John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelled among us, (and we beheld his glory… I. THE PERSON HERE SPOKEN OF. The Word. 1. The origin of the expression. (1) Some have traced it to the Jewish Targums, where the angel of the Lord of the Old Testament is designated the Word of God. (2) Others to Philo, who spoke much of a semi-divine person called the Word of God. (3) Others to the phrase, "the Word of the Lord came upon him," in the prophets, understanding by that not an influence or a communication, but a person. But it is difficult to decide. 2. What is said about the Word. (1) That He was God. (2) And yet distinct from God. (3) The Creator of the universe. 3. The appropriateness of the term. He is especially the revealer of God. Deity in the abstract is unrevealed; only through the Word has He made Himself known. Not that Divine manifestations began at the Advent. (1) The external world reveals God's power and Godhead through its Maker, the Word. (2) Hence for all that men have learned from the universe they have been indebted to the Word. (3) His are the intimations of God derived through conscience and intuition. (4) All the truth that man has ever learned has been through Him who is the True Light that enlighteneth every man. II. THE AFFIRMATION HERE MADE CONCERNING THE WORD "became flesh." The other evangelists give us the facts, St. John the soul beneath the facts. Admit the assertion of John, and all that the others say becomes perfectly natural. Deny the truth of what John affirms, and everything that they tell becomes incomprehensible. What is meant is not that He ceased to be the Word, but that in addition to what He had been He took human nature upon Him. This union of Deity and humanity conditioned both. 1. It made it necessary that the humanity should be pure; hence the peculiar manner of Christ's birth, wherein the entail of sin was broken, and His body made a holy thing. 2. It required that His Godhead should be manifested under certain limitations. The Incarnation was to man a revelation of God; to angels an inveiling of God. III. THE PROOF WHICH IS FURNISHED OF THIS TRUTH. "We beheld." This verse is the text of the whole gospel, and each succeeding chapter presents us with some new manifestation. In the first, Christ is introduced to us by John the Baptist as the Lamb of God; in the second, He is the Temple of God; in the third, He is the glorious anti-type of the brazen serpent; in the fourth, He says, in answer to the woman's question, "I Am;" in the fifth, He is the Judge of all; in the sixth, He says: "I am the Bread of Life;" in the seventh, He is the Water of Life; in the eighth and ninth, He says twice: "I am the Light of the World; " in the tenth, He says: "I am the good shepherd;" in the eleventh, He says: "I am the Resurrection and the Life; " in the twelfth, He is the King of Zion riding in triumph to His capital; in the thirteenth, He is the perfect Exemplar; in the fourteenth, He says: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life;" in the fifteenth, He says: "I am the True Vine;" in the sixteenth, He is the Precursor of the Comforter; in the seventeenth, He is the great Intercessor; in the eighteenth, He is, by His own solem asseveration to Pilate, the King of a spiritual domain, whose fundamental principle is truth; in the nineteenth, He is the Willing Victim; and in the twentieth, He is again the Resurrection and the Life. IV. THE RESULTS that flow from the reality of the Incarnation. 1. The reality of Christ's Deity gave sacrificial efficacy to His death on our behalf. 2. The reality of Christ's manhood assures us of perfect sympathy at His hands. 3. The union of the two makes the resources of Deity available for us. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. |
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