THE WORD BECAME FLESH | BIBLICAL CHRISTOLOGY FOR CHRISTMAS
THE BECOMING – THE WORD BECAME FLESH
JOHN 1:14a
[INTRODUCTION]
- Author and pastor Leith Anderson tells of a time several years ago when he was visiting Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, on a mission trip and was taken, of all places, to the Manila garbage dump. There he saw something beyond belief. Tens of thousands of people were making their homes on that dump site. They had constructed shacks out of the things other people had thrown away. And they would send their children out early every morning to scavenge for food out of other people’s garbage, so they could have family meals. People have been born and grown up there on the garbage dump. They have had their families, their children, their shacks, their garbage to eat, finished out their lives, and died there without ever going anywhere else, even in the city of Manila. It is an astonishing thing. But he also notes that Americans also live on the garbage dump. They are missionaries; Christians who have chosen to leave their own country and communicate the love of Jesus Christ to people who otherwise would never hear it. People who left what they had to go and live on a garbage dump. He writes that it was amazing to him that American Christians would do that – but not as amazing as the journey Jesus Christ made from heaven to earth. That is the ultimate example of riches to rags.
- Over the next few weeks we will be focusing on that riches to rags story. We are going to zoom in on that point in history when the God of the universe became a human being. Our text is going to be John 1:14 and our title, taken from that text, is The Word Became Flesh | Biblical Christology for Christmas. What does that mean? Christology is nothing more than the study of the doctrines of Jesus Christ. Who was Jesus? That’s the simple question that Christology answers.
- There are a lot of conflicting opinions floating around concerning who Jesus was or is, and if he even existed. What I want to do is give us a biblical perspective. We are going to be talking about some great truths; some of them difficult. But we must put our energy into this pursuit. If we must know anything, we must know who Jesus is! And we must know, not simply what our opinion of Jesus is, but who Scripture reveals him to be. Some of you learned these truths long ago, and some of you are just beginning to learn these things and figuring out why they are important. Either way, this Christmas season is the perfect time to sure up your Christology. It’s time to know who Jesus really is.
- And there is perhaps no better place to start than in the Gospel of John. According to the church father Irenaeus (who was a disciple of Polycarp, who in turn was a disciple of the Apostle John), this gospel was written to combat various heresies that were developing which denied either the full humanity or full deity of Jesus. It was written, in essence, to correctly inform us of who Jesus actually is. So we, like those who first read these words at the very end of the first century AD, will look to John for a clear portrait of the authentic Christ. Let’s begin at v.1:
[READ JOHN 1:1-3, 14-18]
- Now what I want to do is start by explaining the vocabulary that John is using here to describe Jesus. Then we will take a very brief look at the first few verses of this prologue; and following that we will dive into v.14. So, the first thing that needs to be noticed about this very important text is this:
[JESUS CHRIST IS THE LIVING WORD OF GOD]
- There is here in the first chapter of John a very important biblical word used. It is a word that every student of the Bible should be familiar with whether or not you know the original languages. It is the Greek word λόγος (logos). It is translated as Word in vv.1 & 14. Verse 1 begins: Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος (In the beginning was the Word...). This word was one of the most important words in Greek philosophical thought. And John uses it very carefully to open up his work with an attention grabbing description of Jesus of Nazareth. Here is how Richard Phillips explains it for us; try to catch this:
- By using this word (logos), John built a bridge from the Greek philosophical world to the Jewish thought- world of the Bible. One of the earliest Greek philosophers was Heraclitus (sixth century BC). He thought about the fact that things constantly change. His famous illustration was that you can never step twice into the same river; it is never the same, because the water has flowed on. Everything is like that, he said. But if that is true, how can there be order in the world? His answer was the Logos...This was the principle that held everything together in a world of change. There is a purpose and design to the world and events, and this is the Logos.
- The Logos fascinated the Greeks from Heraclitus onward. What keeps the stars in their courses? What controls the seasons? Order and purpose are revealed everywhere in the world. Why? The answer is the Logos, the divine logic...John says that Jesus is the Logos, the Word who bears to us the mind and heart of God. So John takes this very common concept and explains to them who Jesus is. He takes this principle they had of why the universe is ordered and he tells them, “The universe exists and maintains itself not because of some abstract philosophical principle, but because of a Person: Jesus.”
- By using this word and attributing it to Jesus, John is telling his audience that Jesus is the living manifestation of the word of God. In other words, Jesus communicates to us God in all of his glory. He communicates the mind of God to us; the will of God to us; the heart of God to us; the character of God to us. And we will find out momentarily that he does this because, along with the Father and the Spirit, he is God. The word of God is first a person, not a book. In fact, the Bible is the word of God because and precisely because it contains the revelation of Jesus Christ. We don’t worship Scripture, but the Christ of Scripture. And that’s why the Bible is so important to us: because it contains the God-inspired, inerrant revealing of the Savior of the world.
- So, Jesus is the logos, the living word of God. He is God’s communication of himself to us. Now, understanding that this is how John is presenting Jesus to his audience, there are two very important aspects of the nature of Jesus, the living Word, that we must understand. Here is the first one:
[JESUS CHRIST IS THE ETERNAL WORD: HE IS GOD]
- What does John write about this Word in vv.1-2? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
- If Jesus is the Logos of God, as John is claiming him to be, then he must of necessity be eternal, because God is eternal. And John tells us that he is, doesn’t he? But he goes beyond that. Not only was the Word with God in the beginning, he was God.
- If there is one aspect of who Jesus was and is that is under attack today, it is this one. Even organizations and sects that claim to be Christian are denying what we call the deity of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ did not come into existence when he was born in Bethlehem. He is the eternal Word of God. He has no beginning and no end; because he is God himself. Now let’s substantiate that claim from Scripture; because in order to properly understand the baby in the manger we must understand his deity.
- First, let’s take note of a few passages within the gospel of John. In John 8 Jesus is dialoguing with the religious leaders and he mentions that Abraham (the patriarch whom we just studied) rejoiced at his coming. And this confuses the leaders, and the Bible says beginning at v.57: So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
- What’s going on there? Jesus is telling them that not only was he in existence before Abraham, but that he is the I AM. I AM was the name God gave himself in Exodus 3. Christ is telling them is language they would have clearly understood: “I am God.” He does a similar thing in John 10. During his discourse in which he describes himself as the Good Shepherd, Jesus says this:
- My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.
- Jesus Christ and the Father are unified around the purpose of saving and protecting their sheep because they are both God. There are many places we could go outside of John, but I think the clearest verses are found in Colossians. Colossians 1:19 says: For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And 2:9 reads: For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.
- The deity of Jesus is essential to a proper Christology. As the logos, the living Word of God, Jesus is and always has been God. And here is Christmas Theology 101 for you – v.14: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Next time we will look at that phrase and dwelt among us. Then the following time we will close with a look at the phrase and we have seen his glory. Today, our focus is on this: and the Word became flesh. And here is the second aspect of the nature of Jesus:
[JESUS CHRIST IS THE INCARNATE WORD: HE IS HUMAN]
- In addition to his divine nature, Jesus took on a sinless, human nature by means of a miraculous virgin conception and birth in order to deal with the sins of humanity. Don’t miss that statement. That is Christmas in a nutshell. In addition to his divine nature, Jesus took on a sinless, human nature by means of a miraculous virgin conception and birth in order to deal with the sins of humanity.
- There are three things we need to unpack from that statement, that will give us a proper Christology for this Christmas season: that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he was born with a sinless nature, and that because he was born he was truly human.
- Most of us are familiar with that first point. We’ve all heard the words of Luke 1 read to us around this time of year: In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
- Remember the words of Isaiah the prophet, which Matthew tells us were fulfilled in the birth of Jesus: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.
- Why is that important? What was the purpose of Jesus being born of a virgin? Was it simply so that the Son of God could have a flashy entrance? No. It was so the second point of our key statement would be true. Because Jesus was born of a virgin, he was born without a sin nature.
- Hebrews 4:15, a verse we will look at next time with a bit of a different emphasis, says: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
- And it’s not simply that Jesus did not sin, but because he had no sin nature he never desired to sin, and in one sense, could not sin. James 1:13 tells us that God cannot be tempted with evil. We have already established that Jesus is God. And as God, he was impeccable – meaning he was not, on a spiritual level, subject to temptation. We know that on an experiential level he was subject to, and in fact did encounter, temptation from Satan. But he quickly revealed that there wasn’t an ounce of sinfulness in him.
- The sinlessness of Jesus is, of course, what makes him a suitable sacrifice for our sinfulness. He is the spotless Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.
- Now both of those two things assume this last fact: that Jesus is truly human. Today, modern and postmodern thinking produces the tendency to deny Jesus’ deity, as we have already mentioned. In John’s day, however, there was also another threat – a denial of the humanity of Jesus.
- Teaching began to arise claiming that Jesus simply appeared to be human; that he was some sort of spirit or phantom. It was called Docetism. Proponents believed matter was inherently evil and so in order for Jesus to be pure he could not have a physical body. John denies this vehemently here and in his epistles.
- So this is the big picture: Jesus, the logos of God, the Word of God, is the eternal Word because he is God; and he is the incarnate Word because he is human. He is fully God and fully man. If you want to impress somebody, you can tell them we call it the hypostatic union. The hypostatic union refers to the fact that Jesus has two natures within his one Person. He is always, from the time of his incarnation, both God and man at the same time. The two natures coexist.
- This is the baby in the manger. This is who the shepherds and the magi looked upon those nights when they knelt over the young boy. And this is why it matters to you...
[CONCLUSION]
- If you don’t have Jesus as God, you don’t have the biblical Jesus. If you don’t have Jesus as Man, you don’t have the biblical Jesus. And if the Jesus of your Christmas is not the Jesus of the Bible, you might as well be worshiping a large man in a red suit who flies around in a sled; or a man made of snow with a corn cob pipe and a button nose. Christmas is what it is because Christ is who he is.
- So here is my charge for us this holiday season (don’t get mad at me for saying holiday, I’ve said Christmas enough already, you know what I’m talking about!): let’s reexamine why we treasure Christmas. Does Christmas excite us because we like snowy weather? Does it excite us because we love getting together with family and friends? Do we get excited because we wonder what gifts we will receive?
- Is Christmas a holiday, a holy day, to us because we love watching 24 hours of The Christmas Story on TNT? Have we gotten into the habit of singing the carols, lighting the trees, baking the cookies, and drinking the cocoa and egg nog, without remembering why we’re celebrating in the first place?
- Or even worse: is the baby Jesus in the manger simply one of the great stories of Christmas lore that we tell ourselves; on par with Santa Claus, the flying reindeer, and the elves – nice stories, but things that have little to no impact on our actual lives?
- My prayer this season is that you would get a fresh glimpse of what was really going on at that familiar manger scene. That you would remember, or perhaps recognize for the first time, that God was stepping out of heaven and living on this earth with a redemptive purpose. The Word became flesh.
- And because of what that Word would one day do as a man on a Roman cross, you can have your relationship with God, severed by your sinfulness, restored by grace through faith in Jesus.
