ly beheld that glory: it was when the face of the Word made flesh shone as the sun on the Mount of Transfiguration. It is also for us to behold Christ's glory; for the character of the Divine Man, what is it but the true and everlasting Shechinah? "Glory as of the only begotten from the Father." An infinite mystery surely! For to be begotten implies a beginning, an origin in time. But the Word, as we have seen, had existed eternally: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. How then could the unbeginning Word be said to be begotten? The problem absorbed the thought of the early church, and so they talked of "eternal generation," an "eternal filiation," and the like, as though the Son and only begotten of the Father were eternally generated or filiated from the Father. Their mistake was, and we ourselves often fall into a like mistake when studying Scripture, they interpreted a figure of speech as though it were a creed-statement, a parable as though it were a dogma. Whereas such phrases as represent Jesus Christ as being the Son of God, or the only begotten from the Father, are not creed-formulas, to be taken literally or word-wise; they are figures of speech, hinting in a colossal way such ineffable relations between God and the Word become flesh as can be best set forth in analogies drawn from human relations. The phrase before us, "The only begotten from the Father," is an august parable, divinely meant to suggest, in way of stupendous, nebulous hint, the unutterable con John xvii, 5. Col. ii, 9. The August substantialness and fellowship of God and Christ, the infinite intercommunion of the eternal God and the eternal Word. We beheld his glory, glory as of an only begotten from the Father, even the glory which he had with the Father before the world was. Whatever glory infinite Deity had-whether as being uncreate, or eternal, or omnipresent, or omniscient, or omnipotent, or infinitely true, or infinitely righteous, or infinitely gracious, or infinitely blessed-all this infinite glory also belonged to the Word made flesh. We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten from the Father. "Full of grace and truth." Then Jesus Christ is the personal plenitude of the divine mercies, he is full of grace; and also of the eternal realities, he is full of truth. And this fullness of grace and truth comes to our apprehensions and to our hearts through the incarnation, or the enfleshment of infinite Deity. In the Word made flesh dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Thus the weightiest of truths is expressed in the briefest of phrases, "The Word became flesh." "John beareth witness of him, and crieth, Testimony. saying, This was he of whom I said, Ile that cometh after me is become before me: for he was before me." Verse 15. Then John the apostle does not stand alone in testifying to the Word made flesh. His memory goes back many a year to the Jordan, where the man who had been sent from God to be a witness to the true Light had also borne most solemn tes timony to Jesus the Nazarene as the pre-existent Word. John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and John i, 29, 30. saith: "Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is become before me: for he was before me." John's successor was really John's predecessor. Before John was born, the Word was. came, Jesus Christ is. Before Abraham be- John viii, 58. "For of his fullness. we all received, and grace The Gracious for grace." Fullness. Verse 16. "Of his fullness." Then Jesus Christ is inexhaustibly full. He is the plenitude of the Divine attributes, the totality of the Divine perfections. For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in Col. i, 19. him should all the fullness dwell. "Out of that fullness we all received, even grace for grace, grace after grace, grace upon grace." The fullness of the Word made flesh is the true tree of life, evermore fruitful, evermore yielding new kinds of fruit. "For the law was given through Moses; grace The Majestic and truth came through Jesus Christ." Superiority. Verse 17. It is a triple contrast. First, Moses, although so great, was only a servant; but Jesus is a son: Moses, indeed, was faithful in all God's house as a Heb. iii, 1-6. servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken; but Jesus was faithful as a son over God's house, whose house are we, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end. Again, the law which came through Moses was a condemning, slaying power; but the grace which came through Rom. viii, 2. Heb. x, 1. Rom. x, 4. The Compe Jesus Christ is an acquitting, life-giving power: The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. Once more, the law which was given through Moses was but a shadow of the good things to come; whereas the truth which came through Jesus Christ is the essential, abiding reality itself : Christ is the end (goal, consummation) of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth. The law through Moses was given; the grace and the truth through Jesus Christ came. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only tent Inter begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." preter. Verse 18. "God no one hath ever seen." For infinite God must, it would seem, because infinite, be for ever Exc. xxxiii, 20. incommunicable with finite man. Jehovah said unto Moses, "Thou canst not see my face: for 1 Tim. vi, 15, 16. man shall not see me and live." The blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable; whom no man hath seen, nor can sce: to whom be honor and power eternal. Amen. "The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [interpreted, made exegesis of] him." Then Jesus Christ, the Divine Man, because both infinite and finite as the Word become flesh, is able to mediate, and does mediate, between the infinite and the finite. The Word made flesh is infinite God in gracious communication with finite man. He is the loving manifestation of Deity absolute. Philip saith unto Jesus, "Lord, shew us the Father, and John xiv, 8, 9. it sufficeth us." Jesus saith unto Philip, "Have Such is the apostle John's prologue to his evangel of the Divine Man. Reviewing this majestic prologue as a whole, we can not fail to be struck with certain points. made Flesh the Mystery of Mysteries. First, The Word made flesh is the mystery of The Word mysteries. Listen to the great Augustine: "God; what more glorious? Flesh; what more vile? God in flesh; what more wondrous?"* This in fact is the reason why so many persons reject the story of the Miraculous Conception. But let us be fair. The Word made flesh is not the only incomprehensible mystery. Take, for example, one at our very doors, confronting us every moment of our lives-the mystery of the union of mind and *Deus; quid gloriosius? Caro; quid vilius? Deus in carne; quid mirabilius? |