John 1:12-18

THE WORD MANIFESTED TO OTHERS AND THEIR ACCEPTANCE OF HIM

Text 1:12-18

12

But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13

Who 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 became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.

15

John beareth witness of him, and crieth, saying, This was he of whom I said, He that cometh after me is become before me.

16

For of his fulness we all received, and grace for grace.

17

For the law was. given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

18

No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

Queries

a.

What is meant by:

(1)

born not of blood?

(2)

nor of the will of the flesh?

(3)

nor of the will of man?

b.

Why is there emphasis upon grace and truth in these verses?

c.

Has any man ever seen God (cf. Exodus 33:17-23)?

Paraphrase

But as many as received the Light and trusted in His name and obeyed His commandments. He gave them the privilege and authority to become children of God; that is, those who have been born of God by spiritual rebirth and not physical birth. Physical lineageblood descent, whether of the baser desire of the flesh or the nobler purposes of mancannot inherit the Kingdom of God. And the Logos-Light took the form of a physical body and dwelt temporarily amongst us (and we saw with our own eyes His glory which is the same glory as of the Only-Unique Being from the presence of the Father) full of favor, mercy and truth. John bears witness of Him and has cried aloud, saying, This is He of whom I said, the One coming on the scene later than I, really comes before me, for He outranked me from eternity. For from His abundance all, including John the Baptist, received; and all give gratitude in exchange for that grace. For the Law, which was not merciful, came through Moses; but mercy and truth through Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time, the Only-Unique God, the One residing in perfect intimacy with the Father, That One has interpreted the mercy and love of the Father for us.

Summary

Those who received the Light were given the privilege and shown the way to become children of God. The Light became flesh, temporarily, to show them the way to the Father. The ultimate of grace and truth came only through Him. Neither the Law of Moses nor John the Baptist could reveal the way. The Only Son who enjoyed perfect union with the Father must alone show the way.

Comment

In John 1:12-13 John puts as many as received him in opposition to them that were his own who did not receive Him. To those who received Him, He gave the right to become children of God. To receive Him is to believe on His name. To believe on His name is to trust Him and obey Him. God offers us sonship of His own free lovewe can never merit sonship by our works. What God offers, however, man must appropriate if he is to enjoy. As in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), the prodigal merited disinheritance by his self-willed rebellionthe father gave him back his sonshipthe son had to come to himself and return to an obedient walk with his father to appropriate this sonship. Oh, what a joy it is to be sons of our Heavenly Father (1 John 3:1-3)!

Some would have John 1:13 refer to the virgin birth of Christ, but the best contextual rendering would indicate that it refers to as many as received him. John 1:13 is a climactic arrangement to show that it is utterly impossible for physical lineage to inherit the Kingdom of God. The Jews were sure that their descent from Abraham gave them sonship in the Messianic kingdom, but they were wrong (cf. Matthew 3:8-10; John 8:31-44). For explanation of each phrase of John 1:13 see the paraphrase of this section.

To become sons of God, we must be born of God. Without doubt, John is talking of the New Birth here. Jesus talks to Nicodemus of the same subject (John 3:1-15). In essence, the New Birth is ours when we surrender our will to the will of Christ as revealed in the New Testament (read carefully 1 Peter 1:17-25 in this connection). We cannot be born anew, or from above until the Spirit of God abides in us. The New Testament is explicit as to how this is initially accomplished. Jesus said, If a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him (John 14:23). The Word of Christ which offered the life-giving Spirit was preached by Peter and the other apostles on that great day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-47). Some 3000 people were convicted of their sins and believed the testimony concerning a risen Lord. Having been convinced of their sin in rejecting God's Son, they cried out for forgiveness. Peter then told them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; cf. also Titus 3:4-7). We shall deal more fully with the New Birth in the notes on John 3:1-5. Suffice it to say here, the new-born babe in Christ is to be continually led by the Spirit else he forfeits his sonship (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:1-17). The new creature must either grow, or wither and die (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:1-23; 1 Corinthians 1:1-31; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16; 1 Corinthians 3:1-23; Hebrews 5:11-14).

The next verse (14) might be considered the greatest single verse in the whole New Testament. In the grammatical construction of the Greek language here John makes a point of saying the Word became flesh, Since he does not use an article with sarx (flesh), this sentence cannot be translated flesh became the Word. Many modern cults would have us believe that our Lord began from a human birth, like all mankind, and rather evolved into someone divine. This verse also refutes the Docetists (ancient and modern) who theorize that Jesus was only a phantom. His human body was not a real body, they say He could not really feel hunger, weariness, sorrow and pain. He was rather a ghostly apparition, and not flesh. They are loathe to apply the word flesh, with its connotations of weakness and frailty, to God.

It is even a weakness of many Christians today to emphasize so strongly the deity of Jesus that they tend to forget that Jesus Christ was fully a man as well. What a glorious meaning this has for usthe Word became flesh. Since we are flesh and blood, and enslaved by the fear of death, Jesus shared with us this nature in order that He might relieve us of this terrible fear which chains all humanity. He conquered Satan and took away his power of death! Furthermore, Jesus shared in our fleshly nature, without sin, that He might become our Eternal High Priest. We have a High Priest interceding before God on our behalf Who has been touched with the feeling of our infirmities. tempted in all points like as we are. (cf. Hebrews 2:14-15; Hebrews 4:14-16), Manifold are the blessings we partake of through the incarnation. We see God's power demonstratedto forgive sins (Mark 2:9-12), over death (John 11:43-44), over disease (Luke 17:11-19), over the elements (Matthew 14:22-33).

This Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The word dwelt is translated from skenao which means literally tabernacled or tented, John goes on to say parenthetically that we (the disciples) beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father. This phrase would be full of meaning to Israelites. When the glory of God dwelt with Israel, He dwelt in their tabernacle and in their temple in the Holy of Holies (Exodus 40:34; 1 Kings 8:11). The glory of God means simply the presence of God. God's presence was among men in bodily formhe ate, drank, conversed, slept, prayed with them. These twelve men, in particular, saw and handled the Word of life for approximately three years (cf. 1 John 1:1-4). What the Shechinah had been in the tabernacle (the dwelling of God in the midst of God's people), the Word was then in human fleshand the Holy Spirit is now in the Word written on the hearts of men and women (2 Corinthians 3:2-3; Hebrews 8:10). Jesus says that His disciples are given this glorythis presence of God (John 17:22-23).

There seems to be a reference in we beheld his glory, etc., to the transfiguration of Christ. John was one of the three privileged to be an eyewitness to this glorious event (cf. 1 John 1:1-4; 2 Peter 1:16-18). This glory which the disciples beheld (throughout the earthly ministry of JesusJohn 2:11; John 5:41; John 11:4) was so awesome and magnificent that it could be nothing less than divine glory. Glory that an ONLY UNIQUE (monogenes) SON has from His divine Father. (See Special Study on He Gave The Only Son He Had, pp. 125.)

Endless application could be made concerning John 1:14. But we shall never drink of its sweet nectar to the full until we know as we are known. It can be accounted for on no less than divine inspiration that John could express this great profoundity in such terse and simple wordsa mystery on which the greatest philosophers have spent lifetimesthe Word became flesh and dwelt among us!

John 1:15 is a quotation from John the Baptist. It has already been pointed out in John 1:8 that John the Baptist was not the Light. It was necessary for the Gospel writer to make sure that the Voice not be mistaken for the Light. Time and time again John the Baptist cried aloud that he was not the Christ; he pointed to the Nazarene, Who began His ministry after John. He emphatically stated that Jesus of Nazareth outranked him because Jesus was the Lamb of God, the promised Messiah, the One Who was eternal. John preached that he was merely a way-preparer, and that his ministry would give way to that of the Christ.

The phrase in John 1:16 seems to be partly explanatory on behalf of the quotation from the Baptist. It is strange that John the Evangelist would interject a quotation in the middle of such a profound dissertation on the Incarnation. The author of this Gospel, however, wants to show that all, including the greatest born of women (John the Baptist) received of the fulness of the Son. Yea, even he who was more than a prophet needed grace from the Lamb of God. The word for fulness is pleroma and is the same word Paul uses in Colossians 2:9. There Paul says that in Christ dwells all the fulness (pleroma) of the Godhead (Deity) in a bodily form. and in Him are all made full. In Christ dwells the ultimate of wisdom, power and love. His grace is inexhaustible. We have not because we ask not (cf. John 15:7; John 16:23-24).

The next phrase, and grace for grace, is one of varied interpretation. The most prevalent interpretation is grace upon grace, or abundance of grace. One writer puts it, like manna fresh each morningnew grace for the new day and new service. It can also mean grace in exchange for grace. The same Greek preposition anti (for) is used in Luke 11:11 a serpent for a fish, and in Hebrews 12:2 where Jesus in exchange for the joy set before Him endured the cross. Such an interpretation would not be contrary to the tenor of New Testament teaching. We give loving gratitude by our obedience in exchange for His loving favors. The New Testament does teach that we only love Him because He loved us first (cf. 1 John 4:19).

We ask ourselves now, what is the connection between the foregoing and John 1:17? To some of his readers, John's statement that the fulness of God was in the incarnate Word would disparage the Law of Moses. John explainsthe Law was given through Moses, and it was good and holy. Yet it was a law of condemnation. Its purpose was to bring men to a trust in God and not in themselves. The Law was given to demonstrate to men that they did not have the ability to be righteous enough to earn salvation (cf. Romans 3:20; Galatians 3:10-11; Galatians 3:21). On the other hand, through Jesus Christ came grace and truth. Jesus brought the favor of God which man could not nor cannot earn; The Law said, Do all this and live, Man could not do it (James 2:10); therefore, man merited the Law's penalty, death, eternal death. Jesus says, I give you life, eternal life; accept it by trusting and obeying My words. (See John 6:63). We have in Christ grace, without which we stand condemned by the Law; we have in Christ truth, which is the reality of all the shadows cast by the Law of sacrifices and ceremonies.

The closing verse (18) to the Prologue is very well chosen. It is a resume of the entire Prologue. John simply declares that apart from Jesus, the incarnate Mind, no man has seen God (cf. 1 John 4:7-14). Not even the great lawgiver and prophet, Moses, has had immediate knowledge of God. No man can ever see God physically, for God is spirit. Moses merely saw the fading glory of God as God passed by him. Paul was blinded by that glory (Acts 9:1-43). But Christ has declared, revealed and interpreted God to us. John uses an interesting word in the Greek for declared. He uses exegesato, from which we get our English words exegesis and exegetical, meaning literally to lead out, or interpret. In other words, Christ, through His incarnation, has interpreted God for us. The Prologue is simply describing the interpretation which the Word gave concerning the unseen Father (cf. John 14:8-9).

This One, who has declared the Father for us is continually in the bosom of the Father. To be in the bosom of someone is an ancient way of saying in perfect intimacy. It is used of husband and wife, father and son or two friends who are in the closest of communion with each other. There is perfect, continuing communion between the Father and the Son. He knows whereof he declares. Proverbs 8:30 speaks of the close, intimate relationship between God and Wisdom: Then I was by him (during the creation) as a master workman; And I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. Compare also the intimate contact between Jesus and the Father in John 12:27-30.

Notice, in closing this great section, the awe-inspiring boldness with which John writes concerning things that are beyond human comprehension. Could we say that John claims inspiration for his account of the Gospel? Indeed we couldindeed we must!

Quiz

1.

What must we do to receive the sonship which God gives us?

2.

What is a simple definition of the New Birth?

3.

Which heretical sect in the early church denied that God came in the flesh?

4.

Give at least two things which the Incarnation means for us.

5.

How does the presence of God dwell in the church today?

6.

What is the connection of John 1:17 with the rest of the Prologue?

7.

How may we say from the Prologue that John claims inspiration for his Gospel?

We come now to the second main division of the Gospel of John. From John 1:19 through the last verse of the twelfth chapter (John 12:50), John the Evangelist shows how the Word was manifested in the flesh to His own and how they rejected Him. Jesus is still in the preparational phase of His ministry (cf. Map No. 1, p. 17). We shall outline the remainder of Chapter One in this manner:

II

The Word Manifested to the Jews and their rejection of Him. John 1:19, John 12:50

A.

Preparation, John 1:19 to John 2:12

1.

Ministry of John the Baptist, John 1:19-34

a.

The Jews investigate John's identity, John 1:19-22

b.

John's answer, John 1:23-28

c.

The Baptist's evidence for the Lamb of God, John 1:29-34

2.

Gathering of His first disciples, John 1:35-51

a.

Andrew, Peter and an unnamed disciple, John 1:35-42

b.

Philip and Nathanael, John 1:43-51