John 1:1-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
Jn 1:1–14. THE WORD MADE FLESH.
1. In the beginning—of all time and created existence, for this Word gave it being (Jn 1:3, 10); therefore, “before the world was” (Jn 17:5, 24); or, from all eternity.
was the Word—He who is to God what man’s word is to himself, the manifestation or expression of himself to those without him. (See on Jn 1:18). On the origin of this most lofty and now for ever consecrated title of Christ, this is not the place to speak. It occurs only in the writings of this seraphic apostle.
was with God—having a conscious personal existence distinct from God (as one is from the person he is “with”), but inseparable from Him and associated with Him (Jn 1:18; Jn 17:5; 1 Jn 1:2), where “THE FATHER” is used in the same sense as “GOD” here.
was God—in substance and essence GOD; or was possessed of essential or proper divinity. Thus, each of these brief but pregnant statements is the complement of the other, correcting any misapprehensions which the others might occasion. Was the Word eternal? It was not the eternity of “the Father,” but of a conscious personal existence distinct from Him and associated with Him. Was the Word thus “with God?” It was not the distinctness and the fellowship of another being, as if there were more Gods than one, but of One who was Himself God—in such sense that the absolute unity of the God head, the great principle of all religion, is only transferred from the region of shadowy abstraction to the region of essential life and love. But why all this definition? Not to give us any abstract information about certain mysterious distinctions in the Godhead, but solely to let the reader know who it was that in the fulness of time “was made flesh.” After each verse, then, the reader must say, “It was He who is thus, and thus, and thus described, who was made flesh.”
1:1–18 The Word Became Flesh
No other book in the Bible has a prologue as overtly theological as does the Gospel of John. First, John made a clear and decisive statement regarding the nature of Jesus: “the Word was God” and that “Word became flesh” (1:1, 14). John wanted it known that Jesus Christ was fully God in human form. That is the meaning of “incarnation,” from the Latin incarnatus, which means made flesh. God has made Himself known through Christ (1:18–19). Christ was both “Word” and “flesh,” not one to the exclusion of the other, and thus was the perfect and only God-man. Christ made His “dwelling” with us, a word associated with “tent” or “tabernacle,” intimating the literalness of God’s coming to humanity. This word usage should not be lost on the reader, for the tabernacle of the Old Testament was an earthly building filled with the glory of God (Exod 40:34–35).
In using the term “Word” (logos), John was using a term familiar to both Jews and Greeks, though each attributed a different meaning to the term. For the Greek mind the “Word” referred to the rational principle that supervised or governed the universe. To the Jew, “Word” was a reference to God. Thus John wanted to equate the “Word” with God while noting that the Word was distinct from the Father. John stated that Jesus was with God “in the beginning” and that through Christ “all things were made” (1:2–3). Jesus is therefore seen as co-eternal with God and as the Creator.
John then discussed the purpose of the Word becoming flesh, namely that Christ brought life, a life that serves as the “light” for all people (1:4). The life Christ offers is beyond that of mere human life; it is life eternal with God. Therefore Jesus brought the light of truth and the life of salvation. The questions and concerns of this world that find no ultimate answers are met by the Light that pierces all darkness with the brilliance of truth, yet this truth has been rejected.
The bitter irony of this should not be lost on the reader. John emphasized this irony, stating that though He created the world, the world did not recognize Him. Though He came to His own, His own did not receive Him (1:10–11). God has come to the world for acceptance and relationship. Those who accept the Light, who believe in the message Christ proclaimed about Himself, are given the “right to become the children of God” (1:12). To be born into the kingdom of God is not something achieved on human energy (1:13; compare Eph 2:8–9) but by the grace of the living God through Christ Jesus. This is to be balanced by the emphasis on the need to “receive” Christ (1:12). Though we bring nothing to God and contribute nothing to our salvation, the gift itself is dependent on our willingness to receive it from the one who offers it.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
JOHN THE BAPTIST. Matt. 3:1; 11:11, 12; 14:2, 8; 16:14; 17:13; Mark 6:14, 24, 25; 8:28; Luke 7:20, 33; 9:19 See JOHN 1.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him
John tells us the painful fact which will produce so much conflict in this story. Jesus, the light of the world, comes to his own people—the Jews. Although they long for their Messiah, they fail to recognize him. Instead, they criticize, reject and kill him. He is rejected by his own people, but accepted by some. A few believe in him, and he makes them God’s children. They change from being children of the devil to become the children of God.
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John tells us something quite extraordinary. The eternal ‘Word’ of God, the agent of creation, actually becomes a human being. He becomes ‘flesh’—that is, he takes our human nature, with all its wayward appetites and frailties. John says that Jesus ‘made his dwelling’ or pitched his tent among us—just as God had camped with his people in the tent of meeting during their wilderness wanderings.