that says “God The only Son”.
They all say Son, and two said God,
but none say God the Only Son.
So, if you see Bible translations that start saying this
No for certain, it isn’t what John wrote.
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
Let’s break this down one clause at a time like.
No one has ever seen God.
This comes from Ex 33.20
But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
Moses asked to see the glory of God
And God said, you can’t see my face and live
Jesus confirms this in Jn 5.32
And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen,
So, it is not possible to see God the Father at all.
He is a Spirit.
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
A Spirit is invisible, and cannot be seen by human eyes.
The only way to see the Father is to see the Son.
Ok, next clause:
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
The Only God, as it says in the ESV
Or The only begotten Son in the NKJV.
This is a reference to the man Jesus Christ.
Yes, Jesus is God,
But we cannot forget that Jesus is also a Man.
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
Ok, so, we’re talking about that Man here in Jn 1.18
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
Because, that man Christ Jesus is about to allow something
that was not previously allowed to happen.
Moses said, show me your Glory
And Go said, no, you can’t see my face and live.
And here, we see the Man Christ Jesus is about to change that.
Who is at the Father’s side.
This phrase here doesn’t mean Jesus is standing beside the Father
Or sitting beside the Father
This is not possible as God the Father is a Spirit
And God is omnipresent
So, how can one stand beside something that doesn’t have a side.
There is not right side of God
he is infinite.
So, this is a figure of speech
and that is why the actual Greek words used here say:
In the Bosom of the Father.
What does that mean?
It means a place of honor.
Why is Christ in a place of honor?
Because he is about to do something that’s never been done before.
He has made Him Known.
Who is He and Who is Him?
He is the Man Christ Jesus
Him is the God the Father
And what is Jesus doing?
Making the Father Known.
So, According to John 1.18,
the Son makes the Father known.
The word "made known" comes from the Greek word exegesato,
which is a form of the word exegeomai,
and means "to expound".
It is where we get the word "exegete" or "exegesis" from.
What struck me as interesting
is that when you exegete something,
you cannot import anything new.
So, if the Son is exegeting the Father,
he is essentially bringing forth the "original text"...
or, showing us who God the Father really is and always has been.
Every action Jesus performs should be understood then as this,
"this is how the Father is".
Of course, Jesus confirms this in many places in the Gospel of John:
1. If you believe in Jesus, you believe in the Father Jn12.44-45
And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.
And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.
2. Jesus’ teaching is the Father's teaching Jn7.16
So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.
3. Jesus’ words are the Father's Words. Jn 12.49-50; 14.10
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.
And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
4. Knowing Jesus, means you know the Father Jn8.19; 14.7
If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
5. Hating Jesus means you hate the Father Jn15.23
Whoever hates me hates my Father also.
6. Dishonoring me dishonors the Father Jn5.23
that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
7. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father JN14.9; 12.44-45
And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.
And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
8. Jesus’ actions are the Father's actions JN14.10
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
Ironically, when people read into the text "This is how God the Son is,"
they are using eisegesis,
and if Jesus was trying to reveal a second person of the Trinity,
then He'd be using eisegesis too.
However, Jesus intended to show us "the original text",
not a new story.
HE has made HIM known... not someone else.
Anything Jesus Does, it is God the Father doing it
Anything Jesus says, it is God the Father saying it
When you see Jesus, you are now able to see God the Father for the first time
Moses asked to See God’s Glory
And God say, no man can see my face and live.
And John said…
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
That’s the Glory that moses longed to see
And he did see it on the mountain of Transfiguration
And one day, we too will see his face shining like the sun
What a glorious day that will be.
So, the entire point of the prologue is not God revealing another person
But God the Father is revealing himself in the man Christ Jesus.
Immanuel, God WITH us.
Let’s stop here for tonight,
I don’t want to get too far into the next section
and have to quit in the middle.
We will start back in verse 19 next week.
God bless…
