John 1:14

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.

And the Word was made flesh - or 'made man,' or took Human Nature in its present state of frailty and infirmity-in contrast both with what it was before the fall, and with what it will be in the ate of Glory-without reference to its sinfulness. So we read, "All flesh is Grass" (1 Peter 1:24); "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh" (Acts 2:17); "Thou hast given Him power over all flesh" (John 17:2); "All flesh shall see the salvation of God" (Luke 3:6). In this sense the word "flesh" is applied to Christ's human nature before His resurrection in Hebrews 5:7, "Who in the days of His flesh," etc. And this is plainly the meaning of "flesh here-`The Word was made,' or became Man, in the present condition of manhood, apart from its sinfulness in us. The other sense of "flesh" as applied to man in Scripture-`human nature under the law of sin and death,' as in Genesis 6:3; John 3:6; Romans 7:8: is wholly inapplicable to Him who was born "the Holy Thing;" who in life was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners; and who in death "offered Himself without spot to God." Thus, by His Incarnation, married to our nature, He is henceforth and forever personally conscious of all that is strictly human, as truly as of all that is properly divine; and our nature in His Person is redeemed and quickened, ennobled and transfigured. This glorious statement of our Evangelist was probably directed specially against those who alleged that Christ took flesh not really, but only apparently (afterward called 'Docetoe, or advocates of 'the apparent theory'). Against these this gentle spirit is vehement in his Epistles - 1 John 4:3; 2 John 1:7; 2 John 1:10. Nor could he be too much so; for with the verity of the incarnation all that is substantial in Christianity vanishes.

And dwelt among us, [ eskeenoosen (G4637) en (G1722) heemin (G2254)]. The word strictly signifies 'tabernacled' or 'pitched His tent;' a word unique to John, who uses it four times in the Revelation-and in every case in the sense not of a temporary sojourn, as might be supposed, but of a permanent stay: Revelation 7:15, "Therefore are they before the Throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple, and He that sitteth upon the Throne shall dwell [ skeenoosei (G4637)] among them;" and John 21:3, "And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell [ skeenoosei (G4637)] with them." (So Revelation 12:12; Revelation 13:6.) Thus, then, is He wedded forever to our flesh; He has entered this tabernacle to go no more out. But the specific allusion in this word is doubtless to that tabernacle where dwelt the Shechinah, as the Jews called the manifested "glory of the Lord" (see the notes at Matthew 22:38): and this again shadowed forth Gods glorious residence, in the person of Christ, in the midst of His redeemed people: Psalms 68:18, "Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell [among them]" [lishkown; tou (G3588) kataskeenoosai (G2681)]. See also Leviticus 26:11-3, "And I will set my tabernacle among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and be your God, and ye shall be my people;" and Psalms 132:13; Ezekiel 37:27. That all this was before the Evangelist's mind, is put almost beyond doubt by what immediately follows. So Lucke, Olshausen, Meyer, De Wetts-which last critic, rising higher than usual, says that thus were perfected air former partial manifestations of God in an essentially personal and historically human manifestation.

(And we beheld his glory. The word [ etheasametha (G2300)] is more emphatic than the simple "saw" [ eidomen (G1492)]: 'This glory,' the Evangelist would say, was revealed to our gaze; yet not to sense, which saw in Him only "the carpenter" - no, it was spiritually discerned' (1 Corinthians 2:14). Hence, it was that Peter's noble testimony is ascribed, by Him who knew its Source, to Divine teaching (Matthew 16:16).

The glory as [ hoos (G5613 ] of the only begotten of the Father)] - not a glory 'resembling' or 'like to;' but, The glory as [ hoos (G5613 ] of the only begotten of the Father)] - not a glory 'resembling' or 'like to;' but, according to a well-known sense of the word, a glory 'such as became' or 'was befitting' the Only begotten of the Father. (So Chrysostom, Calvin, Lucke, Tholuck, Olshausen, etc.) On the meaning of the word "Only begotten" [ monogenees (G3439)], see the note at John 1:18. But the whole phrase is expressed somewhat peculiarly here: it is 'the Only begotten'-not of [ ek (G1537)], but '[forth] from the Father' [ para (G3844) Patros (G3962)]; on the sense of which, see the note at John 1:18.

Full of grace and truth. Our translators have here followed the grammatical construction of the verse, connecting this last clause with "the Word" [ ho (G3588) Logos (G3056) ... pleerees (G4134)], and thus throwing the intermediate words into a long parenthesis. But if we take it otherwise, and view this last as an independent clause, not unusual in the New Testament, and not requiting to be grammatically connected with any of the preceding words-which we prefer-the sense will still be the same. These words "Grace and Truth" - or in Old Testament phraseology, "Mercy and Truth." - are the great key-notes of the Bible. By "GRACE" is meant 'the whole riches of God's redeeming love to sinners of mankind in Christ.' Up to the period of the Incarnation, this was, strictly speaking, only in promise; but in the fullness of time it was turned into performance or "TRUTH" - that is, fulfillment. The Old Testament word, "Mercy," denotes the rich Messianic promises made to David; while "Truth" stands for God's faithfulness to thee promises.

Thus, Psalms 89:1 sings, almost from beginning to end, of these two things, and pleads upon them, as the two great features of one and the same thing: "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up forever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. I have found David my servant ... my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with Him. My loving-kindness will I not utterly take from Him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. O Lord, where are thy former loving-kindnesses which thou swearest unto David in thy truth?" And, not to quote more passages, in one great word of the evangelical prophet, and in one of his richer evangelical predictions, we have both ideas combined in that one familiar expression, "The Sure Mercies of David." (Isaiah 55:3; see also Acts 13:34; 2 Samuel 23:5.) In Christ's Person all that Grace and Truth which had for long been floating in shadowy forms, and darting into the souls of the poor and needy its broken beams, took everlasting possession of human flesh, and filled it full. By this Incarnation of Grace and Truth, the teaching of thousands of years was at once transcended and beggared, and the family of God sprang into manhood.