The Incarnate Word

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
          John’s take on the Christmas story is so strikingly unique that most people don’t even consider it a Christmas story. Matthew, Mark, and Luke begin their gospel narratives by telling the story of how Jesus was born in Bethlehem in a humble manger, while John on the other hand takes a completely different perspective explaining that Jesus has always been. John’s introduction to his gospel narrative begins by portraying Jesus as “the Word” who was there since the beginning with God.
          John is portraying the Trinitarian God, who exists in complete unity as one God in three persons. John wanted to point out that there was no doubt that Jesus was God Himself. John was laying the complex foundation for the fact that God the Father is distinct to God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and yet all three are equally one God.
          But what is so important about the Trinity? The Trinity displays that the community of God exists in perfect unity. Community and unity are both compatible and essential to the essence of God. A big concept that revolves around this is the existence of love within the community of God Himself. God is able to be one, and yet three persons, and therefore His love is not selfish or self-directed, but His love is toward distinct people. God the Father loves God the Son and God the Spirit. Love exists even without the creation of humanity or the world.
          This idea of community and unity flows throughout the book of John in the form of the relationship that we are invited into with the Lord. Verse 10 demonstrates the theme of “knowing” that is throughout the book of John. John is arguing throughout his gospel that it is not about what you know, but who you know. It is not that God needs us, but it is that He loves us and wants us to experience the joy and blessing of being in a relationship with Him.
          The importance of the incarnation of the Word (the Word became flesh) is that God is initiating a physical relationship with humanity. For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son for us.

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