The Creator Reaching Toward Earth Among the GalaxiesBible World
1:1John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
In the beginning the Word already existed from eternity before anything was made, and that Word is Jesus Christ the only-begotten Son of God. He was in close union and oneness with the Father as a distinct personality, and He was Himself fully God, equal with the Father in nature and authority. As the divine Creator He made all things and all worlds in union with the Father, and in Him was original unborrowed life which is the light of men. He became flesh and dwelt among men, veiling His divine glory in humanity to reveal the Father's character and love full of grace and truth. Those who receive Him by believing on His name are given power to become sons of God, receiving of His fullness grace for grace and eternal life as a free gift through Him.
Phrases and Their Sense
The Word in the verse is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten Son, the first-begotten Son, the eternal Son, and the Mediator between God and humanity. He already existed in the beginning, was with God, and was God, and the beloved disciple's testimony identifies Him as fully divine and as the one who became human. These words reveal His divinity and lead people to believe that He is the Son of God, and their divine authority and majesty can awaken faith and mark the beginning of a person's religious experience. He is the divine foundation of faith, truth, and righteousness, the divine Creator through whom all things were made, the source of life and the Light of the world. He became flesh and lived among humanity, revealing the Father's glory, grace, and truth, and through His own life in human nature He revealed methods of usefulness in saving souls. Though the world He made did not recognize Him and His own people rejected Him, those who receive Him and believe in His name are given power to become children of God, and His character is to be revealed in His followers, always refining, elevating, and ennobling the receiver into an agency through whom holy principles are worked out, never making him coarse, rough, harsh, or discourteous.
In the beginning means the Word already existed, before creation, before humanity and angels, before His earthly life, and from eternity. The following verses identify that preexistent One as the maker of all things and the source of life and light, and as the One who became flesh and from whose fullness people receive grace. He existed before His life on earth, entered the world He had made and became human, yet lived in it unrecognized and unhonored. This is essential instruction about Christ and heavenly things.
With God means personal relation and distinction: the Word was in union and oneness with the Father, yet God and Christ are two distinct personalities each acting with individual identity. He existed in the beginning in personal relation with God and fully divine, and He is Christ, the source of creation and life and the true light for humanity. Therefore believers are to look to Him, not to human beings, for strength, wisdom, and guidance, and knowing Him as Creator is part of true education that ennobles the intellect and expands the mind. He made all things, later became flesh and lived among humanity revealing the Father's glory, grace, and truth, though the world made through Him did not recognize Him and He came to His own people and they rejected Him.
Was God means full divinity: the Word was Himself God, God essentially and in the highest sense, equal with the Father, a personal self-existing God. He existed in the beginning with God and was God Himself, the Creator of the world in whose hands men's lives are, equal with the Father in dignity, glory, and blessedness. God created man through Him, forming the human body perfect but without life and then giving it life, intelligence, and power, setting its parts and faculties to work under law. Despite that supreme exaltation He showed no pride or display and exercised no tyrannical power, and for men to accept Him is not condescension but elevation to a high position, while men seize great power and lordly titles only because they do not see or believe Him. He gave His life so that a people could be redeemed and renewed in God's image, and He is the divine speaker whose teachings appear in both the Old and New Testaments.
The title Word means God's thought made audible, the wisdom of God, the Word of life, and the revealer of truth, of God's will, character, law, love, and life to humanity and angels. As God's thought made audible He came to reveal God's character and love to humanity and angels, and His life and self-sacrificing love make God known. God sent Him to the world to make known God's character and the laws of His kingdom after Israel failed in its trust to communicate the light given them, and through Him God has given revelations to people in every age. He presented truth to the Jewish people throughout the ages through prophets and others, and restored truths that had been lost or mixed with error so they could shine in the gospel with their original clarity. He is identified with the Word of life in connection with the apostle John's firsthand testimony of hearing, seeing, and touching Him. By Him the incorruptible seed, the word of God, was sown in the hearts of men, and receiving Christ as the Word of God brings the new birth, as divine truths impressed on the heart by the Holy Spirit awaken new conceptions and arouse dormant energies to cooperate with God, so that after His ascension the Spirit brought His teachings to the disciples' remembrance, their senses awoke, His life experience became theirs, and the Word bore testimony through them.
Eternal Preexistence with God
Christ, the Word, already existed from the beginning, was with God and with the Father from eternal ages, one with the eternal Father in nature, character and purpose before the worlds were made and before coming to earth to visit the world. Though equal with God, He descended from His throne and clothed His divinity with humanity to reach fallen humanity and announce the gift of everlasting life. His previous existence with the Father before coming to earth indicates His divinity, and without God's Word people could not know that Jesus had visited the world or know of His divinity and prior existence with the Father. He is the only-begotten Son of God, and by Him the worlds were made.
He was one with the Father before the angels were created, ever at the Father's right hand with a place of honor, holding pre-eminence over all the angelic host. Christ alone held oneness with God and rightful command over heaven, which Satan, a high and exalted angel next in honor to Christ, in envy and ambition sought to assume. His mild and loving rule and loving authority had always been accepted and willingly obeyed by the heavenly host, and the Father's honoring Him did not take away any honor He already possessed. His supremacy was part of God's established order and brought blessing to those under His authority, so that Lucifer's demand for equal authority challenged this divine decree.
He was present at the creation of the world as Commander in the heavenly courts, the Word who was in the beginning with God and was God, by whom all things were made. The Son shares the Father's divine equality and authority, so that the Son's presence represents the Father's presence and His word is to be obeyed as the Father's. In creating the earth and every living thing and in appointing Adam monarch of the world Christ had created, the Son works in union with the Father under God's supervision, carrying out the Father's will rather than acting independently. As Commander He came to reveal heavenly things to fallen humanity as the way, the truth and the life, possessing both divine and human natures by clothing His divinity with humanity to accomplish complete redemption and restore people to the privileges of the higher life.
The verse is a plain statement of Christ's pre-existence, divinity and relationship with the Father, definite divinely revealed truth and a precious disclosure of Christ's identity, creative work and perfect unity with God. Though He appeared in a distinct human personality and spoke in simple language, His authority was God's authority, and He is the source of all wisdom. It gives light of heavenly origin brought from heaven through John about the personality of God, and counting that light as nothing robs God's people of their past experience and gives them false science instead, which followed to its logical conclusion sweeps away the whole Christian economy.
Denying His pre-existence denies His divinity and is a total denial of Christ, turning from the miraculous incarnation and other truths of heavenly origin. He lived before His birth on earth as the only-begotten Son of God, one with the Father from the beginning, fully divine and a personal Saviour, and the worlds were made by Him. This confusion about the mystery of God belongs to the latter times when one truth after another is corrupted through seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. That the Word was with God and was God directly contradicts the claim that the Son began to exist at His first advent, for He existed before His first coming and before He assumed human nature.
Full Divinity and Unity
Christ was one with the eternal Father in nature, character, and purpose, in perfect unity from the beginning as the Word who was with God and was God. He shared supremacy with the Father and received the allegiance of heaven equally with the Father. As the only begotten of God and first-begotten Son, He alone could enter fully into all of God's counsels and purposes. The Father worked through the Son in creating all heavenly beings, and the Son holds an exalted position equal with the Father with access to all the councils of God and supremacy over the angels.
Despite that supreme exaltation as Creator of the world in whose hands men's lives are, He showed no pride or display and exercised no tyrannical power. His rule was mild and loving, already established and willingly obeyed by the heavenly host before the angels' honoring added nothing He did not already possess. For men to accept Him is therefore not condescension but elevation to a high position, while men seize great power and lordly titles only because they do not see or believe Him.
He is the image of the Father and the express image of the invisible God, who alone can reveal the character of the Deity to humanity. His divine identity cannot be truly represented by human art, for no physical description was given for artists to copy. His life is everlasting and belongs to no other being, original, unborrowed, and underived, which no one can take from Him.
Creator of All Things
The Word who was in the beginning, who was with God and who was God, is the Creator by whom all things were made and without whom nothing was made that was made. He is the divine Creator of the world, of all worlds, and of every living thing. In creating the earth and every living thing He worked in union with the Father, carrying out the Father's will rather than acting independently, so that His presence represents the Father's presence and His word is to be obeyed as the Father's. This is definite truth about Christ and a foundation for understanding His history, including His first coming as a helpless baby and the terms of salvation and the history of sin. Because all natural things are the work of His own hand, He chose the open air as His sanctuary and gave the largest part of His lessons in the highways of travel where common people coming and going could hear gladly, connecting His lessons with the most common familiar things as His lesson book to represent truth and seeing in them more than finite eyes and senses comprehend, while the glory of God reflected in His works pronounced good may be beheld with open face in creation.
Under God's supervision Adam was appointed monarch of the world Christ had created as Commander in the heavenly courts present at creation. Jehovah made the world through Jesus Christ in six days of work, with man as the last grand work coming from His hand, leading directly to the ordaining of the Sabbath. Because the Sabbath memorializes creation through the Son of God, it is a token of Christ's love and power. Creation itself and the Sabbath memorial of creation therefore testify to Christ's love and power.
As Creator He gave Eve to Adam as a helpmeet and formed marriage as His own institution in Eden. Woman as a helpmeet and the Sabbath as a day of rest were bestowed then as two great gifts. The same One who instituted marriage in the beginning commenced His public ministry by performing His first miracle at the marriage festival, and by His presence there sanctioned marriage, recognizing it as sacred and blessed. The Word's role in creation makes God's word the authentic account of the world's creation. That word is to be studied as the chief source of truth rather than ruled over by human wisdom, and it preserves the cost of redemption in that the One who was equal with the Father gave His life so that a people could be redeemed from everything earthly and renewed in God's image.
Life and Light
In him was life, and that life was the light of men, for he is the divine Creator and the source of life, wisdom, and the true light for humanity. Because he is that source and one in perfect unity with God, speaking with God's own authority though appearing in distinct human personality and simple language, believers are to look to him and not to human beings for strength, wisdom, and guidance. He made all things, and the Word who became human revealed the Father's glory full of grace and truth, shining in darkness.
That life is not physical life but immortality, the life which belongs exclusively to God. Physical life is received by each person, is not eternal or immortal, is taken back by the Life-giver, and is beyond man's control. Christ's life is original, unborrowed, and underived, which no one can take from him.
This life is not inherent in man and cannot be earned, but man can possess it only through Christ as a free gift by believing in Christ as personal Saviour, the open fountain of life for the world. Eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent, and Christ gives the life that measures with the life of God.
The light shines in darkness, and the darkness does not comprehend, overcome, or understand it. Those who turn from him follow paths away from life and truth, while God's people must comprehend this light and not be among those who fail to comprehend it. This light is precious treasure of truth to be accepted and prized above silver and gold, diamonds and earthly gain, and to be carried to thousands in their own language. Together with John 3, this presents Christ as the foundation of true, saving education, whose full meaning can be received only through new birth and the sanctifying work of the Spirit.
Christ is the true Light lighting every man coming into the world, and the Light of the world to a guilty world, sent from the throne of the Infinite to visit men full of grace and truth with the glory of the only begotten of the Father. John was sent from God to bear witness of that Light so that all might believe, though he was not the Light himself. Though that true Light shone in darkness, the darkness did not comprehend it; though he was in the world he had made, the world did not know him, and when he came to his own his own did not receive him.
He came into the world to penetrate the darkness covering the earth, break Satan's hold on minds, and bring the glorious prospect of immortality. His life and power are present in God's Word, and the life of God that gives life to the world is in his word. By that word he healed disease, cast out demons, stilled the sea, and raised the dead, so that people bore witness that his word was with power, and to him as the great miracle-worker belongs all glory for miracles. The same word he spoke on earth he had spoken through all the Old Testament, and the whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ and source of spiritual power that, received personally and assimilated into actions and character, sustains spiritual life as food sustains physical life, strengthening the soul and perfecting experience with immortal vigor and lasting joy.
Incarnation and Earthly Ministry
The Word became flesh and dwelt among men, full of grace and truth, with glory as of the only begotten of the Father. That coming was the Creator entering the world He had made, the eternal Word who was with God and was God appearing as Jesus. In Him God's thought was made audible to reveal God's character and love and glory to humanity and to angels, and His life of self-sacrificing love makes God known. He is the world's Light who points people to heaven through obedience.
In taking human nature the divine nature was united with human nature, so that God was manifested in the flesh. His divinity was clothed and veiled in humanity, the outward display of divine glory veiled, though He came to His own. He voluntarily became human without ceasing to be divine.
He entered the world He had made as a helpless baby, the humble Man of Nazareth, largely unrecognized in His true character as divine. He who dwelt in eternal light as one with God laid aside glory to accept human weakness, living in poverty and humility unrecognized and unhonored. At His baptism He laid off glory and became one with people to bear the burden of guilt and woe, with the redemption of the world resting upon Him in that state. He came as a Child yet Mighty God, made flesh and dwelling among men full of grace and truth, the Light of the world to a guilty world. Though Prince of Peace, no one on earth understood Him, and His earthly life and ministry must be spent in solitude while His purpose to save the fallen race remained steadfast.
He shared human life and its temptations while remaining without sin, mortal as man yet as God the fountain of life. By taking human nature He became fully human, sharing human needs and being tempted and tried, yet remaining sinless. His compassionate, considerate life of service revealed God's character, as He compassionately bears burdens and helps people. His life in human nature reveals how to serve in saving souls, and His character is to be revealed in His followers.
He is the precious Teacher, the divine Teacher sent to meet humanity's need, the Instructor at His first coming, the Eternal Word come in human nature to live among people. He is the divine expression of God's mind and wisdom who knew the principles of saving truth because He stood in God's councils, and He taught with divine authority and personal knowledge. His teaching comes from God and carries God's own authority, presenting truth without anything false or nonessential. He was the foundation of Israel's ritual and economy and of the Jewish economy whose rites and symbols presented the gospel, the One who proclaimed the law upon Sinai, making heaven's treasures available to fallen humanity so people could be freed from sin and receive the words of eternal life.
His becoming flesh was profound humility and a striking expression of God's love, a profound mystery showing His greatness and power as the only Mediator between God and humanity. It was undertaken with full knowledge of the suffering required to make atonement for sin. He freely laid down His life to bear the world's sins, save humanity from eternal death, and bring life and immortality to light.
Though eternal, the beginning and ending, He appeared on earth like an unremarkable plant growing from dry ground. He was rejected and treated as though destroyed, but God preserved Him, hidden from human sight as the vine's unseen root, while its branches and fruit remained visible. Divine yet clothed in human flesh, He stood before His own creatures to be judged and patiently endured their abuse, though He brought light and life as the foundation of the Jewish economy in human flesh. His enemies rejected the light and life He brought.
The incarnate Word of God stands pre-eminent through the ages as the Faithful and True Witness and the fullness for both Jew and Gentile.
Rejection and Reception
He was in the world He had made, yet the world did not know Him and did not recognize Him, though He is the eternal Word who was in the beginning with God and was God, by whom all things were made and without whom nothing was made, in whom was life and that life was the light of men lighting every man coming into the world. That true Light shone in darkness, yet the darkness did not comprehend, overcome, or understand it. He came to His own and His own did not receive Him, continuing the rejection of every provision of Heaven since Cain lifted his hand against Abel. This rejection of Christ is repeated through history and will recur before His return, as Satan's deceptions lead people to accept a counterfeit Christ.
Because all natural things are the work of His own hand, He chose the open air as His sanctuary and gave the largest part of His work and lessons there in the highways of travel where common people coming and going could hear gladly. He connected His lessons with and illustrated them by the most common familiar things as His lesson book to represent truth, seeing in them more than finite eyes and senses comprehend. The glory of God is reflected in His works, so God may be beheld with open face in creation which He pronounced good.
To as many as receive Him and believe on His name He gives power to become sons of God and God's spiritual children, born again and renewed in righteousness and holiness. Receiving Christ and confessing Him as personal Saviour brings people into close relationship with God through the love the Father has bestowed, and this relationship is kept day by day by being kept by the power of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among men full of grace and truth, revealing the Father's glory, and of His fullness all receive grace for grace, grace in the soul flowing out to others so that more grace flows in to be given back to God in willing offerings. Having that abiding Christ in thought is shown by revealing His glory to the world in unity and love for one another and compassionate tenderness for each other.
Receiving Christ as the Word of God brings the new birth, for by Him the incorruptible seed, the word of God, was sown in the hearts of men. Divine truths impressed on the heart by the Holy Spirit awaken new conceptions and arouse dormant energies to cooperate with God. The Spirit changes receivers to reflect His likeness and turns their love from self to God and Christ. After His ascension the Holy Spirit brought His teachings to the disciples' remembrance, their senses awoke, and His life experience became theirs, so that the Word bore testimony through them. The divine Word active in creation is also the means by which the new birth is accomplished, for the Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, honoring and vindicating God's law.
Salvation Grace and Renewal
Of His fullness all receive grace for grace, grace in the soul flowing out to others so that more grace flows in to be given back to God in willing offerings and thanksgiving. The Word already existed in the beginning, was with God, and was God, the maker of all things and the source of life and light, who became flesh full of grace and truth. The world He had made did not know Him, and He came to His own and His own received Him not, but as many as received Him and believe on His name receive power to become sons of God.
These words reveal Christ's divinity and lead people to believe He is the Son of God, and their divine authority and majesty can awaken faith and mark the beginning of religious experience. Faith and hope rest not on feelings but on God, who is identified in the verse as divine. His pre-existence from the beginning is a sure foundation for faith, for though divine He humbled Himself to become human and gave His life to save a perishing world.
When man fell Christ announced His purpose to become man's substitute and surety, and afterward was made flesh and dwelt among men full of grace and truth to bear the burden of guilt and woe. At the appointed time, when evil seemed to control the world, He appeared as Instructor at His first coming to give proof of God's love by dying for the fallen race, gathering the penalty resting on the sinful race into His own pure sinless soul and offering Himself as a sacrifice. The redemption of the world rested upon Him in that state, when at His baptism He laid off His glory and accepted the weakness of humanity to become one with people, and though He was the Prince of Peace no one understood Him and His earthly life and ministry were spent in solitude while His purpose to save the fallen race remained steadfast.
The Word, who existed from the beginning and was equal with the Father, gave His life so that a people could be redeemed from everything earthly and renewed in God's image. When the fullness of time came God sent forth His Son, and the eternal Word appeared in human form to put His hand a second time to forming man in the image of God after Satan had caused that divine similitude to be obliterated through temptation, recreating man and bringing with Him all grace, all healing, and all efficiency for that restoration. His role in creation makes God's word the authentic account of the world's creation, to be studied as the chief source of truth.
God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth, to restore the moral image of God in man and to give everlasting life to all who believe in Him. Made flesh He dwelt among men, yet the world He had made did not know Him and His own did not receive Him, continuing the world's rejection of every provision of Heaven since Cain lifted his hand against Abel. The One who as Son of God was equal with the Father and made the worlds died to save every soul willing to come to Him.
He is the bread of God come down from heaven to give life to the world, the bread of life so that whoever comes to Him never hungers and whoever believes on Him never thirsts, revealing glory as of the only begotten of the Father. He came with divinity clothed and veiled in humanity as speech is to thought, the manifestation of the invisible God and the wisdom of God, to reveal the Father's attributes and nature in His words, character, power, majesty, purity and benevolence, with divinity flashing through humanity in softening, subduing light. He embodied God's law, which is a transcript of God's character, came in human form to live it, bring salvation, fulfill every requirement, show the law in its purity without abolishing it, and magnify it and make it honorable after Himself proclaiming it from Mount Sinai to His chosen people in the wilderness, laying aside the glory He had with the Father to minister to men. Though His purity revealed God, the world's darkness and depravity kept many from recognizing Him as the Son of God, with an unbelief in spite of overwhelming evidence that only Satan could inspire. He is the guidebook whose words must be received and obeyed, the means by which the new birth is accomplished, manifested to destroy the works of the devil, honoring and vindicating God's law and teaching that the law and the prophets rest on the principles of the Ten Commandments.
Jesus as God's dear Son was one with the Father before the angels were created, ever at the Father's right hand, holding pre-eminence over all the angelic host and rightful command over heaven as part of God's established order bringing blessing to those under His authority. Satan was a high and exalted angel, next in honor to Christ, yet in envy and ambition sought to assume the oneness with God and rightful command that Christ alone held, and Lucifer's demand for equal authority challenged this divine decree. The verse testifies to Christ's divine identity as the Saviour who entered the conflict against Satan and the violation of God's law.
Scripture Education and Obedience
In the beginning was the Word, and that opening with the living oracles lies at the very foundation of all true education. Together with John 3 it presents Christ as the foundation of true, saving education. Its full meaning can be received only through new birth and the sanctifying work of the Spirit. A distinction must be kept between the sacred and the common, and human wisdom must not be placed at the head as essential for education or allowed to rule over the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent. This truth does not change when language changes and study books claim improvements.
Studying this Word impresses the mind with the knowledge of God the Creator and of Jesus Christ, and gives true education that ennobles the intellect and expands the mind. The Word is Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, existing in the beginning in personal relation with God and Himself God, by whom all things were made, in whom is life, and whose life is the light of men shining in darkness that does not comprehend it. There is constant progress in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent, but those wise above a Thus saith the Lord need to become fools to be wise. As darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people, the light coming from the Father of lights is not discerned, and just to the extent mists and fogs encompass minds there is ignorance and misconception of God, as seen when churches wise in their own conceits cannot read the plain command about the Seventh-day Sabbath.
The whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ and the only source of spiritual power. His life and power are present in God's Word, by which He healed disease, cast out demons, stilled the sea, and raised the dead, so that people bore witness His word was with power, the same word He spoke on earth as He had spoken through all the Old Testament. As food sustains physical life, God's Word sustains spiritual life. Each person must receive it personally, not only through another's understanding, and take it in and assimilate it into every action and attribute of character. So received it strengthens the soul, perfects Christian experience, and brings lasting joy with immortal vigor and joys that abide forever.
Without God's Word people could not know that Jesus had visited the world or know of His divinity and prior existence with the Father. The Word of God makes this knowledge of Christ available, that He existed with the Father before coming to earth and before visiting the world. God summons the world to listen to the Sent One, the Word who was God come in human form to live among men full of grace and truth bearing His commission from the Excellent Glory. He spoke with the authority of true greatness and demanded submissive attention, and every word He speaks is to be received as law and life. As guide His teachings are to be received and obeyed, for receiving the Word means receiving Christ, and building on the words of Christ means building on Christ Himself as the Rock of Ages, the only foundation on which a character that will endure can be built.
God did not give a physical description of Christ for artists to copy, for as the image of the Father He cannot be truly represented by human art, but presented Him in John's words. Teachers and students are to bring that Word into every action, study, and physical task, and living connection with God forms a Christlike atmosphere. Christ's life in human nature reveals how to serve in saving souls, and His character is to be revealed in His followers. Truth about Him when genuinely believed never makes the receiver coarse, rough, harsh, or discourteous but always refines, elevates, and ennobles him and makes him an agency through whom holy principles are worked out. Having that abiding Christ in thought is shown by revealing His glory to the world in unity and love for one another and compassionate tenderness for each other.
The verse is precious treasure of truth to be accepted and appreciated and prized above silver and gold, diamonds and earthly gain. It is to be carried to thousands in their own language in pamphlets and tracts. Those who call themselves God's people must comprehend this light of life in Him shining in darkness that does not comprehend it, and not be among those who fail to comprehend it. These words express the church's need to know the Holy Spirit's work from experience, joining the Word's life-giving and enlightening work and His becoming flesh whose glory was seen as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Spirit gives life, blesses its receiver, and makes that person a blessing, and the Spirit of God in Christ, with whom Word is identified as Truth and Life, brings the plan of redemption into vital contact with the human heart, drawing the world to its divine Author.
The Creator came into the world as Jesus, full of grace and truth; He is the world's Light and points people to heaven through obedience. Truth came down from heaven in a Person, the beloved Son whom God declares men must hear, who made all things and in whom was life that is the light of men lighting every man coming into the world. Though equal with God He descended from His throne and clothed His divinity with humanity to reach fallen humanity and announce the gift of everlasting life. By possessing both divine and human natures He was able to accomplish complete redemption for the human race and restore people to the privileges of the higher life, and by taking humanity upon Himself He could reach people and meet the powers of darkness with the strength of God. He came into the world as its Light and Great Teacher and as Commander in the heavenly courts to reveal heavenly things, while His human humiliation concealed His divine glory and claims so He was to be recognized through the testimony of Scripture, not outward display.
He was the foundation of the ritual and economy of Israel and the One who proclaimed the law upon Sinai, and at His baptism He laid off His glory and accepted the weakness of humanity, becoming one with people to bear the burden of guilt and woe, with redemption resting upon Him in that state. Though He was the Prince of Peace, no one on earth understood Him, and His earthly life and ministry must be spent in solitude while His purpose to save the fallen race remained steadfast. Though that true Light shone in darkness, the darkness did not comprehend it; though He was in the world He had made, the world did not know Him, and when He came to His own His own did not receive Him.
In the beginning the Word already existed from eternity before anything was made, and that Word is Jesus Christ the only-begotten Son of God. He was in close union and oneness with the Father as a distinct personality, and He was Himself fully God, equal with the Father in nature and authority. As the divine Creator He made all things and all worlds in union with the Father, and in Him was original unborrowed life which is the light of men. He became flesh and dwelt among men, veiling His divine glory in humanity to reveal the Father's character and love full of grace and truth. Those who receive Him by believing on His name are given power to become sons of God, receiving of His fullness grace for grace and eternal life as a free gift through Him.
Phrases and Their Sense
The Word in the verse is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten Son, the first-begotten Son, the eternal Son, and the Mediator between God and humanity. He already existed in the beginning, was with God, and was God, and the beloved disciple's testimony identifies Him as fully divine and as the one who became human. These words reveal His divinity and lead people to believe that He is the Son of God, and their divine authority and majesty can awaken faith and mark the beginning of a person's religious experience. He is the divine foundation of faith, truth, and righteousness, the divine Creator through whom all things were made, the source of life and the Light of the world. He became flesh and lived among humanity, revealing the Father's glory, grace, and truth, and through His own life in human nature He revealed methods of usefulness in saving souls. Though the world He made did not recognize Him and His own people rejected Him, those who receive Him and believe in His name are given power to become children of God, and His character is to be revealed in His followers, always refining, elevating, and ennobling the receiver into an agency through whom holy principles are worked out, never making him coarse, rough, harsh, or discourteous.
In the beginning means the Word already existed, before creation, before humanity and angels, before His earthly life, and from eternity. The following verses identify that preexistent One as the maker of all things and the source of life and light, and as the One who became flesh and from whose fullness people receive grace. He existed before His life on earth, entered the world He had made and became human, yet lived in it unrecognized and unhonored. This is essential instruction about Christ and heavenly things.
With God means personal relation and distinction: the Word was in union and oneness with the Father, yet God and Christ are two distinct personalities each acting with individual identity. He existed in the beginning in personal relation with God and fully divine, and He is Christ, the source of creation and life and the true light for humanity. Therefore believers are to look to Him, not to human beings, for strength, wisdom, and guidance, and knowing Him as Creator is part of true education that ennobles the intellect and expands the mind. He made all things, later became flesh and lived among humanity revealing the Father's glory, grace, and truth, though the world made through Him did not recognize Him and He came to His own people and they rejected Him.
Was God means full divinity: the Word was Himself God, God essentially and in the highest sense, equal with the Father, a personal self-existing God. He existed in the beginning with God and was God Himself, the Creator of the world in whose hands men's lives are, equal with the Father in dignity, glory, and blessedness. God created man through Him, forming the human body perfect but without life and then giving it life, intelligence, and power, setting its parts and faculties to work under law. Despite that supreme exaltation He showed no pride or display and exercised no tyrannical power, and for men to accept Him is not condescension but elevation to a high position, while men seize great power and lordly titles only because they do not see or believe Him. He gave His life so that a people could be redeemed and renewed in God's image, and He is the divine speaker whose teachings appear in both the Old and New Testaments.
The title Word means God's thought made audible, the wisdom of God, the Word of life, and the revealer of truth, of God's will, character, law, love, and life to humanity and angels. As God's thought made audible He came to reveal God's character and love to humanity and angels, and His life and self-sacrificing love make God known. God sent Him to the world to make known God's character and the laws of His kingdom after Israel failed in its trust to communicate the light given them, and through Him God has given revelations to people in every age. He presented truth to the Jewish people throughout the ages through prophets and others, and restored truths that had been lost or mixed with error so they could shine in the gospel with their original clarity. He is identified with the Word of life in connection with the apostle John's firsthand testimony of hearing, seeing, and touching Him. By Him the incorruptible seed, the word of God, was sown in the hearts of men, and receiving Christ as the Word of God brings the new birth, as divine truths impressed on the heart by the Holy Spirit awaken new conceptions and arouse dormant energies to cooperate with God, so that after His ascension the Spirit brought His teachings to the disciples' remembrance, their senses awoke, His life experience became theirs, and the Word bore testimony through them.
Eternal Preexistence with God
Christ, the Word, already existed from the beginning, was with God and with the Father from eternal ages, one with the eternal Father in nature, character and purpose before the worlds were made and before coming to earth to visit the world. Though equal with God, He descended from His throne and clothed His divinity with humanity to reach fallen humanity and announce the gift of everlasting life. His previous existence with the Father before coming to earth indicates His divinity, and without God's Word people could not know that Jesus had visited the world or know of His divinity and prior existence with the Father. He is the only-begotten Son of God, and by Him the worlds were made.
He was one with the Father before the angels were created, ever at the Father's right hand with a place of honor, holding pre-eminence over all the angelic host. Christ alone held oneness with God and rightful command over heaven, which Satan, a high and exalted angel next in honor to Christ, in envy and ambition sought to assume. His mild and loving rule and loving authority had always been accepted and willingly obeyed by the heavenly host, and the Father's honoring Him did not take away any honor He already possessed. His supremacy was part of God's established order and brought blessing to those under His authority, so that Lucifer's demand for equal authority challenged this divine decree.
He was present at the creation of the world as Commander in the heavenly courts, the Word who was in the beginning with God and was God, by whom all things were made. The Son shares the Father's divine equality and authority, so that the Son's presence represents the Father's presence and His word is to be obeyed as the Father's. In creating the earth and every living thing and in appointing Adam monarch of the world Christ had created, the Son works in union with the Father under God's supervision, carrying out the Father's will rather than acting independently. As Commander He came to reveal heavenly things to fallen humanity as the way, the truth and the life, possessing both divine and human natures by clothing His divinity with humanity to accomplish complete redemption and restore people to the privileges of the higher life.
The verse is a plain statement of Christ's pre-existence, divinity and relationship with the Father, definite divinely revealed truth and a precious disclosure of Christ's identity, creative work and perfect unity with God. Though He appeared in a distinct human personality and spoke in simple language, His authority was God's authority, and He is the source of all wisdom. It gives light of heavenly origin brought from heaven through John about the personality of God, and counting that light as nothing robs God's people of their past experience and gives them false science instead, which followed to its logical conclusion sweeps away the whole Christian economy.
Denying His pre-existence denies His divinity and is a total denial of Christ, turning from the miraculous incarnation and other truths of heavenly origin. He lived before His birth on earth as the only-begotten Son of God, one with the Father from the beginning, fully divine and a personal Saviour, and the worlds were made by Him. This confusion about the mystery of God belongs to the latter times when one truth after another is corrupted through seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. That the Word was with God and was God directly contradicts the claim that the Son began to exist at His first advent, for He existed before His first coming and before He assumed human nature.
Full Divinity and Unity
Christ was one with the eternal Father in nature, character, and purpose, in perfect unity from the beginning as the Word who was with God and was God. He shared supremacy with the Father and received the allegiance of heaven equally with the Father. As the only begotten of God and first-begotten Son, He alone could enter fully into all of God's counsels and purposes. The Father worked through the Son in creating all heavenly beings, and the Son holds an exalted position equal with the Father with access to all the councils of God and supremacy over the angels.
Despite that supreme exaltation as Creator of the world in whose hands men's lives are, He showed no pride or display and exercised no tyrannical power. His rule was mild and loving, already established and willingly obeyed by the heavenly host before the angels' honoring added nothing He did not already possess. For men to accept Him is therefore not condescension but elevation to a high position, while men seize great power and lordly titles only because they do not see or believe Him.
He is the image of the Father and the express image of the invisible God, who alone can reveal the character of the Deity to humanity. His divine identity cannot be truly represented by human art, for no physical description was given for artists to copy. His life is everlasting and belongs to no other being, original, unborrowed, and underived, which no one can take from Him.
Creator of All Things
The Word who was in the beginning, who was with God and who was God, is the Creator by whom all things were made and without whom nothing was made that was made. He is the divine Creator of the world, of all worlds, and of every living thing. In creating the earth and every living thing He worked in union with the Father, carrying out the Father's will rather than acting independently, so that His presence represents the Father's presence and His word is to be obeyed as the Father's. This is definite truth about Christ and a foundation for understanding His history, including His first coming as a helpless baby and the terms of salvation and the history of sin. Because all natural things are the work of His own hand, He chose the open air as His sanctuary and gave the largest part of His lessons in the highways of travel where common people coming and going could hear gladly, connecting His lessons with the most common familiar things as His lesson book to represent truth and seeing in them more than finite eyes and senses comprehend, while the glory of God reflected in His works pronounced good may be beheld with open face in creation.
Under God's supervision Adam was appointed monarch of the world Christ had created as Commander in the heavenly courts present at creation. Jehovah made the world through Jesus Christ in six days of work, with man as the last grand work coming from His hand, leading directly to the ordaining of the Sabbath. Because the Sabbath memorializes creation through the Son of God, it is a token of Christ's love and power. Creation itself and the Sabbath memorial of creation therefore testify to Christ's love and power.
As Creator He gave Eve to Adam as a helpmeet and formed marriage as His own institution in Eden. Woman as a helpmeet and the Sabbath as a day of rest were bestowed then as two great gifts. The same One who instituted marriage in the beginning commenced His public ministry by performing His first miracle at the marriage festival, and by His presence there sanctioned marriage, recognizing it as sacred and blessed. The Word's role in creation makes God's word the authentic account of the world's creation. That word is to be studied as the chief source of truth rather than ruled over by human wisdom, and it preserves the cost of redemption in that the One who was equal with the Father gave His life so that a people could be redeemed from everything earthly and renewed in God's image.
Life and Light
In him was life, and that life was the light of men, for he is the divine Creator and the source of life, wisdom, and the true light for humanity. Because he is that source and one in perfect unity with God, speaking with God's own authority though appearing in distinct human personality and simple language, believers are to look to him and not to human beings for strength, wisdom, and guidance. He made all things, and the Word who became human revealed the Father's glory full of grace and truth, shining in darkness.
That life is not physical life but immortality, the life which belongs exclusively to God. Physical life is received by each person, is not eternal or immortal, is taken back by the Life-giver, and is beyond man's control. Christ's life is original, unborrowed, and underived, which no one can take from him.
This life is not inherent in man and cannot be earned, but man can possess it only through Christ as a free gift by believing in Christ as personal Saviour, the open fountain of life for the world. Eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent, and Christ gives the life that measures with the life of God.
The light shines in darkness, and the darkness does not comprehend, overcome, or understand it. Those who turn from him follow paths away from life and truth, while God's people must comprehend this light and not be among those who fail to comprehend it. This light is precious treasure of truth to be accepted and prized above silver and gold, diamonds and earthly gain, and to be carried to thousands in their own language. Together with John 3, this presents Christ as the foundation of true, saving education, whose full meaning can be received only through new birth and the sanctifying work of the Spirit.
Christ is the true Light lighting every man coming into the world, and the Light of the world to a guilty world, sent from the throne of the Infinite to visit men full of grace and truth with the glory of the only begotten of the Father. John was sent from God to bear witness of that Light so that all might believe, though he was not the Light himself. Though that true Light shone in darkness, the darkness did not comprehend it; though he was in the world he had made, the world did not know him, and when he came to his own his own did not receive him.
He came into the world to penetrate the darkness covering the earth, break Satan's hold on minds, and bring the glorious prospect of immortality. His life and power are present in God's Word, and the life of God that gives life to the world is in his word. By that word he healed disease, cast out demons, stilled the sea, and raised the dead, so that people bore witness that his word was with power, and to him as the great miracle-worker belongs all glory for miracles. The same word he spoke on earth he had spoken through all the Old Testament, and the whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ and source of spiritual power that, received personally and assimilated into actions and character, sustains spiritual life as food sustains physical life, strengthening the soul and perfecting experience with immortal vigor and lasting joy.
Incarnation and Earthly Ministry
The Word became flesh and dwelt among men, full of grace and truth, with glory as of the only begotten of the Father. That coming was the Creator entering the world He had made, the eternal Word who was with God and was God appearing as Jesus. In Him God's thought was made audible to reveal God's character and love and glory to humanity and to angels, and His life of self-sacrificing love makes God known. He is the world's Light who points people to heaven through obedience.
In taking human nature the divine nature was united with human nature, so that God was manifested in the flesh. His divinity was clothed and veiled in humanity, the outward display of divine glory veiled, though He came to His own. He voluntarily became human without ceasing to be divine.
He entered the world He had made as a helpless baby, the humble Man of Nazareth, largely unrecognized in His true character as divine. He who dwelt in eternal light as one with God laid aside glory to accept human weakness, living in poverty and humility unrecognized and unhonored. At His baptism He laid off glory and became one with people to bear the burden of guilt and woe, with the redemption of the world resting upon Him in that state. He came as a Child yet Mighty God, made flesh and dwelling among men full of grace and truth, the Light of the world to a guilty world. Though Prince of Peace, no one on earth understood Him, and His earthly life and ministry must be spent in solitude while His purpose to save the fallen race remained steadfast.
He shared human life and its temptations while remaining without sin, mortal as man yet as God the fountain of life. By taking human nature He became fully human, sharing human needs and being tempted and tried, yet remaining sinless. His compassionate, considerate life of service revealed God's character, as He compassionately bears burdens and helps people. His life in human nature reveals how to serve in saving souls, and His character is to be revealed in His followers.
He is the precious Teacher, the divine Teacher sent to meet humanity's need, the Instructor at His first coming, the Eternal Word come in human nature to live among people. He is the divine expression of God's mind and wisdom who knew the principles of saving truth because He stood in God's councils, and He taught with divine authority and personal knowledge. His teaching comes from God and carries God's own authority, presenting truth without anything false or nonessential. He was the foundation of Israel's ritual and economy and of the Jewish economy whose rites and symbols presented the gospel, the One who proclaimed the law upon Sinai, making heaven's treasures available to fallen humanity so people could be freed from sin and receive the words of eternal life.
His becoming flesh was profound humility and a striking expression of God's love, a profound mystery showing His greatness and power as the only Mediator between God and humanity. It was undertaken with full knowledge of the suffering required to make atonement for sin. He freely laid down His life to bear the world's sins, save humanity from eternal death, and bring life and immortality to light.
Though eternal, the beginning and ending, He appeared on earth like an unremarkable plant growing from dry ground. He was rejected and treated as though destroyed, but God preserved Him, hidden from human sight as the vine's unseen root, while its branches and fruit remained visible. Divine yet clothed in human flesh, He stood before His own creatures to be judged and patiently endured their abuse, though He brought light and life as the foundation of the Jewish economy in human flesh. His enemies rejected the light and life He brought.
The incarnate Word of God stands pre-eminent through the ages as the Faithful and True Witness and the fullness for both Jew and Gentile.
Rejection and Reception
He was in the world He had made, yet the world did not know Him and did not recognize Him, though He is the eternal Word who was in the beginning with God and was God, by whom all things were made and without whom nothing was made, in whom was life and that life was the light of men lighting every man coming into the world. That true Light shone in darkness, yet the darkness did not comprehend, overcome, or understand it. He came to His own and His own did not receive Him, continuing the rejection of every provision of Heaven since Cain lifted his hand against Abel. This rejection of Christ is repeated through history and will recur before His return, as Satan's deceptions lead people to accept a counterfeit Christ.
Because all natural things are the work of His own hand, He chose the open air as His sanctuary and gave the largest part of His work and lessons there in the highways of travel where common people coming and going could hear gladly. He connected His lessons with and illustrated them by the most common familiar things as His lesson book to represent truth, seeing in them more than finite eyes and senses comprehend. The glory of God is reflected in His works, so God may be beheld with open face in creation which He pronounced good.
To as many as receive Him and believe on His name He gives power to become sons of God and God's spiritual children, born again and renewed in righteousness and holiness. Receiving Christ and confessing Him as personal Saviour brings people into close relationship with God through the love the Father has bestowed, and this relationship is kept day by day by being kept by the power of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among men full of grace and truth, revealing the Father's glory, and of His fullness all receive grace for grace, grace in the soul flowing out to others so that more grace flows in to be given back to God in willing offerings. Having that abiding Christ in thought is shown by revealing His glory to the world in unity and love for one another and compassionate tenderness for each other.
Receiving Christ as the Word of God brings the new birth, for by Him the incorruptible seed, the word of God, was sown in the hearts of men. Divine truths impressed on the heart by the Holy Spirit awaken new conceptions and arouse dormant energies to cooperate with God. The Spirit changes receivers to reflect His likeness and turns their love from self to God and Christ. After His ascension the Holy Spirit brought His teachings to the disciples' remembrance, their senses awoke, and His life experience became theirs, so that the Word bore testimony through them. The divine Word active in creation is also the means by which the new birth is accomplished, for the Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, honoring and vindicating God's law.
Salvation Grace and Renewal
Of His fullness all receive grace for grace, grace in the soul flowing out to others so that more grace flows in to be given back to God in willing offerings and thanksgiving. The Word already existed in the beginning, was with God, and was God, the maker of all things and the source of life and light, who became flesh full of grace and truth. The world He had made did not know Him, and He came to His own and His own received Him not, but as many as received Him and believe on His name receive power to become sons of God.
These words reveal Christ's divinity and lead people to believe He is the Son of God, and their divine authority and majesty can awaken faith and mark the beginning of religious experience. Faith and hope rest not on feelings but on God, who is identified in the verse as divine. His pre-existence from the beginning is a sure foundation for faith, for though divine He humbled Himself to become human and gave His life to save a perishing world.
When man fell Christ announced His purpose to become man's substitute and surety, and afterward was made flesh and dwelt among men full of grace and truth to bear the burden of guilt and woe. At the appointed time, when evil seemed to control the world, He appeared as Instructor at His first coming to give proof of God's love by dying for the fallen race, gathering the penalty resting on the sinful race into His own pure sinless soul and offering Himself as a sacrifice. The redemption of the world rested upon Him in that state, when at His baptism He laid off His glory and accepted the weakness of humanity to become one with people, and though He was the Prince of Peace no one understood Him and His earthly life and ministry were spent in solitude while His purpose to save the fallen race remained steadfast.
The Word, who existed from the beginning and was equal with the Father, gave His life so that a people could be redeemed from everything earthly and renewed in God's image. When the fullness of time came God sent forth His Son, and the eternal Word appeared in human form to put His hand a second time to forming man in the image of God after Satan had caused that divine similitude to be obliterated through temptation, recreating man and bringing with Him all grace, all healing, and all efficiency for that restoration. His role in creation makes God's word the authentic account of the world's creation, to be studied as the chief source of truth.
God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth, to restore the moral image of God in man and to give everlasting life to all who believe in Him. Made flesh He dwelt among men, yet the world He had made did not know Him and His own did not receive Him, continuing the world's rejection of every provision of Heaven since Cain lifted his hand against Abel. The One who as Son of God was equal with the Father and made the worlds died to save every soul willing to come to Him.
He is the bread of God come down from heaven to give life to the world, the bread of life so that whoever comes to Him never hungers and whoever believes on Him never thirsts, revealing glory as of the only begotten of the Father. He came with divinity clothed and veiled in humanity as speech is to thought, the manifestation of the invisible God and the wisdom of God, to reveal the Father's attributes and nature in His words, character, power, majesty, purity and benevolence, with divinity flashing through humanity in softening, subduing light. He embodied God's law, which is a transcript of God's character, came in human form to live it, bring salvation, fulfill every requirement, show the law in its purity without abolishing it, and magnify it and make it honorable after Himself proclaiming it from Mount Sinai to His chosen people in the wilderness, laying aside the glory He had with the Father to minister to men. Though His purity revealed God, the world's darkness and depravity kept many from recognizing Him as the Son of God, with an unbelief in spite of overwhelming evidence that only Satan could inspire. He is the guidebook whose words must be received and obeyed, the means by which the new birth is accomplished, manifested to destroy the works of the devil, honoring and vindicating God's law and teaching that the law and the prophets rest on the principles of the Ten Commandments.
Jesus as God's dear Son was one with the Father before the angels were created, ever at the Father's right hand, holding pre-eminence over all the angelic host and rightful command over heaven as part of God's established order bringing blessing to those under His authority. Satan was a high and exalted angel, next in honor to Christ, yet in envy and ambition sought to assume the oneness with God and rightful command that Christ alone held, and Lucifer's demand for equal authority challenged this divine decree. The verse testifies to Christ's divine identity as the Saviour who entered the conflict against Satan and the violation of God's law.
Scripture Education and Obedience
In the beginning was the Word, and that opening with the living oracles lies at the very foundation of all true education. Together with John 3 it presents Christ as the foundation of true, saving education. Its full meaning can be received only through new birth and the sanctifying work of the Spirit. A distinction must be kept between the sacred and the common, and human wisdom must not be placed at the head as essential for education or allowed to rule over the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent. This truth does not change when language changes and study books claim improvements.
Studying this Word impresses the mind with the knowledge of God the Creator and of Jesus Christ, and gives true education that ennobles the intellect and expands the mind. The Word is Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, existing in the beginning in personal relation with God and Himself God, by whom all things were made, in whom is life, and whose life is the light of men shining in darkness that does not comprehend it. There is constant progress in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent, but those wise above a Thus saith the Lord need to become fools to be wise. As darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people, the light coming from the Father of lights is not discerned, and just to the extent mists and fogs encompass minds there is ignorance and misconception of God, as seen when churches wise in their own conceits cannot read the plain command about the Seventh-day Sabbath.
The whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ and the only source of spiritual power. His life and power are present in God's Word, by which He healed disease, cast out demons, stilled the sea, and raised the dead, so that people bore witness His word was with power, the same word He spoke on earth as He had spoken through all the Old Testament. As food sustains physical life, God's Word sustains spiritual life. Each person must receive it personally, not only through another's understanding, and take it in and assimilate it into every action and attribute of character. So received it strengthens the soul, perfects Christian experience, and brings lasting joy with immortal vigor and joys that abide forever.
Without God's Word people could not know that Jesus had visited the world or know of His divinity and prior existence with the Father. The Word of God makes this knowledge of Christ available, that He existed with the Father before coming to earth and before visiting the world. God summons the world to listen to the Sent One, the Word who was God come in human form to live among men full of grace and truth bearing His commission from the Excellent Glory. He spoke with the authority of true greatness and demanded submissive attention, and every word He speaks is to be received as law and life. As guide His teachings are to be received and obeyed, for receiving the Word means receiving Christ, and building on the words of Christ means building on Christ Himself as the Rock of Ages, the only foundation on which a character that will endure can be built.
God did not give a physical description of Christ for artists to copy, for as the image of the Father He cannot be truly represented by human art, but presented Him in John's words. Teachers and students are to bring that Word into every action, study, and physical task, and living connection with God forms a Christlike atmosphere. Christ's life in human nature reveals how to serve in saving souls, and His character is to be revealed in His followers. Truth about Him when genuinely believed never makes the receiver coarse, rough, harsh, or discourteous but always refines, elevates, and ennobles him and makes him an agency through whom holy principles are worked out. Having that abiding Christ in thought is shown by revealing His glory to the world in unity and love for one another and compassionate tenderness for each other.
The verse is precious treasure of truth to be accepted and appreciated and prized above silver and gold, diamonds and earthly gain. It is to be carried to thousands in their own language in pamphlets and tracts. Those who call themselves God's people must comprehend this light of life in Him shining in darkness that does not comprehend it, and not be among those who fail to comprehend it. These words express the church's need to know the Holy Spirit's work from experience, joining the Word's life-giving and enlightening work and His becoming flesh whose glory was seen as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Spirit gives life, blesses its receiver, and makes that person a blessing, and the Spirit of God in Christ, with whom Word is identified as Truth and Life, brings the plan of redemption into vital contact with the human heart, drawing the world to its divine Author.
The Creator came into the world as Jesus, full of grace and truth; He is the world's Light and points people to heaven through obedience. Truth came down from heaven in a Person, the beloved Son whom God declares men must hear, who made all things and in whom was life that is the light of men lighting every man coming into the world. Though equal with God He descended from His throne and clothed His divinity with humanity to reach fallen humanity and announce the gift of everlasting life. By possessing both divine and human natures He was able to accomplish complete redemption for the human race and restore people to the privileges of the higher life, and by taking humanity upon Himself He could reach people and meet the powers of darkness with the strength of God. He came into the world as its Light and Great Teacher and as Commander in the heavenly courts to reveal heavenly things, while His human humiliation concealed His divine glory and claims so He was to be recognized through the testimony of Scripture, not outward display.
He was the foundation of the ritual and economy of Israel and the One who proclaimed the law upon Sinai, and at His baptism He laid off His glory and accepted the weakness of humanity, becoming one with people to bear the burden of guilt and woe, with redemption resting upon Him in that state. Though He was the Prince of Peace, no one on earth understood Him, and His earthly life and ministry must be spent in solitude while His purpose to save the fallen race remained steadfast. Though that true Light shone in darkness, the darkness did not comprehend it; though He was in the world He had made, the world did not know Him, and when He came to His own His own did not receive Him.