Meditation – As One of Us
by Mark Johnson
When we hear John say, 'the Word became flesh' it is of course the Word to whom we have been introduced in the opening lines of the Gospel. The same Word who 'was God and who was with God', who in the beginning simply 'was' (Jn 1.1). The limitations of language struggle to express the depth and wonder of the eternal realities John has in mind, the mystery of God himself.
He uses the language of deity in relation to the Word/Logos: most obviously that he simply 'was God'. But more than that, he says quite simply that when time began, the Word already 'was' - he already had existence: he was the being One. Or, to put it another way, the underived existence that is God's by nature also belongs to the Logos. The Word is God.
John also uses the language of relationship: 'the Word was with God' - pros ton theon. He was 'towards' God in eternal relationship - turned out from himself towards another in perfect loving devotion. Although of necessity equal with God [the Father], because he shares the same essential deity, he nevertheless devotes himself to him.
This is the 'Word' who 'became flesh'. He is none other than the eternal Son of God - spoken of again by John three chapters later when he says, 'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son...' (Jn 3.16). It was the second Person of the godhead who, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, was joined mysteriously to her 'flesh', sharing her DNA and bringing into being the God-man. As Donald MacLeod has put it, 'created, not ex nihilo, but ex Maria'.
In the extraordinary nanosecond in history, the infinity and eternity of God was joined to all the limitations of space and time in our humanity. He was made like us in everything apart from our sin. But in that instant as well, there came into existence the only Person with the capacity to do what God required to usher in salvation.
That incredible capacity began to shine through as Jesus embarked upon his earthly ministry. The man from Nazareth had the ability to heal the sick, feed the hungry, control the elements, walk on water and even raise the dead. So astonishing was he that not only was he mobbed by curious crowds, but the more discerning among them asked the question, 'Who is this? Even the wind and waves obey him!' (Mk 4.41). A question which is finally answered at Caesarea Philippi when Peter makes the astounding confession, 'You are the Christ the Son of the living God' (Mt 16.16). Behind the veil of a finite humanity lies the infinite capacity of God himself. The full weight of significance bound up with that fact only becomes apparent on the cross. When Jesus goes to his death as the 'Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world' (Jn 1.29), the only way his sacrifice can provide an atonement of global and pan-historical dimensions is if he is more than just a man.
A Saviour Who Has the Authority to Save
We are entitled to ask, 'What gives Jesus the authority to promise salvation to those who trust him?' After all, the world throughout its history has been full of self-appointed 'saviours' who are just that: 'self-appointed' - they have no authority to actually provide what they claim to offer.
In one sense the question has been answered already in what we have said about Jesus' being 'God in human flesh', but there is more to it. His authority to act as Saviour also resides in the fact that he is 'God in human flesh' - he had to become one of us. And that's exactly what John tells us: 'The Word became flesh' - he took human flesh; not that of some other life-form. He might have come as an angel - which to our mind might have seemed more dignified and appropriate - but if that had been so he could not have saved.
The writer of Hebrews puts his finger of it when he says in a relation to a salvation that is genuine and will deliver what we need:
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people (He 2.14-17).
His authority to save resides in the fact that he is not merely God sent from God; but that he is sent as man who corresponds perfectly to those he came to save and to their need. All they are not, he is and everything they are incapable of doing, he does. The good news of the gospel is not merely that Jesus came as God for man, but that he also came as perfect man for God!
A Saviour Who Can Be Trusted to Save
The great unspoken implication of what the Creed goes to such pains to express is that only such a Saviour can truly save! But what the Creed does not articulate, John does in the way he concludes this statement: the Word was 'full of grace and truth.'
It would be easy for us to try and pour our own meaning into those words and perhaps not be far off the mark; but it's only as we appreciate their background that we appreciate their weight. The same pairing of words, but in their Hebrew equivalent, is found in the Old Testament where they carry the sense of 'unfailing love and faithfulness' - God's covenant love and covenant loyalty.
It's seen, for example, in Proverbs: 'Let [God's] love and [God's] faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart' (Pr 3.3). In other words, in the midst of our own inescapable sin and failure as we make our way through life, our constant hope is in God's great salvation and his never-failing faithfulness to his covenant promise. We know that we will never find peace with God through what we try to do for him - however well-intentioned - but rather in what he has done for us and covenanted to us in the gospel.
In its Old Testament context that hope rests on a promise that was yet to be fulfilled; but in the New Testament it rests on all that Jesus is and on everything he has done to actually secure redemption for all who trust him. The only way we can be sure that our salvation is real is when we know that the One we trust has both the capacity and the authority to save! Through the incarnation, Jesus became 'God for man and man for God' in order that he might ultimately become 'the Saviour of world!'. Before a person submits to surgery, they would want to be sure it would be real a surgeon who was going to carry out the operation. How much more, then, if we are going to stake our entire existence in time and eternity on someone's claim to be able to grant us eternal salvation should we want to be sure we can trust him!
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Excerpted from an article by Mark Johnson, courtesy of Reformation21. Take a look at more Reformation21 resources, as well as the full article, at: https://www.reformation21.org/blog/as-one-of-us
Mark Johnston is pastor of Trinity Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Richhill, Northern Ireland, and a trustee of the Banner of Truth Trust. He is author of several books, including Our Creed: For Every Culture and Every Generation.