The Word Became Flesh

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created,¹ and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.                                   John 1:1-5 NLT

So the Word became human¹ and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.² And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.    John 1:14 NLT

The words of John 1:1-18 are breath-taking in their boldness and yet exactly in concert with Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2. Who is this stall-born baby, the fruit of a virginal womb? He is the Creator! But what Creator? The Greeks had a way of explaining the goodness and yet the fallenness of the world by imagining that there was an almost infinite stream of beings emerging each one form the former one and each one a bit more flawed than the previous one. Thus the being that made this world, the Logos, the Word retained a bit of the perfection of God, but was very seriously flawed.

John takes that idea and blows it to pieces. Yes, the Creator, the Word, is different from God, but at the same time he is God. And which God is he? Uranus, Chronos, Zeus, all products of the human mind? No! He is the transcendent Yahweh of the Old Testament from whom alone streams unfailing love (grace) and absolute faithfulness (truth) which are the true light shining in darkness. And this person in whom is found ALL that is divine became human for us. He has come and pitched his tent (KJV “tabernacled”) among us. Glory to God in the highest! Matthew and Luke convey the wonder in narrative form, while John tells the same story in the language of intellectual discourse. Glory! Mary’s baby was the Creator of the Universe; God in human flesh.