The Divinity of Christ.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things
were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth
in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
Austin says (de Civitate Dei, lib. 10, cap. 29) that his friend Simplicius
told him he had heard a Platonic philosopher say that these first verses
of St. John's gospel were worthy to be written in letters of gold. The
learned Francis Junius, in the account he gives of his own life, tells
how he was in his youth infected with loose notions in religion, and by
the grace of God was wonderfully recovered by reading accidentally these
verses in a bible which his father had designedly laid in his way. He says
that he observed such a divinity in the argument, such an authority and
majesty in the style, that his flesh trembled, and he was struck with such
amazement that for a whole day he scarcely knew where he was or what he
did; and thence he dates the beginning of his being religious. Let us enquire
what there is in those strong lines. The evangelist here lays down the
great truth he is to prove, that Jesus Christ is God, one with the Father.
Observe,
I. Of whom he speaks--The Word--ho logos. This is an idiom peculiar
to John's writings. See 1 John i. 1; v. 7; Rev. xix. 13. Yet some think
that Christ is meant by the Word in Acts xx. 32; Heb. iv. 12; Luke i. 2.
The Chaldee paraphrase very frequently calls the Messiah Memra--the Word
of Jehovah, and speaks of many things in the Old Testament, said to be
done by the Lord, as done by that Word of the Lord. Even the vulgar Jews
were taught that the Word of God was the same with God. The evangelist,
in the close of his discourse (v. 18), plainly tells us why he calls Christ
the Word--because he is the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the
Father, and has declared him. Word is two-fold: logos endiathetos--word
conceived; and logos prophorikos--word uttered. The logos ho eso and ho
exo, ratio and oratio--intelligence and utterance. 1. There is the word
conceived, that is, thought, which is the first and only immediate product
and conception of the soul (all the operations of which are performed by
thought), and it is one with the soul. And thus the second person in the
Trinity is fitly called the Word; for he is the first-begotten of the Father,
that eternal essential Wisdom which the Lord possessed, as the soul does
its thought, in the beginning of his way, Prov. viii. 22. There is nothing
we are more sure of than that we think, yet nothing we are more in the
dark about than how we think; who can declare the generation of thought
in the soul? Surely then the generations and births of the eternal mind
may well be allowed to be great mysteries of godliness, the bottom of which
we cannot fathom, while yet we adore the depth. 2. There is the word uttered,
and this is speech, the chief and most natural indication of the mind.
And thus Christ is the Word, for by him God has in these last days spoken
to us (Heb. i. 2), and has directed us to hear him, Matt. xvii. 5. He has
made known God's mind to us, as a man's word or speech makes known his
thoughts, as far as he pleases, and no further. Christ is called that wonderful
speaker (see notes on Dan. viii. 13), the speaker of things hidden and
strange. He is the Word speaking from God to us, and to God for us. John
Baptist was the voice, but Christ the Word: being the Word, he is the Truth,
the Amen, the faithful Witness of the mind of God.
II. What he saith of him, enough to prove beyond contradiction that
he is God. He asserts,
1. His existence in the beginning: In the beginning was the Word. This
bespeaks his existence, not only before his incarnation, but before all
time. The beginning of time, in which all creatures were produced and brought
into being, found this eternal Word in being. The world was from the beginning,
but the Word was in the beginning. Eternity is usually expressed by being
before the foundation of the world. The eternity of God is so described
(Ps. xc. 2), Before the mountains were brought forth. So Prov. viii. 23.
The Word had a being before the world had a beginning. He that was in the
beginning never began, and therefore was ever, achronos--without beginning
of time. So Nonnus.
2. His co-existence with the Father: The Word was with God, and the
Word was God. Let none say that when we invite them to Christ we would
draw them from God, for Christ is with God and is God; it is repeated in
v. 2: the same, the very same that we believe in and preach, was in the
beginning with God, that is, he was so from eternity. In the beginning
the world was from God, as it was created by him; but the Word was with
God, as ever with him. The Word was with God, (1.) In respect of essence
and substance; for the Word was God: a distinct person or substance, for
he was with God; and yet the same in substance, for he was God, Heb. i.
3. (2.) In respect of complacency and felicity. There was a glory and happiness
which Christ had with God before the world was (ch. xvii. 5), the Son infinitely
happy in the enjoyment of his Father's bosom, and no less the Father's
delight, the Son of his love, Prov. viii. 30. (3.) In respect of counsel
and design. The mystery of man's redemption by this Word incarnate was
hid in God before all worlds, Eph. iii. 9. He that undertook to bring us
to God (1 Pet. iii. 18) was himself from eternity with God; so that this
grand affair of man's reconciliation to God was concerted between the Father
and Son from eternity, and they understand one another perfectly well in
it, Zech. vi. 13; Matt. xi. 27. He was by him as one brought up with him
for this service, Prov. viii. 30. He was with God, and therefore is said
to come forth from the Father.
3. His agency in making the world, v. 3. This is here, (1.) Expressly
asserted: All things were made by him. He was with God, not only so as
to be acquainted with the divine counsels from eternity, but to be active
in the divine operations in the beginning of time. Then was I by him, Prov.
viii. 30. God made the world by a word (Ps. xxxiii. 6) and Christ was the
Word. By him, not as a subordinate instrument, but as a co-ordinate agent,
God made the world (Heb. i. 2), not as the workman cuts by his axe, but
as the body sees by the eye. (2.) The contrary is denied: Without him was
not any thing made that was made, from the highest angel to the meanest
worm. God the Father did nothing without him in that work. Now, [1.] This
proves that he is God; for he that built all things is God, Heb. iii. 4.
The God of Israel often proved himself to be God with this, that he made
all things: Isa. xl. 12, 28; xli. 4; and see Jer. x. 11, 12. [2.] This
proves the excellency of the Christian religion, that the author and founder
of it is the same that was the author and founder of the world. How excellent
must that constitution needs be which derives its institution from him
who is the fountain of all excellency! When we worship Christ, we worship
him to whom the patriarchs gave honour as the Creator of the world, and
on whom all creatures depend. [3.] This shows how well qualified he was
for the work of our redemption and salvation. Help was laid upon one that
was mighty indeed; for it was laid upon him that made all things; and he
is appointed the author of our bliss who was the author of our being.
4. The original of life and light that is in him: In him was life, v.
4. This further proves that he is God, and every way qualified for his
undertaking; for, (1.) He has life in himself; not only the true God, but
the living God. God is life; he swears by himself when he saith, As I live.
(2.) All living creatures have their life in him; not only all the matter
of the creation was made by him, but all the life too that is in the creation
is derived from him and supported by him. It was the Word of God that produced
the moving creatures that had life, Gen. i. 20; Acts xvii. 25. He is that
Word by which man lives more than by bread, Matt. iv. 4. (3.) Reasonable
creatures have their light from him; that life which is the light of men
comes from him. Life in man is something greater and nobler than it is
in other creatures; it is rational, and not merely animal. When man became
a living soul, his life was light, his capacities such as distinguished
him from, and dignified him above, the beasts that perish. The spirit of
a man is the candle of the Lord, and it was the eternal Word that lighted
this candle. The light of reason, as well as the life of sense, is derived
from him, and depends upon him. This proves him fit to undertake our salvation;
for life and light, spiritual and eternal life and light, are the two great
things that fallen man, who lies so much under the power of death and darkness,
has need of. From whom may we better expect the light of divine revelation
than from him who gave us the light of human reason? And if, when God gave
us natural life, that life was in his Son, how readily should we receive
the gospel-record, that he hath given us eternal life, and that life too
is in his Son!
5. The manifestation of him to the children of men. It might be objected,
If this eternal Word was all in all thus in the creation of the world,
whence is it that he has been so little taken notice of and regarded? To
this he answers (v. 5), The light shines, but the darkness comprehends
it not. Observe,
(1.) The discovery of the eternal Word to the lapsed world, even before
he was manifested in the flesh: The light shineth in darkness. Light is
self-evidencing, and will make itself known; this light, whence the light
of men comes, hath shone, and doth shine. [1.] The eternal Word, as God,
shines in the darkness of natural conscience. Though men by the fall are
become darkness, yet that which may be known of God is manifested in them;
see Rom. i. 19, 20. The light of nature is this light shining in darkness.
Something of the power of the divine Word, both as creating and as commanding,
all mankind have an innate sense of; were it not for this, earth would
be a hell, a place of utter darkness; blessed be God, it is not so yet.
[2.] The eternal Word, as Mediator, shone in the darkness of the Old-Testament
types and figures, and the prophecies and promises which were of the Messiah
from the beginning. He that had commanded the light of this world to shine
out of darkness was himself long a light shining in darkness; there was
a veil upon this light, 2 Cor. iii. 13.
(2.) The disability of the degenerate world to receive this discovery:
The darkness comprehended it not; the most of men received the grace of
God in these discoveries in vain. [1.] The world of mankind comprehended
not the natural light that was in their understandings, but became vain
in their imaginations concerning the eternal God and the eternal Word,
Rom. i. 21, 28. The darkness of error and sin overpowered and quite eclipsed
this light. God spoke once, yea twice, but man perceived it not, Job xxxiii.
14. [2.] The Jews, who had the light of the Old Testament, yet comprehended
not Christ in it. As there was a veil upon Moses's face, so there was upon
the people's hearts. In the darkness of the types and shadows the light
shone; but such as the darkness of their understandings that they could
not see it. It was therefore requisite that Christ should come, both to
rectify the errors of the Gentile world and to improve the truths of the
Jewish church.
The Testimony of John Baptist; Christ's Incarnation.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 The same
came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through
him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness
of that Light. 9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by
him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received
him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of God. 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.
The evangelist designs to bring in John Baptist bearing an honourable
testimony to Jesus Christ, Now in these verses, before he does this,
I. He gives us some account of the witness he is about to produce. His
name was John, which signifies gracious; his conversation was austere,
but he was not the less gracious. Now,
1. We are here told concerning him, in general, that he was a man sent
of God. The evangelist had said concerning Jesus Christ that he was with
God and that he was God; but here concerning John that he was a man, a
mere man. God is pleased to speak to us by men like ourselves. John was
a great man, but he was a man, a son of man; he was sent from God, he was
God's messenger, so he is called, Mal. iii. 1. God gave him both his mission
and his message, both his credentials and his instructions. John wrought
no miracle, nor do we find that he had visions and revelations; but the
strictness and purity of his life and doctrine, and the direct tendency
of both to reform the world, and to revive the interests of God's kingdom
among men, were plain indications that he was sent of God.
2. We are here told what his office and business were (v. 7): The same
came for a witness, an eye-witness, a leading witness. He came eis martyrian--for
a testimony. The legal institutions had been long a testimony for God in
the Jewish church. By them revealed religion was kept up; hence we read
of the tabernacle of the testimony, the ark of the testimony, the law and
the testimony: but now divine revelation is to be turned into another channel;
now the testimony of Christ is the testimony of God, 1 Cor. i. 6; ii. 1.
Among the Gentiles, God indeed had not left himself without witness (Acts
xiv. 17), but the Redeemer had no testimonies borne him among them. There
was a profound silence concerning him, till John Baptist came for a witness
to him. Now observe, (1.) The matter of his testimony: He came to bear
witness to the light. Light is a thing which witnesses for itself, and
carries its own evidence along with it; but to those who shut their eyes
against the light it is necessary there should be those that bear witness
to it. Christ's light needs not man's testimony, but the world's darkness
does. John was like the night watchman that goes round the town, proclaiming
the approach of the morning light to those that have closed their eyes,
and are not willing themselves to observe it; or like that watchman that
was set to tell those who asked him what of the night that the morning
comes, and, if you will enquire, enquire ye, Isa. xxi. 11, 12. He was sent
of God to tell the world that the long-looked-for Messiah was now come,
who should be a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of his people
Israel; and to proclaim that dispensation at hand which would bring life
and immortality to light. (2.) The design of his testimony: That all men
through him might believe; not in him, but in Christ, whose way he was
sent to prepare. He taught men to look through him, and pass through him,
to Christ; through the doctrine of repentance for sin to that of faith
in Christ. He prepared men for the reception and entertainment of Christ
and his gospel, by awakening them to a sight and sense of sin; and that,
their eyes being thereby opened, they might be ready to admit those beams
of divine light which, in the person and doctrine of the Messiah, were
now ready to shine in their faces. If they would but receive this witness
of man, they would soon find that the witness of God was greater, 1 John
v. 9. See ch. x. 41. Observe, it was designed that all men through him
might believe, excluding none from the kind and beneficial influences of
his ministry that did not exclude themselves, as multitudes did, who rejected
the counsel of God against themselves, and so received the grace of God
in vain.
3. We are here cautioned not to mistake him for the light who only came
to bear witness to it (v. 8): He was not that light that was expected and
promised, but only was sent to bear witness of that great and ruling light.
He was a star, like that which guided the wise men to Christ, a morning
star; but he was not the Sun; not the Bridegroom, but a friend of the Bridegroom;
not the Prince, but his harbinger. There were those who rested in John's
baptism, and looked no further, as those Ephesians, Acts xix. 3. To rectify
this mistake, the evangelist here, when he speaks very honourably of him,
yet shows that he must give place to Christ. He was great as the prophet
of the Highest, but not the Highest himself. Note, We must take heed of
over-valuing ministers, as well as of under-valuing them; they are not
our lords, nor have they dominion over our faith, but ministers by whom
we believe, stewards of our Lord's house. We must not give up ourselves
by an implicit faith to their conduct, for they are not that light; but
we must attend to, and receive, their testimony; for they are sent to bear
witness of that light; so then let us esteem them, and not otherwise. Had
John pretended to be that light he had not been so much as a faithful witness
of that light. Those who usurp the honour of Christ forfeit the honour
of being the servants of Christ; yet John was very serviceable as a witness
to the light, though he was not that light. Those may be of great use to
us who yet shine with a borrowed light.
II. Before he goes on with John's testimony, he returns to give us a
further account of this Jesus to whom John bore record. Having shown in
the beginning of the chapter the glories of his Godhead, he here comes
to show the graces of his incarnation, and his favours to man as Mediator.
1. Christ was the true Light (v. 9); not as if John Baptist were a false
light, but, in comparison with Christ, he was a very small light. Christ
is the great light that deserves to be called so. Other lights are but
figuratively and equivocally called so: Christ is the true light. The fountain
of all knowledge and of all comfort must needs be the true light. He is
the true light, for proof of which we are not referred to the emanations
of his glory in the invisible world (the beams with which he enlightens
that), but to those rays of his light which are darted downwards, and with
which this dark world of ours is enlightened. But how does Christ enlighten
every man that comes into the world? (1.) By his creating power he enlightens
every man with the light of reason; that life which is the light of men
is from him; all the discoveries and directions of reason, all the comfort
it gives us, and all the beauty it puts upon us, are from Christ. (2.)
By the publication of his gospel to all nations he does in effect enlighten
every man. John Baptist was a light, but he enlightened only Jerusalem
and Judea, and the region round about Jordan, like a candle that enlightens
one room; but Christ is the true light, for he is a light to enlighten
the Gentiles. His everlasting gospel is to be preached to every nation
and language, Rev. xiv. 6. Like the sun which enlightens every man that
will open his eyes, and receive its light (Ps. xix. 6), to which the preaching
of the gospel is compared. See Rom. x. 18. Divine revelation is not now
to be confined, as it had been, to one people, but to be diffused to all
people, Matt. v. 15. (3.) By the operation of his Spirit and grace he enlightens
all those that are enlightened to salvation; and those that are not enlightened
by him perish in darkness. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God
is said to be in the face of Jesus Christ, and is compared with that light
which was at the beginning commanded to shine out of darkness, and which
enlightens every man that comes into the world. Whatever light any man
has, he is indebted to Christ for it, whether it be natural or supernatural.
2. Christ was in the world, v. 10. He was in the world, as the essential
Word, before his incarnation, upholding all things; but this speaks of
his being in the world when he took our nature upon him, and dwelt among
us; see ch. xvi. 28. I am come into the world. The Son of the Highest was
here in this lower world; that light in this dark world; that holy thing
in this sinful polluted world. He left a world of bliss and glory, and
was here in this melancholy miserable world. He undertook to reconcile
the world to God, and therefore was in the world, to treat about it, and
settle that affair; to satisfy God's justice for the world, and discover
God's favour to the world. He was in the world, but not of it, and speaks
with an air of triumph when he can say, Now I am no more in it, ch. xvii.
11. The greatest honour that ever was put upon this world, which is so
mean and inconsiderable a part of the universe, was that the Son of God
was once in the world; and, as it should engage our affections to things
above that there Christ is, so it should reconcile us to our present abode
in this world that once Christ was here. He was in the world for awhile,
but it is spoken of as a thing past; and so it will be said of us shortly,
We were in the world. O that when we are here no more we may be where Christ
is! Now observe here, (1.) What reason Christ had to expect the most affectionate
and respectful welcome possible in this world; for the world was made by
him. Therefore he came to save a lost world because it was a world of his
own making. Why should he not concern himself to revive the light that
was of his own kindling, to restore a life of his own infusing, and to
renew the image that was originally of his own impressing? The world was
made by him, and therefore ought to do him homage. (2.) What cold entertainment
he met with, notwithstanding: The world knew him not. The great Maker,
Ruler, and Redeemer of the world was in it, and few or none of the inhabitants
of the world were aware of it. The ox knows his owner, but the more brutish
world did not. They did not own him, did not bid him welcome, because they
did not know him; and they did not know him because he did not make himself
known in the way that they expected--in external glory and majesty. His
kingdom came not with observation, because it was to be a kingdom of trail
and probation. When he shall come as a Judge the world shall know him.
3. He came to his own (v. 11); not only to the world, which was his
own, but to the people of Israel, that were peculiarly his own above all
people; of them he came, among them he lived, and to them he was first
sent. The Jews were at this time a mean despicable people; the crown was
fallen from their head; yet, in remembrance of the ancient covenant, bad
as they were, and poor as they were, Christ was not ashamed to look upon
them as his own. Ta idia--his own things; not tous idious--his own persons,
as true believers are called, ch. xiii. 1. The Jews were his, as a man's
house, and lands, and goods are his, which he uses and possesses; but believers
are his as a man's wife and children are his own, which he loves and enjoys.
He came to his own, to seek and save them, because they were his own. He
was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, for it was he whose
own the sheep were. Now observe,
(1.) That the generality rejected him: His own received him not. He
had reason to expect that those who were his own should have bidden him
welcome, considering how great the obligations were which they lay under
to him, and how fair the opportunities were which they had of coming to
the knowledge of him. They had the oracles of God, which told them beforehand
when and where to expect him, and of what tribe and family he should arise.
He came among them himself, introduced with signs and wonders, and himself
the greatest; and therefore it is not said of them, as it was of the world
(v. 10), that they knew him not; but his own, though they could not but
know him, yet received him not; did not receive his doctrine, did not welcome
him as the Messiah, but fortified themselves against him. The chief priests,
that were in a particular manner his own (for the Levites were God's tribe),
were ring-leaders in this contempt put upon him. Now this was very unjust,
because they were his own, and therefore he might command their respect;
and it was very unkind and ungrateful, because he came to them, to seek
and save them, and so to court their respect. Note, Many who in profession
are Christ's own, yet do not receive him, because they will not part with
their sins, nor have him to reign over them.
(2.) That yet there was a remnant who owned him, and were faithful to
him. Though his own received him not, yet there were those that received
him (v. 12): But as many as received him. Though Israel were not gathered,
yet Christ was glorious. Though the body of that nation persisted and perished
in unbelief, yet there were many of them that were wrought upon to submit
to Christ, and many more that were not of that fold. Observe here,
[1.] The true Christian's description and property; and that is, that
he receives Christ, and believes on his name; the latter explains the former.
Note, First, To be a Christian indeed is to believe on Christ's name; it
is to assent to the gospel discovery, and consent to the gospel proposal,
concerning him. His name is the Word of God; the King of kings, the Lord
our righteousness; Jesus a Saviour. Now to believe on his name is to acknowledge
that he is what these great names bespeak him to be, and to acquiesce in
it, that he may be so to us. Secondly, Believing in Christ's name is receiving
him as a gift from God. We must receive his doctrine as true and good;
receive his law as just and holy; receive his offers as kind and advantageous;
and we must receive the image of his grace, and impressions of his love,
as the governing principle of our affections and actions.
[2.] The true Christian's dignity and privilege are twofold:--
First, The privilege of adoption, which takes them into the number of
God's children: To them gave he power to become the sons of God. Hitherto,
the adoption pertained to the Jews only (Israel is my son, my first-born);
but now, by faith in Christ, Gentiles are the children of God, Gal. iii.
26. They have power, exousian--authority; for no man taketh this power
to himself, but he who is authorized by the gospel charter. To them gave
he a right; to them gave he this pre-eminence. This power have all the
saints. Note, 1. It is the unspeakable privilege of all good Christians,
that they are become the children of God. They were by nature children
of wrath, children of this world. If they be the children of God, they
become so, are made so Fiunt, non nascuntur Christiani--Persons are not
born Christians, but made such.--Tertullian. Behold what manner of love
is this, 1 John iii. 1. God calls them his children, they call him Father,
and are entitled to all the privileges of children, those of their way
and those of their home. 2. The privilege of adoption is entirely owing
to Jesus Christ; he gave this power to them that believe on his name. God
is his Father, and so ours; and it is by virtue of our espousals to him,
and union with him, that we stand related to God as a Father. It was in
Christ that we were predestinated to the adoption; from him we receive
both the character and the Spirit of adoption, and he is the first-born
among many brethren. The Son of God became a Son of man, that the sons
and daughters of men might become the sons and daughters of God Almighty.
Secondly, The privilege of regeneration (v. 13): Which were born. Note,
All the children of God are born again; all that are adopted are regenerated.
This real change evermore attends that relative one. Wherever God confers
the dignity of children, he creates the nature and disposition of children.
Men cannot do so when they adopt. Now here we have an account of the original
of this new birth. 1. Negatively. (1.) It is not propagated by natural
generation from our parents. It is not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of corruptible seed, 1 Pet. i. 23. Man is called flesh and blood,
because thence he has his original: but we do not become the children of
God as we become the children of our natural parents. Note, Grace does
not run in the blood, as corruption does. Man polluted begat a son in his
own likeness (Gen. v. 3); but man sanctified and renewed does not beget
a son in that likeness. The Jews gloried much in their parentage, and the
noble blood that ran in their veins: We are Abraham's seed; and therefore
to them pertained the adoption because they were born of that blood; but
this New-Testament adoption is not founded in any such natural relation.
(2.) It is not produced by the natural power of our own will. As it is
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, so neither is it of the will
of man, which labours under a moral impotency of determining itself to
that which is good; so that the principles of the divine life are not of
our own planting, it is the grace of God that makes us willing to be his.
Nor can human laws or writings prevail to sanctify and regenerate a soul;
if they could, the new birth would be by the will of man. But, 2. Positively:
it is of God. This new birth is owing to the word of God as the means (1
Pet. i. 23), and to the Spirit of God as the great and sole author. True
believers are born of God, 1 John iii. 9; v. 1. And this is necessary to
their adoption; for we cannot expect the love of God if we have not something
of his likeness, nor claim the privileges of adoption if we be not under
the power of regeneration.
4. The word was made flesh, v. 14. This expresses Christ's incarnation
more clearly than what went before. By his divine presence he always was
in the world, and by his prophets he came to his own. But now that the
fulness of time was come he was sent forth after another manner, made of
a woman (Gal. iv. 4); God manifested in the flesh, according to the faith
and hope of holy Job; Yet shall I see God in my flesh, Job xix. 26. Observe
here,
(1.) The human nature of Christ with which he was veiled; and that expressed
two ways.
[1.] The word was made flesh. Forasmuch as the children, who were to
become the sons of God, were partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, Heb. ii. 14. The Socinians agree that Christ
is both God and man, but they say that he was man, and was made a God,
as Moses (Exod. vii. 1), directly contrary to John here, who saith, Theos
en--He was God, but sarxegeneto--He was made flesh. Compare v. 1 with this.
This intimates not only that he was really and truly man, but that he subjected
himself to the miseries and calamities of the human nature. He was made
flesh, the meanest part of man. Flesh bespeaks man weak, and he was crucified
through weakness, 2 Cor. xiii. 4. Flesh bespeaks man mortal and dying (Ps.
lxxviii. 39), and Christ was put to death in the flesh 1 Pet. iii. 18.
Nay, flesh bespeaks man tainted with sin (Gen. vi. 3), and Christ, though
he was perfectly holy and harmless, yet appeared in the likeness of sinful
flesh (Rom. viii. 3), and was made sin for us, 2 Cor. v. 21. When Adam
had sinned, God said to him, Dust thou art; not only because made out of
the dust, but because by sin he was sunk into dust. His fall did, somatoun
ten psychen, turn him as it were all into body, made him earthly; therefore
he that was made a curse for us was made flesh, and condemned sin in the
flesh, Rom. viii. 3. Wonder at this, that the eternal Word should be made
flesh, when flesh was come into such an ill name; that he who made all
things should himself be made flesh, one of the meanest things, and submit
to that from which he was at the greatest distance. The voice that ushered
in the gospel cried, All flesh is grass (Isa. xl. 6), to make the Redeemer's
love the more wonderful, who, to redeem and save us, was made flesh, and
withered as grass; but the Word of the Lord, who was made flesh, endures
for ever; when made flesh, he ceased not to be the Word of God.
[2.] He dwelt among us, here in this lower world. Having taken upon
him the nature of man, he put himself into the place and condition of other
men. The Word might have been made flesh, and dwelt among the angels; but,
having taken a body of the same mould with ours, in it he came, and resided
in the same world with us. He dwelt among us, us worms of the earth, us
that he had no need of, us that he got nothing by, us that were corrupt
and depraved, and revolted from God. The Lord God came and dwelt even among
the rebellious, Ps. lxviii. 18. He that had dwelt among angels, those noble
and excellent beings, came and dwelt among us that are a generation of
vipers, us sinners, which was worse to him than David's swelling in Mesech
and Kedar, or Ezekiel's dwelling among scorpions, or the church of Pergamus
dwelling where Satan's seat is. When we look upon the upper world, the
world of spirits, how mean and contemptible does this flesh, this body,
appear, which we carry about with us, and this world in which our lot is
cast, and how hard is it to a contemplative mind to be reconciled to them!
But that the eternal Word was made flesh, was clothed with a body as we
are, and dwelt in this world as we do, this has put an honour upon them
both, and should make us willing to abide in the flesh while God has any
work for us to do; for Christ dwelt in this lower world, bad as it is,
till he had finished what he had to do here, ch. xvii. 4. He dwelt among
the Jews, that the scripture might be fulfilled, He shall dwell in the
tents of Shem, Gen. ix. 27. And see Zech. ii. 10. Though the Jews were
unkind to him, yet he continued to dwell among them; though (as some of
the ancient writers tell us) he was invited to better treatment by Abgarus
king of Edessa, yet he removed not to any other nation. He dwelt among
us. He was in the world, not as a wayfaring man that tarries but for a
night, but he dwelt among us, made a long residence, the original word
is observable, eskenosen en hemin--he dwelt among us, he dwelt as in a
tabernacle, which intimates, First, That he dwelt here in very mean circumstances,
as shepherds that dwell in tents. He did not dwell among us as in a palace,
but as in a tent; for he had not where to lay his head, and was always
upon the remove. Secondly, That his state here was a military state. Soldiers
dwell in tents; he had long since proclaimed war with the seed of the serpent,
and now he takes the field in person, sets up his standard, and pitches
his tent, to prosecute this war. Thirdly, That his stay among us was not
to be perpetual. He dwelt here as in a tent, not as at home. The patriarchs,
by dwelling in tabernacles, confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims
on earth, and sought the better country, and so did Christ, leaving us
an example, Heb. xiii. 13, 14. Fourthly, That as of old God dwelt in the
tabernacle of Moses, by the shechinah between the cherubim, so now he dwells
in the human nature of Christ; that is now the true shechinah, the symbol
of God's peculiar presence. And we are to make all our addresses to God
through Christ, and from him to receive divine oracles.
(2.) The beams of his divine glory that darted through this veil of
flesh: We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. The sun is still the fountain of light, though
eclipsed or clouded; so Christ was still the brightness of his Father's
glory, even when he dwelt among us in this lower world. And how slightly
soever the Jews thought of him there were those that saw through the veil.
Observe,
[1.] Who were the witnesses of this glory: we, his disciples and followers,
that conversed most freely and familiarly with him; we among whom he dwelt.
Other men discover their weaknesses to those that are most familiar with
them, but it was not so with Christ; those that were most intimate with
him saw most of his glory. As it was with his doctrine, the disciples knew
the mysteries of it, while others had it under the veil of parables; so
it was with his person, they saw the glory of his divinity, while others
saw only the veil of his human nature. He manifested himself to them, and
not unto the world. These witnesses were a competent number, twelve of
them, a whole jury of witnesses; men of plainness and integrity, and far
from any thing of design or intrigue.
[2.] What evidence they had of it: We saw it. They had not their evidence
by report, at second hand, but were themselves eye-witnesses of those proofs
on which they built their testimony that he was the Son of the living God:
We saw it. The word signifies a fixed abiding sight, such as gave them
an opportunity of making their observations. This apostle himself explains
this: What we declare unto you of the Word of life is what we have seen
with our eyes, and what we have looked upon, 1 John i. 1.
[3.] What the glory was: The glory as of the only begotten of the Father.
The glory of the Word made flesh was such a glory as became the only begotten
Son of God, and could not be the glory of any other. Note, First, Jesus
Christ is the only begotten of the Father. Believers are the children of
God by the special favour of adoption and the special grace of regeneration.
They are in a sense homoiousioi--of a like nature (2 Pet. i. 4), and have
the image of his perfections; but Christ is homousios--of the same nature,
and is the express image of his person, and the Son of God by an eternal
generation. Angels are sons of God, but he never said to any of them, This
day have I begotten thee, Heb. i. 5. Secondly, He was evidently declared
to be the only begotten of the Father, by that which was seen of his glory
when he dwelt among us. Though he was in the form of a servant, in respect
of outward circumstances, yet, in respect of graces, his form was as that
of the fourth in the fiery furnace, like the Son of God. His divine glory
appeared in the holiness and heavenliness of his doctrine; in his miracles,
which extorted from many this acknowledgment, that he was the Son of God;
it appeared in the purity, goodness, and beneficence, of his whole conversation.
God's goodness is his glory, and he went about doing good; he spoke and
acted in every thing as an incarnate Deity. Perhaps the evangelist had
a particular regard to the glory of his transfiguration, of which he was
an eye-witness; see 2 Pet. i. 16-18. God's calling him his beloved Son,
in whom he was well pleased, intimated that he was the only begotten of
the Father; but the full proof of this was at his resurrection.
[4.] What advantage those he dwelt among had from this. He dwelt among
them, full of grace and truth. In the old tabernacle wherein God dwelt
was the law, in this was grace; in that were types, in this was truth.
The incarnate Word was every way qualified for his undertaking as Mediator;
for he was full of grace and truth, the two great things that fallen man
stands in need of; and this proved him to be the Son of God as much as
the divine power and majesty that appeared in him. First, He has a fulness
of grace and truth for himself; he had the Spirit without measure. He was
full of grace, fully acceptable to his Father, and therefore qualified
to intercede for us; and full of truth, fully apprized of the things he
was to reveal, and therefore fit to instruct us. He had a fulness of knowledge
and a fulness of compassion. Secondly, He has a fulness of grace and truth
for us. He received, that he might give, and God was well pleased in him,
that he might be well pleased with us in him; and this was the truth of
the legal types.
