Joh 1:18 | KingComments | STEP | tell what He was eternally, tells what He became in time. He became Man and came to dwell among us. The word ‘dwelt’ is actually ‘tabernacled’ meaning ‘living in a tent’. The eternal Son became flesh, became Man, in order to dwell among men, just as God used to dwell in the tabernacle with His people and went up with them ( ). By becoming Man, He was able to show us all His glories from the preceding verses. His glory is seen by “all who have received Him”. This glory we see is not that of Mount Sinai, of majesty and righteousness. It is a glory that fits the intimate relationship of love that exists from all eternity between the Father and Him Who is the only begotten Son of the Father. To see this is a great wonder. When by grace the eyes are opened for it, we see how full of grace and truth He is. Grace is love in the midst of evil, while at the same time being exalted above it. In Christ, grace has come in the midst of evil to overcome evil through good. Inseparable from grace is truth. Grace without truth is not grace. Grace brings the truth, but at the same time makes it possible for a person to endure the truth if he is thereby revealed and condemned as a sinner. Therefore the order is: first grace, then truth. God did not fail to give through John also a testimony of His Son as the One Who is full of grace and truth. In each main section of this chapter we have a testimony of John. Previously, it is regarding the Light ( ), here it is regarding His presentation to the world and later regarding His performance in the world ( ). John, the greatest born of women ( ), gives testimony of Him at every level. The Lord Jesus is God even though He comes after John. He is the Giver Who gives to all, without distinction, out of an inexhaustible fullness. There is no blessing outside of Him, and as a result, there is no lack for anyone who possesses Him. We did not receive truth upon truth – the truth is simple and puts everything in its place – but what we needed: grace upon grace, one grace after another, God’s favor, abundant. Here we may think of an accumulation of Divine blessings that are the fruits of His love. These things are in complete contrast to the law. The law was given by Moses. Moses is the mediator through whom God gave the law. The law says what man is supposed to be, but not what man is. The truth does. The law cannot set man free and cannot reveal God. The law neither gives life nor reveals an object. That is because sin has already come into the world through Adam and the flesh has made the law powerless. This is not because of the law, but because of man, through which he falls outside of all God’s blessing. But now through Jesus Christ a complete and glorious change has been made. Here, then, is finally the Name of Him in Whom all the preceding glories are found, and Who is the expression of them: Jesus Christ. Grace and truth form a unity. That is why it says that grace and truth (not: subsist, but) subsists (Darby Translation) through Him. Grace and truth, which is full in Him ( ), has received its full expression in Him. It does not say that grace and truth was given by Him, as the law was given by Moses. The Lord Jesus is not a mediator, one through whom God gives grace and truth. He has shown grace and truth from His own glory. If He had not come, we would never have come to know grace and truth. He shows the grace of God and the truth of God to lost people, that they may be partakers of all that God has in His heart and has revealed in Christ. If Christ had not come, we could only have had a limited impression of God, either from nature or from the law. Both expressions would keep us at a distance and finally condemn us if the Son had not come. Now that He has come, He has revealed God in a way that is beyond all things. He has revealed God as Father. He did so out of the intimacy that He Himself possessed and never left. The word “bosom” refers to the closest connection and the deepest confidentiality. It is the place where the Son eternally is , from which He never left and where He also was when He was on earth as Man. That is why He and He alone could and can explain God. Not only was the full blessing to be revealed that came through Jesus Christ, and through His redemption is the possession of all who share in it, but God Himself was to be revealed. That is what Jesus Christ did, the Revealer and revelation of God and of all things, for He is the truth. He could do that because He is the Son in the bosom of the Father.

‏ John 1:18

The Word Became Flesh

Jn 1:1-2 tell what He was eternally, Jn 1:14 tells what He became in time. He became Man and came to dwell among us. The word ‘dwelt’ is actually ‘tabernacled’ meaning ‘living in a tent’. The eternal Son became flesh, became Man, in order to dwell among men, just as God used to dwell in the tabernacle with His people and went up with them (Exo 25:8).

By becoming Man, He was able to show us all His glories from the preceding verses. His glory is seen by “all who have received Him”. This glory we see is not that of Mount Sinai, of majesty and righteousness. It is a glory that fits the intimate relationship of love that exists from all eternity between the Father and Him Who is the only begotten Son of the Father.

To see this is a great wonder. When by grace the eyes are opened for it, we see how full of grace and truth He is. Grace is love in the midst of evil, while at the same time being exalted above it. In Christ, grace has come in the midst of evil to overcome evil through good.

Inseparable from grace is truth. Grace without truth is not grace. Grace brings the truth, but at the same time makes it possible for a person to endure the truth if he is thereby revealed and condemned as a sinner. Therefore the order is: first grace, then truth.

God did not fail to give through John also a testimony of His Son as the One Who is full of grace and truth. In each main section of this chapter we have a testimony of John. Previously, it is regarding the Light (Jn 1:6-8), here it is regarding His presentation to the world and later regarding His performance in the world (Jn 1:19-36). John, the greatest born of women (Lk 7:28), gives testimony of Him at every level. The Lord Jesus is God even though He comes after John. He is the Giver Who gives to all, without distinction, out of an inexhaustible fullness. There is no blessing outside of Him, and as a result, there is no lack for anyone who possesses Him.

We did not receive truth upon truth – the truth is simple and puts everything in its place – but what we needed: grace upon grace, one grace after another, God’s favor, abundant. Here we may think of an accumulation of Divine blessings that are the fruits of His love.

These things are in complete contrast to the law. The law was given by Moses. Moses is the mediator through whom God gave the law. The law says what man is supposed to be, but not what man is. The truth does. The law cannot set man free and cannot reveal God. The law neither gives life nor reveals an object. That is because sin has already come into the world through Adam and the flesh has made the law powerless. This is not because of the law, but because of man, through which he falls outside of all God’s blessing.

But now through Jesus Christ a complete and glorious change has been made. Here, then, is finally the Name of Him in Whom all the preceding glories are found, and Who is the expression of them: Jesus Christ.

Grace and truth form a unity. That is why it says that grace and truth (not: subsist, but) subsists (Darby Translation) through Him. Grace and truth, which is full in Him (Jn 1:14), has received its full expression in Him. It does not say that grace and truth was given by Him, as the law was given by Moses. The Lord Jesus is not a mediator, one through whom God gives grace and truth. He has shown grace and truth from His own glory.

If He had not come, we would never have come to know grace and truth. He shows the grace of God and the truth of God to lost people, that they may be partakers of all that God has in His heart and has revealed in Christ. If Christ had not come, we could only have had a limited impression of God, either from nature or from the law. Both expressions would keep us at a distance and finally condemn us if the Son had not come.

Now that He has come, He has revealed God in a way that is beyond all things. He has revealed God as Father. He did so out of the intimacy that He Himself possessed and never left. The word “bosom” refers to the closest connection and the deepest confidentiality. It is the place where the Son eternally is, from which He never left and where He also was when He was on earth as Man.

That is why He and He alone could and can explain God. Not only was the full blessing to be revealed that came through Jesus Christ, and through His redemption is the possession of all who share in it, but God Himself was to be revealed. That is what Jesus Christ did, the Revealer and revelation of God and of all things, for He is the truth. He could do that because He is the Son in the bosom of the Father.