3  The Glory of the Incarnate Word  (John 1:14–18)

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. (1:14–18)

For the first five centuries of its existence the early church defended the true doctrine of the Incarnation. During that time many erroneous teachings about the hypostatic union (the union of the divine and human natures in Christ) were put forth, examined, and rejected. For example, some argued that Jesus did not have a human spirit, but rather that His divine spirit united with a human body. That view preserved His deity, but at the expense of denying His full humanity. Others argued that the divine Christ-spirit entered the man Jesus at His baptism, and left Him before His crucifixion. Another false view held by some was that Jesus was a created being, and thus inferior to God the Father. Still others viewed Him as two separate persons, one human and the other divine; according to that teaching Jesus was a man in whom God dwelt.

All of those views (and others as well) erred fatally either by denying Jesus Christ’s full deity or His full humanity. The true church rejected them all in favor of the biblical view of Jesus as the God-man. The Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) officially declared that truth in one of the most famous and important statements in church history:

The fact that the church invisible has necessarily always held to a true doctrine of the Incarnation, and has at various times reconfirmed Chalcedon’s statement, does not mean that this doctrine has ceased to be embattled. It is still a target for false teachers, cults, and false religions. The apostle John was clear in his epistles that a true view of Jesus as divine and human was an essential mark of salvation (cf. 1 John 1:1–3; 2:22–24; 4:1–3, 14; 5:1, 5, 10–12, 20; 2 John 3, 7, 9). Revelation opens with the glory of Christ (1:4–20).

Throughout the prologue to his gospel (1:1–18) John has declared the profound truths of Christ’s deity and Incarnation, reaching a powerful crescendo in these last five verses. They summarize the prologue, which in turn summarizes the entire book. In his characteristically simple language, John expressed the glorious reality of the Incarnation by pointing out its nature, witnesses, and impact.

THE NATURE OF THE INCARNATION

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (1:14)

Verse 14 is the most concise biblical statement of the Incarnation, and therefore one of Scripture’s most significant verses. The four words with which it begins, the Word became flesh, express the reality that in the Incarnation God took on humanity; the infinite became finite; eternity entered time; the invisible became visible (cf. Col. 1:15); the Creator entered His creation. God revealed Himself to man in the creation (Rom. 1:18–21), the Old Testament Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20–21), and, supremely and most clearly, in Jesus Christ (Heb. 1:1–2). The record of His life and work, and its application and significance for the past, present, and future, is in the New Testament.

As noted in the discussion of 1:1 in chapter 1 of this volume, the concept of the Word was one rich in meaning for both Greeks and Jews. John here clearly stated what he implied earlier in the prologue: Jesus Christ, God’s final Word to mankind (Heb. 1:1–2), became flesh. Sarx (flesh) does not have here the negative moral connotation that it sometimes carries (e.g., Rom. 8:3–9; 13:14; Gal. 5:13, 16–17, 19; Eph. 2:3), but refers to man’s physical being (cf. Matt. 16:17; Rom. 1:3; 1 Cor. 1:26; 2 Cor. 5:16; Gal. 1:16; Eph. 5:29; Phil. 1:22). That He actually became flesh affirms Jesus’ full humanity.

Ginomai (became) does not mean that Christ ceased being the eternal Word when He became a man. Though God is immutable, pure eternal “being” and not “becoming” as all His creatures are, in the Incarnation the unchangeable (Heb. 13:8) God did become fully man, yet remained fully God. He entered the realm of those who are time and space creatures and experienced life as it is for those He created. In the words of the fifth-century church father Cyril of Alexandria,

No wonder Paul wrote of the Incarnation,

Charles Wesley also captured the wonder of the Incarnation in his majestic hymn “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing”:

Some found the Incarnation so utterly beyond human reason to comprehend that they refused to accept it. The heretical group known as the Docetists (from dokeo; “to seem,” or “to appear”), accepting the dualism of matter and spirit so prevalent in Greek philosophy at that time, held that matter was evil, and spirit was good. Accordingly, they argued that Christ could not have had a material (and hence evil) body. They taught instead either that His body was a phantom, or an apparition, or that the divine Christ spirit descended upon the mere man Jesus at His baptism, then left Him before His crucifixion. Cerinthus, John’s opponent at Ephesus, was a Docetist. John strongly opposed Docetism, which undermines not only the incarnation of Christ, but also His resurrection and substitutionary atonement. As noted earlier in this chapter, in his first epistle he warned,

John was so horrified by Cerinthus’s heresy that, as the early church historian Eusebius records,

The eternal Son not only became man; He also dwelt among men for thirty-three years. Dwelt translates a form of the verb skenoo, which literally means “to live in a tent.” Jesus Christ’s humanity was not a mere appearance. He took on all the essential attributes of humanity and was “made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7), “since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14). As the writer of Hebrews goes on to explain, “He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:17). And He pitched His tent among us.

In the Old Testament, God tented with Israel through His glorious presence in the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34–35) and later in the temple (1 Kings 8:10–11), and revealed Himself in some pre-incarnate appearances of Christ (e.g., Gen. 16:7–14; Ex. 3:2; Josh. 5:13–15; Judg. 2:1–4; 6:11–24; 13:3–23; Dan. 3:25; 10:5–6; Zech. 1:11–21). Throughout eternity, God will again tent with His redeemed and glorified people:

Though Jesus manifested God’s divine glory during His earthly life with a clarity never before seen, it was still veiled by His human flesh. Peter, James, and John saw a physical manifestation of Jesus’ heavenly glory at the transfiguration, when “His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light” (Matt. 17:2; cf. 2 Peter 1:16–18). That was a preview of the unveiled glory to be seen at His return (Matt. 24:29–30; 25:31; Rev. 19:11–16) and the fullness of His heavenly glory as the only Light of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:23). But the disciples saw Jesus manifest God’s holy nature primarily by displaying divine attributes, such as truth, wisdom, love, grace, knowledge, power, and holiness.

Jesus manifested the same essential glory as the Father, because as God they possess the same nature (10:30). Despite the claims of false teachers through the centuries, monogenes (only begotten) does not imply that Jesus was created by God and thus not eternal. The term does not refer to a person’s origin, but describes him as unique, the only one of his kind. Thus Isaac could properly be called Abraham’s monogenes (Heb. 11:17) even though Abraham had other sons, because Isaac alone was the son of the covenant. Monogenes distinguishes Christ as the unique Son of God from believers, who are God’s sons in a different sense (1 John 3:2). B. F. Westcott writes, “Christ is the One and only Son, the One to whom the title belongs in a sense completely unique and singular, as distinguished from that in which there are many children of God (vv. 12f.)”(The Gospel According to St. John [Reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978], 12). Jesus’ unique relationship to the Father is a major theme of John’s gospel (cf. 1:18; 3:35; 5:17–23, 26, 36–37; 6:27, 46, 57; 8:16, 18–19, 28, 38, 42, 54; 10:15, 17, 30, 36–38; 12:49–50; 14:6–13, 20–21, 23, 31; 15:9, 15, 23–24; 16:3, 15, 27–28, 32; 17:5, 21, 24–25; 20:21).

Jesus’ manifestation of the divine attributes revealed His essential glory as God’s Son, “for in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col. 2:9). The two attributes most closely connected with salvation are grace and truth. Scripture teaches that salvation is wholly by believing God’s truth in the gospel, by which one receives His saving grace.

The Jerusalem Council declared, “But we believe that we [Jewish believers] are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they [Gentiles] also are” (Acts 15:11). Apollos “greatly helped those who had believed through grace” (Acts 18:27). Paul described the message he preached as “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). In Romans 3:24 he wrote that believers are “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,” while in Ephesians 1:7 he added, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” Later in that same letter, Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8–9). He reminded Timothy that God “has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity” (2 Tim. 1:9). That same “grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men” (Titus 2:11), with the result that believers “being justified by His grace …would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life”(Titus 3:7).

There is no salvation grace except to those who believe the truth of the gospel message. Paul reminded the Ephesians, “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:13). In Colossians 1:5 he defined the gospel as the “word of truth” (cf. James 1:18). Paul expressed to the Thessalonians his thankfulness that “God ha[d] chosen [them] from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13). People are saved when they “come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4; cf. 2 Tim. 2:25). On the other hand, “those who perish” will do so “because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved” (2 Thess. 2:10). Everyone will “be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness” (2 Thess. 2:12).

Jesus Christ was the full expression of God’s grace. All the necessary truth to save is available in Him. He was the full expression of God’s truth, which was only partially revealed in the Old Testament (cf. Col. 2:16–17). What was foreshadowed through prophecy, types, and pictures became substance realized in the person of Christ (cf. Heb. 1:1–2). Therefore He could declare, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. … If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 14:6; 8:31–32).

A vague belief in God apart from the truth about Christ will not result in salvation. As Jesus Himself warned, “Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). Those who think they are worshiping God, but are ignorant of or reject the fullness of the New Testament teaching about Christ, are deceived, because “he who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him” (John 5:23; cf. 15:23). In his first epistle John affirmed that “whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also”(1 John 2:23; cf. 2 John 9). Those who reject God’s full revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ will be eternally lost.

Summarizing the magnificence of this verse, Gerald L. Borchert writes,

THE WITNESSES TO THE INCARNATION

John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. (1:15–16)

In keeping with his purpose in writing his gospel (20:31), John brought in other witnesses to the truth about the divine, preexistent, incarnate Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. He first called on John the Baptist, who also testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” John’s testimony will be related in more detail beginning in verse 19. Here the apostle John merely summarizes it. John the Baptist, of course, had died long before this gospel was written. But as noted in chapter 2 of this volume, there was still a John the Baptist cult in existence. So as he did in verse 8, the apostle notes John the Baptist’s inferiority to Christ—this time in the Baptist’s own words. In contrast to some of his followers, he understood clearly and accepted gladly his subordinate role.

That John cried out speaks of the bold, public nature of his witness to Jesus; he was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight!’” (Matt. 3:3). He was the herald, proclaiming the arrival of the Messiah, and calling people to repent and prepare their hearts to receive Him. Acknowledging Jesus’ preeminence John said of Him, “He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.” Jesus, the Expected (lit., “coming”) One (Matt. 11:3; Luke 7:19–20; John 6:14) came after John in time; He was born six months later (Luke 1:26) and began His public ministry after John began his. Yet, as John acknowledged, Jesus had a higher rank than he did, for He existed before him. The reference here, as in verses 1 and 2, is to Jesus’ eternal preexistence (cf. 8:58).

Then John called on the testimony of believers, including himself and all who have received the fullness of blessing from the one who is “full of grace and truth” (v. 14). Because in Christ “all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col. 2:9), He provides for all His people’s needs (Rom. 5:2; Eph. 4:12–13; Col. 1:28; 2:10; 2 Peter 1:3). That abundant supply will never be exhausted or diminished; grace will continually follow grace in a limitless, never-ending flow (cf. 2 Cor. 12:9; Eph. 2:7).

THE IMPACT OF THE INCARNATION

For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. (1:17–18)

Obviously, the impact was monumental. First, grace triumphed over law. Since the Law was given by God through Moses (5:45; 9:29; Ex. 31:18; Lev. 26:46; Deut. 4:44; 5:1; Acts 7:37–38), it was imbued with His glory and reflected His holy and righteous character. Therefore Paul could write, “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! … The Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good” (Rom. 7:7, 12; cf. 2 Cor. 3:7–11). Yet though God was gracious in the Old Testament (e.g., Gen. 6:8; Ezra 9:8; Ps. 84:11; Prov. 3:34; Jer. 31:2; Zech. 4:7), the Law was not an instrument of grace. Rather, God granted grace and forgiveness to repentant sinners who violated His holy law, based on what Christ would do to provide atonement. The Law saves no one (Acts 13:38–39; Rom. 3:20–22; 8:3; 10:4; Gal. 2:16; 3:10–12; Phil. 3:9; Heb. 7:18–19; 10:1–4); it merely convicts sinners of their inability to keep perfectly God’s righteous standards, and condemns them to the eternal punishment of divine justice; and thus reveals their need for the grace of forgiveness. Paul wrote to the Galatians that “the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith” (Gal. 3:24).

But as the Son over the house in which Moses was only a servant (Heb. 3:5–6), Jesus Christ brought the full realization of grace and truth (cf. the discussion of v. 14 above). God’s grace in the Old Testament was applied to the believing penitents in anticipation of the full revelation of His grace in Jesus Christ. In Him God’s salvation truth was fully revealed and accomplished. The “truth is in Jesus” (Eph. 4:21; cf. John 14:6).

Second, God was made visible with a clarity never before seen or known. Not merely because He is a Spirit who is invisible (Col. 1:15; 1 Tim. 1:17; Heb. 11:27), but more important because to do so would bring instant death (Ex. 33:20; cf. Gen. 32:30; Deut. 5:26; Judg. 13:22), no one has seen God at any time (John 6:46; 1 Tim. 6:16; 1 John 4:12, 20). It is through Jesus Christ, the “image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), that God is revealed.

The NASB follows the reading best attested in the Greek manuscripts, only begotten God (instead of the alternate reading, “only begotten Son” found in some English translations). It is a fitting conclusion to the prologue, which has stressed Christ’s deity and absolute equality with the Father. The intimate expression who is in the bosom of the Father is reminiscent of the phrase pros ton theon (“with God”) in verse 1 (cf. the discussion in chapter 1 of this volume). It expresses Christ’s shared nature with the Father (cf. 17:24).

God, who cannot be known unless He reveals Himself, became most fully known because Jesus explained Him. Jesus is the explanation of God. He is the answer to the question, “What is God like?” In John 14:7–9, Jesus declared that truth to His obtuse disciples:

Explained translates a form of the verb exegeomai, from which the English word “exegesis” (the method or practice of interpreting Scripture) derives. Jesus is the only one qualified to exegete or interpret God to man, since “no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him”(Matt. 11:27).

The prologue presents an introductory synopsis of John’s entire gospel. It introduces themes that will be expanded throughout the rest of the book. None are more important than this: Jesus, who existed in intimate fellowship with the Father from all eternity (v. 1), became flesh (v. 14), brought the full expression of grace and truth to mankind (v. 17), and revealed God to man (v. 18). How He did so will be seen in the remainder of John’s gospel.