January, 1941
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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
The Incarnate Word and Ôur Redemption By H. A . IRONSIDE J OHN’S GOSPEL is emphatically that of the deity of our blessed Lord. It presents Him as the Eter nal Word, who in grace became flesh
hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:12). That life was seen in all of its perfection in Him as Man on earth. “The life was the light of men.” As He moved about in this scene, He cast light on every man, showing things up as God Himself sees them. This brings us to the seventh point— His Incarnation. "The Word became flesh.” “Became” here is better than “was made.” Strictly speaking, the Son of God was never made anything, but in lowly grace He became flesh in order that He might reveal the Father to man and redeem man to God. Revealing God and Redeeming Man The Gospel of John is devoted to this double theme. As we peruse its sacred pages, we see the Eternal Word, hav ing become flesh, moving about among men, glorifying the Father in all His perfect ways, telling out the mind of God completely, and a t last giving Him self a ransom on the cross to order that then may be redeemed to God and share His glory for all the eternity to come. I t is well known that the term “Word” translates the Greek word “Logos.” This was an expression already well known to thinking people when our Lord appeared on earth. Everywhere in the Greek speaking world the writings of Plato were circulated. He had spoken of the insolubility of many mysteries, but had expressed the hope that some day there would come forth a “Word'’ (Logos) from God that would make everything clear. John might even have had this in mind when, ’directed by the Holy Spirit,1he penned the wonderful sen tences with which this Gospel begins. It is as though God is saying: “The ‘Word’ has now been spoken. In Christ the mind of God is fully revealed. He who hears Him hears God, for in Him ‘are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.’ ” As we go down through the chap ter, we notice with adoring hearts the many and varied titles and expressions that are used concerning Him. He is “the Christ,” the anointed One, Israel’s Messiah. John the Baptist points Him out as “the I^amb of God,” the Sin Bearer, and he also declares Him to
But it is not merely that He was eternally in the Godhead. Scripture is equally insistent regarding His Distinct Personality. This truth is implied in the expression, “The Word was with God.” We are told of Wisdom, in Proverbs 8: 27, “When he prepared the heavens, I was there.” And again in Verse 30, “I was by him, as one brought up with him'.” The Eternal Wisdom and the Eternal Word are one and the-same. Throughout all the ages of the past, Christ was a distinct personality in the Godhead. There was communion be tween the Father and the Son.« But this fact does not imply the infe riority of the Son. Full deity was His. The Word was God. Just as truly as the Father was God and the Holy Spirit was God, so the Word was God. More than this could not be said. The next sentence might seem to be almost a repetition: “The same was in the beginning with Gdd.” But it really gdds to what has already been put before us. It tells us of His Unchanging Per sonality. He was the same from all eternity; that is, He was the Eternal Son. He did not become the Son when He was born into the world, but “the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour” (1 John 4:14). He did not become the Son after He was sent; He was the Son from the beginning. Creation is attributed to each person of the Godhead. Here particularly it is stated, “All things were made by him.” Elsewhere we read of the Lord who “by wisdom made the heavens” (Psa. 136: 5). Elohim, the triune God, created the heaven and the earth. The Father plan-- ned, the Word was the agent, and the Spirit the executor of the divine coun sels, and just as it is the Word who produced the first creation, so it is He who is "the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14). This does not mean that He was the first being God created, but rather it is He who produces the creation of God, that is, the new crea tion to which all believers belong. Apart from Him there is no life. He is the Fountain of Life. That includes both natural and spiritual life. All nat ural life comes from Him; and concern- the .spiritual life, it is written, “He that
for our redemption. There is no human genealogy as in Matthew and in Luke, but we are carried back immediately into the past eternity. “In the begin ning” here antedates the same expres sion in Genesis 1:1. There it fs the beginning of creation, but here long be fore creation began we see the Son in the bosom of the Father. When ev erything that ever had beginning began to be, the' Word was. Notice seven great truths that are brought before us in John 1:1-5, 14: 1. Our Lord’s Eternity of Being: “In the beginning was the Word.” 2. His Distinct Personality: “The Word was with God.” 3. His True Deity: “The Word was God.” 4. His Unchanging Relationship: “The same . . , in the beginning.” 5. His Full Creatorial Glory: “All things were made by him.” 6. His Life-giving Power: “In him was life.” 7. His Incarnation: “The Word be came flesh” (R.V.). A Wondrous Revelation Let us follow these revelations thoughtfully. First we note the Lord Jesus Christ’s Eternity of Being. Uni- tarianism of every kind is ruled out here. The Word never had a beginning. The Son is as truly eternal as the Fa ther is. To teach otherwise is to deny the very foundations of our faith. He could not have a beginning, for He Himself is the beginning and the end (Rev. 22:13).
An article by the pastor of the Moody Memorial Church of Chicago, the first in a series by this writer on “Gleanings from the Gospel of John” to appear from time to time in the pages of THE KING’S BUSINESS.
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