Who is Jesus? (Part 3)

Introduction

John 1:14–18 (ESV)

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. 15 (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.’ ”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Today, as we discuss John 1:14-18, we will be identifying the last three aspects of who Jesus is and finally see the complete picture of the truth regarding the question: Who is Jesus?

Let’s begin by reading through John 1:14-18:

John 1:14–18 ESV

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. (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.’ ”) 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. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Jesus is Incarnate (vv. 14-15)

Jesus’, Son of God, has a supernatural relationship to God as a person of God’s Being. It is not one of birth. (v. 14)

We’re going to start with some deep theology today, so I hope you have your thinking caps on, but it’s necessary to get a grip on this: What does it mean for Jesus to be the ‘Son of God’?

A point I want to bring your attention to is that “son” in ‘Son of God’ is capitalized.

When you see a word capitalized in the Bible, that normally would not be (i.e. LORD), that is a good indication there is something unique about that word.

In fact, the greek word used is mŏnŏgĕnēs (mono-yen-ace´), which is distinct from the normal greek for a male child (son), huiŏs (hwee-os). As opposed to simply calling one your son, mŏnŏgĕnēs (mono-yen-ace´) distinguishes the person as unique. The sense of this word is that the person is a one of a kind.

This is why you see some translations like the King James Version translate it as “only begotten Son”.

Furthermore the phrase ‘the only Son from’, which appears in the last part of verse 14, this phrase ‘the only Son from’, in the secular Greek usage denotes not birth, but derivation, or where someone originated from.

Therefore, the distinction Scripture is making with this term is not one of birth but of Jesus’ unparalleled relationship to God in being with God, being God Himself, and being God dwelling among us, meaning God is His origin, uniquely.

This concept is a very difficult one, and I didn’t do the best job of explaining it; but it is in this way that Jesus is the ‘Son of God’.

He exists eternally within the eternal being of God, yet He is distinct as a unique entity (person) of God, and he comes forth from God to reveal God to us.

It is in this understanding that when we ask “Where did Jesus come from?”, the answer is “God is His mŏnŏgĕnēs (mono-yen-ace´)”, “God is Jesus’ source”, Jesus is the ‘Son of God’.

Mainly, what I want you to always keep in mind is that ‘Son of God’ is not a statement that God created or gave birth to Jesus, but a title given to Jesus that is intended to signify His unique, supernatural relationship with God.

Jesus became flesh so that God would truly dwell among us. (v. 14)

Now that you are aware of this distinction, I want to return your attention to John 1:14:

John 1:14 ESV

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.

The Word, who was both with God and who was God, became flesh: he donned our humanity.

God chose to make himself known, finally and ultimately, in a real, historical man; God became man.

The theological term used to describe this idea is “incarnation”.

John goes on to reinforce this idea by stating that God ‘dwelt among us’.

The Greek for ‘dwelt’, skēnŏō (skay-nŏ´-o), means that God “tabernacled” amongst us. Most Christians who have read the Old Testament, and certainly any Jew of John’s time, would immediately recognize the significance of the word “tabernacle”.

Exodus 25:8

For the Jews on their Exodus from Egypt, their 40 years of wandering in the desert, and their early days occupying the land of Canaan; the tabernacle was the place where God dwelt among them according to His declaration in Exodus 25:8:

Exodus 25:8 ESV

And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.

This is where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, where the glory of God made Himself present, and where Moses went to meet with God.

By alluding to the theme of the tabernacle, combined with the statement ‘and we have seen His glory’, John is telling us that God manifested Himself most clearly when the Word became flesh. The incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, is the ultimate manifestation of the presence of God amongst human beings.

Jesus exists eternally beyond His flesh. (v.15)

What’s more, John uses the testimony of John the Baptist in verse 15 to bolster his statements:

John 1:15 ESV

(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.’ ”)

In all four Gospels, Jesus entered public ministry after John the Baptist. In a Jewish society where age and precedence was the measuring stick of honor and wisdom, many would have mistakenly believed that John the Baptist was greater than Jesus.

This is an incorrect assessment, says John the Baptist, precisely ‘because He was before me.’

John tells us that the greatness of Jesus is not tied to His flesh; though John the Baptist was born before Jesus, he witnesses that Jesus existed before him, Jesus existed before His flesh, His flesh is just a new manifestation of the person who has always existed.

The confession that Jesus is God Incarnate is a defining doctrine of Christianity.

Fundamentally, the confession of a genuine incarnation in the person of Jesus is one of the basic affirmations of Christianity.

Although Christians may differ on a number of issues, hence the formation of denominations, the incarnation is a core doctrine that draws the boundary for all who are legitimately called by the name of Christ.

1 John 4:1-3

In 1 John 4:1-3, the confession of Jesus as God incarnate is the ultimate test for determining whether one is guided by the Holy Spirit or by Satan:

1 John 4:1–3 ESV

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

To put it another way, it is as damning to believe in the wrong Jesus as to believe in no Jesus. To believe in the wrong Jesus is as damning as to believe you’re saved by a rock. You can’t be saved by believing the wrong thing about Christ. You must believe in His deity and humanity. And that’s why John is so convicted on this point.

Jesus is Grace (vv.16-17)

Jesus, in His fullness as God has the power to save us. (v. 16)

So....Jesus is God incarnate, got it. But what was the purpose of God coming to us? John 1:16-17:

John 1:16–17 ESV

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.

We’re going to discuss these two verses together because verse 17 serves as an explanation for the last phrase in verse 16.

Firstly, in verse 16, John states ‘For from His fullness we have all received’; this phrase establishes the context for the next phrase, ‘grace upon grace’, and verse 17.

They key word here is ‘fullness’, the Apostle is telling us that the reason Jesus is able to offer us the grace of salvation is because He is fully God.

Isaiah 43:11

This is crucial to the truth of salvation because we know from Isaiah 43:11 that only God has the power to save us:

Isaiah 43:11 ESV

I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior.

Therefore the confession of Jesus as God incarnate is the cornerstone of Christianity, because if Jesus isn’t fully God incarnate, He does not have the ability to save us. However, He IS fully God incarnate, and therefore He has the authority to offer us ‘grace upon grace’.

We experienced God’s grace at creation, through His Law, and through Jesus’ offer of salvation: ‘grace upon grace’. (v. 16)

That leads us into the meat of verses 16 and 17, what does ‘grace upon grace’ mean?

Some use it to mean that Jesus continually gives us grace, all the time. Which I don’t disagree with, in a sense.

However, I do strongly disagree with those who take this to an extreme as to mean that we can simply go on sinning as we wish and that Jesus will give us grace regardless of our sincereity in following Him.

In addition, this interpretation simply does not fit into the context of our passage, in which John’s overarching theme is to tie together creation, the Old Testament, and Jesus’ work on the cross.

In context, it is my best understanding that John means us to understand three things:

The first is the grace of creation. We must realize that humanity has no inherent right to existence, our life is given to us from God; everything in creation, including ourselves, rightfully belongs to God and it is a gift born of God’s grace that we even have the opportunity of life itself.

Secondly, as we discussed last week [Who is Jesus? (Part 2)], humanity has rejected God’s grace from the beginning in the Garden of Eden. Therefore God, in His love for us, gave us more grace through the Old Testament Law.

John is not simply referring to the letters of the Law in verse 17 when he says ‘For the law was given through Moses’;

fundamentally he is referring to what the Law represents: an offering of grace by revealing our sins to us and making it clear our need for salvation. The law motivates sinners to salvation. Without it we would never know we need Jesus.

Thirdly, we know that humanity ultimately failed to right it’s relationship with God through the Law.

As such, God in His ultimate grace, has done the necessary work for us, through Jesus, to right our relationship with Him.

The ultimate truth of God’s love for us is the grace of salvation through Jesus: ‘grace and truth came through Jesus Christ’. (v.17)

It is thus that we should understand ‘grace upon grace’: that humanity has continually rejected and failed God’s grace and, through Jesus Christ, God reveals the ultimate truth of His love for us by offering us His ultimate gift of grace: the salvation we don’t deserve; hence, at the end of verse 17, ‘grace and truth came through Jesus Christ’.

Jesus is Revelation (v. 18)

John 1:18 (NIV)

18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Finally, we arrive at the culmination of everything John has taught us so far: verse 18. I am going to read from the NIV as I feel it does the best job of conveying John’s intended meaning:

John 1:18 NIV

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Not even the greatest of prophets ever saw God in His full glory. (v. 18a)

The opening to John’s Gospel is drawn to a conclusion in this verse with a powerful reminder that no one has ever really seen God.

The word order in Greek is extremely emphatic. It begins with “God,” and ends with an expression “not ever,” that gives the force of an utterly indisputable principle.

John writes as if to remind his readers of the fact that even Moses, considered the greatest of the prophets, was not allowed to see God.

Exodus 33:20

We find evidence of this in Exodus 33:20, when Moses requests to see God’s glory and God responds:

Exodus 33:20 ESV

But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”

Numbers 12:8

There are some who would object that Scripture says Moses met with God in the tabernacle, but the nature of this meeting is explained by God Himself in Numbers 12:8:

Numbers 12:8 ESV

With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

God speaks to Moses “face to face” and “mouth to mouth” in the diminished sense that Moses sees ‘the form of the Lord’. Frederick Bruce comments:

“We should perhaps say…that Moses saw, so to speak, the afterglow of the divine glory” The Gospel of John: Introduction, Exposition and Notes (p.44)

Deuteronomy 4:12

In other words, Moses saw a shadow, or representation, of God’s true glory. This idea is attested in Deuteronomy 4:12:

Deuteronomy 4:12 ESV

Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.

Only Jesus, because of His unique relationship to God, knows God fully. (v.18b-c)

However, John adds that ‘the one and only Son’ [John uses mŏnŏgĕnēs (mono-yen-ace´) here again], Jesus who is Himself God, ‘has made Him known’.

In context with the whole of John 1:1-18, especially verse 1, what this means is that Jesus, Himself God while being ‘in closest relationship with the Father’ has broken the barrier that made it impossible for human beings to see God, and has ‘made Him known’ to us.

John 14:9

This is confirmed by Jesus Himself in John 14:9:

John 14:9 ESV

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’?

Jesus is “the Word”: God’s Self-expression to finally reveal Himself to humanity. (v. 18d)

The emphasis is on Jesus as the ultimate revelation of God Himself. This is why it is so fitting that John calls Jesus by the title of “the Word”. Just as our words reveal and express ourselves to others, Jesus is God’s Self-expression to finally reveal Himself to humanity.

Conclusion

So you want to know about God? Jesus defines God. He displays glory, He dispenses grace, and He defines God.

So don’t entertain any patronizing nonsense about Jesus being a nice man, a good teacher, or a noble religious leader. That’s not an option. He’s God.

He is God.

And if you believe that and you receive Him, remember verse 12, “to those who received Him,” right? He gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in His name.

In order to be a child of God, you have to believe in His name.

To believe in His name, you must believe that He is who He is: The life-giving Creator, the Light of the world, the Savior of humanity, the Incarnate, full of grace and truth, revelation of God to His creation. Jesus Christ.

Prayer