"And the Word became 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."
John 1:14
For many of us Christmas is the time when we reflect upon the identity of Christ as a baby in a manger. We read about it in the Bible, we sing songs, we decorate and we give gifts. One of the words we may hear during Christmas is "Incarnation"--the teaching that God became a man.
This is exactly the point of John's Gospel. In verse one of the same chapter John identifies the Word--a Greek word Logos (which was used in that day to describe the Divine Reason who created everything)--as being with God and God at the same time. This is a hidden mystery in which we find the doctrine of the Trinity or Unity of the Godhead--God being three persons--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is important that we understand what John is writing. Jesus is both God and Man. He is the Eternal Word which was manifested as Jesus Christ. He is God the Son and the Son of God.
The book of Philippians tells us that He was in the very Form of God and that He was also in the very Form of Man. (Philippians 2:1-5). He did not appear as man. He was in all things as we are. This goes back to very plan of God in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve disobeyed God. As a result of that action, sin and death came into the world. God is just and merciful. He cannot be one without the other. His holiness demands penalty for wrong. His mercy gives grace to those offenders. In this case--the human race. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
We could not save ourselves. A Savior was needed and a Savior was promised. This is what the Bible is all about. God's had a plan to fix what we messed up. Jesus, the God Man, came full of grace and truth, to pay the penalty for our wrongs. He was like us in everything and faced all the temptations that we face, but He never failed. Yet He was unlike us in that He never sinned. As the perfect Man, He triumphed where we failed and has become the Savior of the world.
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