Jesus Made Flesh

MEMORY VERSE: “Hereby know we the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” —I John 4:2

I JOHN 4:1-6; II JOHN 7-9

THE caption chosen by the Sunday School Committee of the National Council of Churches in the U.S.A. was, “Truly God, and Truly Man.” There is no such thought as this contained in the scriptures assigned for the lesson, nor, in fact, anywhere else in the Bible. Jesus is the Son of God, and not God himself. This is the teaching of the Bible, including the epistles of John from which the lesson is taken.

Even in the days of the Early Church false teachers were endeavoring to corrupt the beliefs of those who espoused the cause of Christ, and ever since that time Satan has had his emissaries at work spreading error among the children of light. The teachings of these false prophets are referred to by John as “spirits,” or we could also say “doctrines.”

John explains that every spirit, or teaching, which confesses that Jesus Christ is [Greek text, “has”] come in the flesh is of God. This is a very simple confession of faith, yet it is far-reaching in its implications. John, referring to Jesus in his prehuman existence, calls him the Logos, or Word, and he tells us that “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.”—John 1:14

The emphasis here is on the fact that “the Word was made flesh.” This is in sharp contrast to the popular notion that God became incarnate in flesh. Paul wrote that Jesus became flesh and blood, “that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil.” (Heb. 2:14) Jesus was born of a woman, but he did not take on the imperfections of the fallen and condemned adamic race. He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.”—Heb. 7:26

Jesus explained that he would give his flesh; that is, his humanity, for the life of the world. (John 6:51) This is why he was “made flesh” His Heavenly Father, in his love, sent his Son into the world to redeem the fallen race from death, and to accomplish this work of redemption he gave his life as a substitute for the forfeited life of Adam. It had to be a perfect human life, because Adam enjoyed perfect human life before he transgressed divine law.

This sacrifice of Jesus’ perfect human life is described by the Apostle Paul as a “ransom,” or, as it is in the Greek text, “a corresponding price.” Paul wrote that Jesus gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified, or made known, to all, in God’s due time. (I Tim. 2:3-6) John 3:16 informs us of God’s love in sending Jesus into the world, and assures us that “whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Some have the opportunity of believing during the present age, but the vast majority will be given this opportunity when awakened from the sleep of death during the thousand years of Christ’s kingdom.

In our lesson John assures us that greater is he [God] who is “in,” or for us “than he that is in the world—that is, the world of darkness. From this we realize that no power of subtle deception is able to draw us away from the simple truth of the Gospel—that good news that is centered in the fact that Jesus came in the flesh, and that he gave his flesh for the life of the entire adamic race.

John wrote of his time that “many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.” This is still true today, and even more so. And it is important that, as John says, we look to ourselves, “that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.” We should make sure that our hearts are emptied of self and hate, and filled with love.

John explains that those who “abideth not in the doctrine of Christ”—that he has come in the flesh—“hath not God.” He then adds, “He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.” John understood that Jesus was the Son of God, not God himself. May we hold fast to this same great fundamental truth.

QUESTIONS

What is the difference between Jesus’ being made flesh and the popular theory that he was God incarnate in flesh?

Why was it necessary for Jesus to be made flesh?

When will the vast majority of mankind have their first real opportunity to believe on Christ?

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