John 1:14 - The Word became fesh

We now learn about how the Word came into the world. He did not come as an angel or some sort of super being, but He became flesh. He came as a man and dwelt with us. The incarnation is a mystery. How can God become man? This is never explained, but this should not be surprising. How can there be a God? How can anything exist? What is existence? All these are questions that in truth we cannot answer. If we make logic and understanding our god then we are done for. But the fact is that He did come to dwell amongst us as a man. Moreover, He did not stop being God, as the phrase “we have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son”, makes clear. Jesus is both God and Man, 100% God, 100% man.

The phrase “dwelt among us” is related to tent or tabernacle and is a reference to God dwelling with the Israelites as they made their way through the desert. So if you hear talk about God “tabernacling” among us, that is what they are on about!

The reference to glory could also be an allusion to the desert when God’s glory was visible in the cloud over the tent.

The phrase “grace and truth” is probably John’s rendering of “faithfulness and kindness”. The Greek word translated truth has reliability as its root meaning. The reliability of the gospel and of Jesus Himself is a point that John wants to emphasise.

The phrase monogenes, translated “one and only” emphasises the uniqueness of Jesus as the Son of God. Some, generally older, translations translate this as “only begotten”. “One and only” is better as it is the uniqueness that  is the point that John is making. It is not saying anything about God came to have a son, in fact that is a very bad question to ask. It is like asking “who created God”. God is eternal, and He is eternally Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father has eternally had a Son. Muslim’s will ask how God came to have a son, they imagine that we are saying He came to have a son when Mary conceived. This is not so (but some Christians help to promote this misunderstanding!). Jesus has eternally been the Son of God.