And The Word Was Made Flesh

John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

1 Timothy 3:16
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

We dare to speak of this great mystery by which men may become godly.

When Paul wrote to Timothy in the aforementioned verse, he made reference to the mystery of godliness. This reference was not to the divinity but rather to the piety that was made possible for humanity through the actions of God. For a definition of piety, see notes at the end of this discussion. These actions were enumerated, though not exhaustively, in the same verse beginning with the second clause. Notice the following six actions.

God was manifest in the flesh-John 1:14
Justified in the Spirit-Luke 9:35
Seen of angels-Matthew 3:11
Preached unto the Gentiles-Acts 10:44-47
Believed on in the world-Acts 11:19
Received up into glory-Acts 1:9-10

All of these actions are needed if there will be a redeemed throng from every people group, language, family and nationality, but the first action is absolutely necessary for the accomplishment of the of the remaining five.

In an earlier discussion we commented briefly on God’s highest self disclosure. We understand that He who created the Universe is by that very fact greater than what He has created. We try to understand the vastness of the Universe which is so great that we measure it in light years; how far light travels in one Earth year at the speed of 186,262 miles per second. That would be about 5,880,395,646,720 miles in one year. The closest star to the Earth is approximately 8 light minutes from Earth, about 93,000,000 miles. It is our Sun, a main sequence star. The Sun is so great that by volume it can contain more than 1,000,000 Earths which has a circumference of approximately 25,000 miles. Apart from the Sun, the closest stars to the Earth are the Alpha Centauri A & B and Proxima Centauri triple star system. These are between 4.24-4.4 light years away from the Earth.

Now lets try to get a handle on the immensity of these things. Some astronomers estimate that there are 100,000,000,000,000 galaxies in the Universe and 100,000,000,000,000 stars in each galaxy. Some experts on human anatomy and physiology estimate that there may be as many as 100,000,000,000,000 cells in the human body. That is the same number as the estimate for stars and galaxies in the Universe. The number is ONE HUNDRED TRILLION. Some geneticists tell us that the vast majority of cells in the human body have a complete set of dna in each. Exceptions would be red blood cells and gametes (reproductive cells). This dna is all the information needed to reproduce the host all over again. Geneticists tell us also that if you were able to remove the dna from just one cell and unwind and uncoil it, it would stretch approximately 6 feet. Take this length and multiply it by the number of cells in the human body and the resulting span of uncoiled dna would be long enough to reach from the Earth to the Sun and back about 610 times. We do not understand this. This is too much for us.

Although this is too much, it still speaks to us of the greatness of God’s creation. And the greatness of creation declares the greatness of God.

Psalms 19:1-3
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2 Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language,
where their voice is not heard.

This is the God who made all things.

John 1:3
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

This is the God who acted upon himself to become flesh.

John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Becoming flesh was not just something that happened to Jesus. It is something that He did. When John wrote that the Word was made flesh, the verb γίνομαι-ginomai, takes the middle voice. This word is used reflexively to indicate that the Word acted upon himself to become flesh.

1 Timothy 3:16
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh,…”

God became the Son of man so that men might become the sons of God.

John 1:12
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

God has so honored our race in becoming one of us. God’s greatest self disclosure was in the person of Jesus Christ. In Jesus we see the reconciliation of God’s justice and our justification (Romans 3:24-26).

Satan is not our biggest problem. Our biggest problem is the wrath of the righteous, holy God. In Jesus we may have peace from God’s wrath.

II Corinthians 5:19
“…God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”

Hebrews 2:14-17
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

Do you believe in the unique, strong, saving, name of JESUS?

Lord Jesus, you are more than wonderful. Your kindness and mercy are past finding out. Let your name be praised for ever and ever, Amen.

Notes on piety:
2150 εὐσέβεια [EU)SE/BEIA] {eusébeia} \yoo-seb’-i-ah\
from 2152; piety; specially, the gospel scheme:–godliness, holiness.