Study of John - Week 7

viii. Verse 14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The reason for the Gospel of John is right here in this verse. The Word (logos or the creative force - Jesus) was flesh, just like you and me. This was an entirely new concept to everyone in the world at that time. The Daily Study Bible – The Gospel of John by William Barclay mentions that the author uses the word “theasthai” in regard to seeing Jesus in this verse. This word means actual physical sight. This is not some spiritual understanding or spiritual sight, but the author is claiming here that the Word actually came to earth and was seen by human eyes. This idea flew in the face of Gnosticism, which held the idea that pure deity could not be joined with flesh, which was considered entirely evil. This idea so upset some people that there was a group in the Church that held that Jesus must have been a phantom because the flesh could never actually co-mingle with God.

The Ryrie Study Bible points out that Jesus has all the attributes of God (Phil 2:6) and all of the attributes common to all humanity. He was tempted, he had all of the emotions we all experience, and had desires like we all have (see Matt 4:1-11). Jesus had to give up or not use some of His Godly abilities and only rely on His relationship with the Father (see John 8:28). It had to be that way for Him to be an adequate savior. He had to be all human to suffer and die and He had to be God to conquer sin and death and to atone for the sins of the world. He will also live forever as the God-man in His resurrected body (Acts 1:11).

The Ryrie Study Bible mentions the fact that the author uses the words the “One and Only” to refer to the Word. This is to draw a distinction between someone who believes and is born as a child of God. This same wording is used elsewhere in the Bible to describe someone’s only son (Luke 7:12, Luke 8:42, and Heb 11:17).

QUESTION: Since Jesus was entirely human, do you think that we can do what Jesus did and live without sin? What about for a period of time? What about performing miracles?