14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
This is possibly the most astonishing statement in all of scripture, maybe in all of human experience. It’s the conclusion that John has been leading up to since verse 1 of his gospel. See my post on John 1:1-3 for more on the Greek and Jewish concepts of The Word at that time. John is saying that the Hebrew Word that created everything that is, and the Greek Logos that makes order out of chaos in the universe, are one and the same, and they became a human being. Throughout his gospel, John reminds us that he was an eyewitness to the things that Jesus did, and to who he is. He starts that here, by saying, “God himself became a man, and I saw him with my own eyes.”
John could hardly have said anything more inconceivable to both the Jews and Greeks of his day. John, though a Jew himself, was writing in Greek to Greek speaking people, and people whose world view was shaped by Greek thought. To the Greeks, the flesh was corrupt. It was a prison where the spirit was chained. To say that the Logos, which in their mind was far above even their gods (who were notoriously vain and capricious), had become flesh was ridiculous. To First Century Jews, God was unreachable, untouchable, unapproachable. He is so holy and so beyond us that it wasn’t permissible even to speak his name. To say that the Word of God, who was God himself, high and exalted, had become a mere man, was impossible to wrap their heads around. Yet this is the very nature of the Incarnation. And it’s essential to our faith.
Why did God do this? Of course, the only way he could be the sacrifice for our sins was to have a physical body. But Bible commentator William Barclay says that God became a man also to simply show us what God is like. The Jews were right in their concept of God. He is so far above us as to be beyond our comprehension. C.S. Lewis once said, (paraphrasing) “Our ideas of why God does what he does are probably about as valid as my dog’s ideas of what I am up to when I sit and read.” When Jesus came, it’s as if God was saying, “If you want to know what I am really like, look at my Son.” God is no less higher than we are since Jesus came. But because Jesus came, we have some idea what God is like. In Jesus, John saw God’s love, grace, faithfulness and mercy up close.
I love the way the Amplified Bible puts the first part of verse 14. It says:
And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us;
The Greek word that the NIV translates made his dwelling meant tabernacled in that culture. A tabernacle was a tent, a temporary dwelling. When Israel wandered in the desert before they reached the Promised Land, they lived in tabernacles. Before the Temple was built, they worshiped God in the Tabernacle. Every year, Jews celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles by erecting tents on top of their houses and living in them for the duration of the feast. This was a concept that had great resonance for Jews at that time. When the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, Almighty God made human flesh his temporary home.
But tabernacle, when used as a verb, also had a connotation of intimacy. The Word not only temporarily became flesh, but he tabernacled among us. In that culture, to live with others in a tent was to become part of their family. It meant he ate with them, lived with them, and slept in the same space as they did. So Jesus came to show us what God is really like, and he also came to make it possible for us to have an intimate relationship with him. He wants to make his dwelling among us, in our homes, in every aspect of our lives. This is another way of saying he is Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23, blog).
When John says we have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, I can’t help but think he’s referring to the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13, blog, Mark 9:2-13, blog, Luke 9:28-36, blog). There on the mountaintop, Peter, James and John all saw Jesus in his glorified body, and heard the voice of God saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5) God the Father spoke from within a cloud of his Shekinah glory, but Jesus the man lived in close, intimate quarters with John and the other disciples for three years. They knew him as a human being who had a physical body like theirs with all of its weaknesses. But they also saw his glory, the glory that only the one and only Son of the Father could have.
They also saw that Jesus was full of grace and truth. Other than love, which is God's very nature, there are no greater attributes of God than grace and turth. God is absolute, immutable truth. That truth is the source of the law, both physical and moral. Whether it be the laws that were given to Israel to govern their moral behavior, or the laws that govern the material universe, those laws exist because God is truth. Jesus was full of truth, but he was also full of grace. It’s God’s grace that makes our salvation possible. If all we had was God’s truth and justice, we would have no chance. But thanks to his grace, the undeserved favor that he has lavished upon us, we can have that intimate relationship with God. And that’s possible because, starting with the birth of the Christ child, the Word became flesh, and made his dwelling among us.
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