photo #1676663

In Hebrew “the Word” was another expression for God. John’s description shows clearly that he is speaking of Jesus (see especially 1:14)---a human being he knew and loved, but at the same time the Creator of the universe, the ultimate revelation of God, the living picture of God’s holiness, the one who “holds all creation together” (Colossians 1:17).What Jesus taught and what he did are tied inseparably to who he is. John shows Jesus as fully human and fully God. Although Jesus took upon himself full humanity and lived as a man, he never ceased to be the eternal God who has always existed, the Creator and Sustainer of all things, and the source of eternal life. This is the truth about Jesus, and the foundation of all truth. If we cannot or do not believe this basic truth, we will not have enough faith to trust our eternal destiny to him. That is why John wrote this Gospel---to build faith and confidence in Jesus Christ so that we may believe that he truly was and is the Son of God (20:30,31)“The Word became Human” By doing so, Christ became (1) the perfect teacher---in Jesus’ life we see how God thinks and therefore how we should think (Philippians 2:5-11); (2) the perfect example---as a model of what we are to become, he shows us how to live and gives us the power to live that way (1 Peter 2:21); (3) the perfect sacrifice---Jesus came as a sacrifice for all sins, and his death satisfied God’s requirements for the removal of sin (Colossians 1:15-23).When Jesus was conceived, God became a man. He was not part man and part God; he was completely human and completely divine (Colossians 2:9). Before Christ came, people could know God partially. After Christ came, people could know God fully because he became visible and tangible in Christ. Christ is the perfect expression of God in human form. The two most common errors people make about Jesus are to minimize his humanity or to minimize his divinity. Jesus is both God and man.--- NLT Life Application Study Bible notes