And the word was made flesh
The same word, of whom so many things are said in the preceding
verses; and is no other than the Son of God, or second person in
the Trinity; for neither the Father, nor the Holy Ghost, were
made flesh, as is here said of the word, but the Son only: and
"flesh" here signifies, not a part of the body, nor the whole
body only, but the whole human nature, consisting of a true body,
and a reasonable soul; and is so called, to denote the frailty of
it, being encompassed with infirmities, though not sinful; and to
show, that it was a real human nature, and not a phantom, or
appearance, that he assumed: and when he is said to be "made"
flesh, this was not done by the change of one nature into
another, the divine into the human, or the word into a man; but
by the assumption of the human nature, the word, taking it into
personal union with himself; whereby the natures are not altered;
Christ remained what he was, and became what he was not; nor are
they confounded, and blended together, and so make a third
nature; nor are they separated, and divided, so as to constitute
two persons, a divine person, and an human person; but are so
united as to be but one person; and this is such an union, as can
never be dissolved, and is the foundation of the virtue and
efficacy of all Christ's works and actions, as Mediator:
and dwelt among us;
or "tabernacled among us"; in allusion to the tabernacle, which
was a type of Christ's human nature: the model of the tabernacle
was of God, and not of man; it was coarse without, but full of
holy things within; here God dwelt, granted his presence, and his
glory was seen; here the sacrifices were brought, offered, and
accepted. So the human nature of Christ was of God's pitching,
and not man's; and though it looked mean without, the fulness of
the Godhead dwelt in it, as well as a fulness of grace and truth;
in the face of Christ the glory of God is seen, and through him,
even the vail of his flesh, saints have access unto him, and
enjoy his presence; and by him their spiritual sacrifices become
acceptable to God: or this is observed, in allusion to the feast
of tabernacles, when the Jews dwelt in booths, in remembrance of
their manner of living in the wilderness: the feast of
tabernacles was typical of Christ, and of his tabernacling in our
nature. Solomon's temple, which was also a type of Christ, was
dedicated at the time of that feast; and it seems probable, that
our Lord was born at that time; for as he suffered at the time of
the passover, which had respect unto him, and the pouring forth
of the Spirit was on the very day of Pentecost, which that
prefigured; so it is highly probable, that Christ was born at the
time of the feast of tabernacles, which pointed out his dwelling
among us; and is therefore very pertinently hinted at, when
mention is here made of his incarnation. However, reference is
manifestly had to the Shekinah, and the glory of it, in the
tabernacle and temple; and almost the very word is here used. The
Targumists sometimes speak of the Shekinah of the word dwelling
among the Israelites: so Onkelos in ( Numbers
11:20 ) where the Israelites are threatened with flesh, until
they loath it; because, says the paraphrast,
``ye have loathed "the word of the Lord", whose Shekinah dwelleth among you.''Jonathan ben Uzziel, on the same place, expresses it thus;
``because ye have loathed the word of the Lord, the glory of whose Shekinah dwelleth among you.''And it follows here,
and we beheld his glory;
the glory of his divine nature, which is essential to him, and
underived, is equal to the Father's glory, is transcendent to all
creatures, and is ineffable, and incomprehensible; some breakings
forth of which there were in his incarnate state, and which were
observed by the evangelist, and his companions; who, in various
instances, saw plainly, that Christ was possessed of divine
perfections, such as omniscience, and omnipotence; since he knew
the thoughts of the heart, and could do the things he did: his
Father declared him to be his beloved Son; and the miracles he
wrought, and the doctrines he taught, manifested forth his glory;
and not only there were some beams of his glory at his
transfiguration, which were seen by the apostles, among which the
Evangelist John was one, and to which he may have here a
particular reference; but even at his apprehension, and death,
and especially at his resurrection from the dead. The Jews speak
of the glory of the Messiah to be seen in the world to come. They
say F8,
``If a man is worthy of the world to come, (i.e. the times of the Messiah,) he shall "see the glory" of the King Messiah.''And of Moses, they say F9,
``there was (or will be) no generation like that in which he lived, until the generation in which the King Messiah comes, which shall "behold the glory" of the holy, blessed God, as he.''This our evangelist, and the other disciples of Christ have seen:
the glory, as of the only begotten of the
Father;
a glory becoming him, suitable to him as such; the very real
glory of the Son of God; for the "as", here, is not a note of
similitude, but of certainty, as in ( Matthew 14:5
) ( Psalms
2:8 ) and the word is here called, "the only begotten of the
Father"; which cannot be said of Christ, as man; for as such, he
was not "begotten" at all: nor on the account of his resurrection
from the dead; for so he could not be called the "only begotten",
since there are others that have been, and millions that will be
raised from the dead, besides him: nor by reason of adoption; for
if adopted, then not begotten; these two are inconsistent;
besides, he could not be called the only begotten, in this sense,
because there are many adopted sons, even all the elect of God:
nor by virtue of his office, as magistrates are called the sons
of God; for then he would be so only in a figurative and
metaphorical sense, and not properly; whereas he is called God's
own Son, the Son of the same nature with him; and, as here, the
only begotten of the Father, begotten by him in the same nature,
in a way inconceivable and inexpressible by us:
full of grace and truth;
that is, he dwelt among men, and appeared to have a fulness of
each of these: for this clause is not to be joined with the glory
of the only begotten, as if this was a branch of that; but
regards him as incarnate, and in his office, as Mediator; who, as
such, was full of "grace"; the Spirit, and the gifts of the
Spirit; of all the blessings of grace, of justifying, pardoning,
adopting, sanctifying, and persevering grace; of all the promises
of grace; of all light, life, strength, comfort, peace, and joy:
and also of truth, of all Gospel truths; and as he had the truth,
the sum, and substance of all the types and prophecies concerning
him in him; and as he fulfilled all his own engagements, and his
Father's promises; and as possessed of sincerity towards men, and
faithfulness and integrity to God.