The Word Made Flesh

JOHN 1:1-18

GOLDEN TEXT: “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”—John 1:18

IT IS believed that John’s Gospel was written subsequent to those of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and while he narrates many incidents recorded in the other accounts of the Master’s life, he stresses one point scarcely touched upon by them, namely, that Jesus was the Son of God. This great truth concerning the Master seemed especially to appeal to John, for he emphasized it not only in his Gospel but in his epistles as well.

In his epistle John writes, “Every spirit [doctrine] that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit [doctrine] that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God.” (I John 4:2,3) This inspired doctrinal test by which one is able to decide between fundamental truth and anti-Christian error must be understood in harmony with John’s own explanation of what was involved in Jesus’ coming in the flesh. It is this explanation which we have in the first chapter of his Gospel.

“In the beginning was the Word,” the apostle explains. Here the term “Word” is a translation of Logos, a Greek expression meaning spokesman, or mouthpiece. “And the Word was with God,” is the way the Common Version presents it, but the translators have omitted a very important word which appears in the Greek text. As the apostle wrote the first two verses of his Gospel, they read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God, and the Word was a god. The same was in the beginning with the God.”

This makes the matter plain, for it shows clearly that the Logos was not the Almighty God, but just as the term implies, his mouthpiece, or representative. As John continues his explanation we learn that the Word was the “only begotten of the Father”—his Son. This is understandable, and so much more reasonable than the trinitarian theory that God the Father, and God the Son, are “one in person and substance.” It was probably in order to perpetuate this erroneous mystery that the translators omitted the full sense of the text by not translating the Greek definite article, “the,” which is used by John to show that while the Logos was “a” god, he was not “the” God.

The term god is used frequently in the Scriptures when the thought is merely that of “a mighty one.” The Apostle Paul, for example, informs us that Satan is the “god of this world.” (2 Cor. 4:4) In the New Testament (written originally in Greek) there is only one word that is translated god, and it is sometimes used to denote the Creator, sometimes Jesus, and sometimes false gods. The passage in which the word is, used determines its application.

In the Old Testament (originally written in Hebrew) we have a different situation. Here we find three Hebrew words that are translated “god” and “lord.” One of these is Jehovah. It applies exclusively to the Creator, and is never used with respect to any other god. When translated as God or Lord, it always appears in large and small capitals. If these English terms in the Old Testament do not appear in the large and small capitals, the student may know that the word Jehovah is not the one used in the Hebrew text.

John informs us that the Logos, the “Word,” was in the beginning with God, and that he participated in the work of creation—“Without him was not anything made that was made.” This throws light on the use of the plural personal pronoun “us” in the Genesis account of creation where we find such expressions as “Let US make man in our image.” In the light of John’s testimony this seems clearly to be the Creator speaking to his Son, the Logos. It indicates that while Jehovah was the Creator, the Logos was his active agent in all that was done.

And it was this Logos who was “made flesh.” It was a miracle, just as all creation is a miracle. The birth of every child is a miracle. Paul says of the Logos that he was “found in fashion as a man.” (Phil. 2:8) Our faith lays hold upon this great truth, and we rejoice in it.

Yes, the Logos was made flesh, and Paul explains that the purpose of it was “for the suffering of death.” (Heb. 2:9) It was by this means that Jesus could be the Redeemer of the condemned race. A man had sinned—the perfect man, Adam—and it required a perfect man to be the Redeemer; and the Logos made flesh was that perfect man.

QUESTIONS:

How do we know that the “Word” which was made flesh was not Jehovah, the Creator?

Do the words “god” and “lord” always apply to the Creator?

Why was it necessary in the divine plan for the Logos to be made flesh?

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