John 1:14-18
14And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me [c]has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth [f]were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
Observations
14And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory [glory=doxa=divine qualities; manifestations of God], glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. According to John, the “Word” (Jesus) came to earth to live with us as a human – in the flesh. Let that sink in for a moment. The God who created the universe, matter, space, time -everything, decided to become a human, so that He could live with us. He was divine as well as human. Jesus is the only God-man that ever walked the earth. That He would draw close to us, sinners, is amazingly beautiful and sobering at the same time. We needed saving. He willingly came to save us. Sobering.
While Jesus was on Earth, in the flesh, we were able to get a glimpse of what God is like. We were able to see His glory, His splendor. The Greek word for glory is doxa. Doxa means an especially divine quality, a manifestation of God, or splendor. By watching what Jesus did, and listening to what He said, we get a direct revelation of what God is really like. Hebrews 1 puts it beautifully, “He [Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. ” In other words, Jesus is the exact mirror image of God Himself.
(John refers to Jesus as “the only begotten”. The Greek word for only begotten is monogenés and means ‘one-and-only’ of its kind or in simpler terms – unique. John is saying there was only one man on earth that was also God; this one of a kind God-man, is Jesus.)
John’s description of Jesus says that He was overflowing with grace and truth. What does this mean? To say that someone is filled with grace means they exude kindness, blessing, and favor. In regards to the Greek word for truth, alethia, means truth, but not merely truth as spoken, but of reality, as it relates to truth in the moral sphere, straightforwardness. So in effect, Jesus is the source of eternal truth, as it relates to all spheres – physical and spiritual truth.
15 John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me [c]has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’”The gospels tell us that John was born approximately 6 months before Jesus, so John is older than Jesus at this time. When John says that Jesus existed before him, John is making a claim that Jesus is divine, that Jesus existed from long ago. John understood, or it was revealed to him through the Holy Spirit, that Jesus is God.
16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
What does John mean when he says that have received ‘fullness’ and ‘grace upon grace’? The Greek word for fullness is plērōmatos, meaning a full complement, filling or completion. Therefore, Jesus gives us all that we need, all that is necessary.
17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament, God gave the law (10 commandments, law of grain offerings, law of peace offerings, sacrificial laws, etc see Leviticus.) through Moses to the people of Israel. The purpose of the law was:
- to reveal what God was like, to reveal His holy standard
- to reveal the justice of God-they could not draw near unless an animal died in the place of the sinner
- to reveal the inability of humankind to follow God’s laws
- to ultimately reveal their need for a Messiah, for a Savior
The law revealed one main aspect of God’s nature ====justice. The atonement of Christ revealed another aspect of God’s nature===grace and truth (love, mercy, forgiveness)
Therefore, the New Testament does not mean that God has changed from being a more stern judge, rather, the New Testament adds another facet of who God is, in totality. He never changes. The Old Testament simply reflects different aspects of God’s nature than the New Testament. But both Old and New Testaments are required for a more complete understanding of who God is.
When we look at the cross – we see both of these aspects above. We see God’s justice – that sin requires death; and we also see the love of God – that He provided the sacrifice that was needed for the atonement of sin. The cross should make us pause. Sin is serious to a holy God. But God, in His great love for us, paid the debt that we owed. This is incredible.
18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
John uses the Greek word heōraken, which means not only the physical act of seeing, but also involves a mental discernment of what is seen. So what John is saying is that no one has seen and totally understood God. Even when Jesus came to earth, that although the bible says He is the exact imprint of God, the bible tells us that Jesus emptied Himself of his glory when He came to earth. What we see are the forms that represent God.
In the Old Testament during the Exodus, God revealed Himself as a pillar of fire at night, and a cloud during the day, to the Israelites. When they arrived at the base of Mount Sinai and God came down to meet with the people and with Moses, the people were absolutely terrified. Smoke, lightning, earthquake and darkness veiled the Almighty. The people begged Moses to meet with God. They wanted no part in experiencing God face to face.
No one can see God face to face, for His very presence would consume mere humans. Therefore, God, in His mercy, veils Himself so that we can see a form of Him and survive the experience. God is similar to a huge diamond containing many facets. We are allowed to see only a fraction of those facets, and therefore have an incomplete understanding of God. God gets to choose which of those facets He will reveal and how He reveals them to us. Right now, we know Him only in part. Jesus Christ gave allowed us to glimpse many more facets of this beautiful diamond. Now that Jesus Christ has come to earth and revealed Himself, we have a better understanding of what God is like….but we still do not know Him fully. Only when we die and meet Him face to face, will we have our the fullest understanding of who God really is.