This is a key moment in this story. The beginning of John 1 explained that the Lord is perfect, infinite love which gave itself expression as divine truth. The duality of love and expression formed a template for humanity, which meant that the Lord’s duality made him the ultimate, divine human. It showed that the divine truth was the power of creation, and that the Lord shared that truth with humanity from the outset, so that people could receive His love and return it. But people kept turning away, and the Lord had to keep expressing his love in more and more external forms to maintain a connection.

By mentioning John the Baptist, the chapter showed that the Jews of the time still had the truth – the Lord’s Word – contained inside the rough-hewn images of the Old Testament. But they were so steeped in evil loves and false thinking that the connection to the Word – to the love within the Old Testament – was about to be snipped forever.

So the Word became flesh. The Lord passed the full expression of His love and His full humanity into physical flesh as Jesus. That way He could once again show the life within the existing Scriptures and could make His own life and His own words part of an expanded expression of truth for a new age of humanity. People could no longer see and feel the Lord’s love through the Old Testament, but they could see and feel it in the face and hands and words of Jesus.

The "glory" here expresses the blinding brilliance of that truth. The "Father" represents the Lord’s actual love itself, and being "begotten" means that the love was expressed in the form of truth. Being full of "truth" has a pretty obvious meaning, but "grace" means an affection, a love for what is true.

The Lord had to come. He had to let His humanity flow down into the flesh, into the most external of forms, because that was the only way we were going to see and embrace it.

(Odkazy: A Brief Explanation of the Teachings of the New Church 117; The Apocalypse Explained 1069 [3]; The Word 20; True Christian Religion 3, 85)

3. THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH IN PARTICULAR TERMS IS AS FOLLOWS.

Jehovah God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, or Good itself and Truth itself. He came down in the form of Divine Truth, which is the Word and which was God with God, and took upon Himself human form, so as to reduce to order everything in heaven, in hell and in the church. For at that time the power of hell was stronger than the power of heaven, and on earth the power of evil was stronger than the power of good, so that utter damnation stood threatening at the gates. This impending damnation was removed by Jehovah God by means of His Human, which was Divine Truth, and thus angels and men were redeemed. Afterwards He united in His Human Divine Truth with Divine Good, or Divine Wisdom with Divine Love, and so returned into the Divinity which was His from eternity, together with and in His glorified Human. This is the meaning of the passage in John:

The Word was with God and the Word was God; and the Word was made flesh, John 1:1, 14.

In the same gospel:

I came out of the Father and I came into the world; I leave the world again, and go to the Father, John 16:28.

Further in the following passage:

We know that the Son of God came and gave us understanding, so that we might know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and everlasting life. 1 John 5:20.

These passages show that without the Lord's coming into the world no one could have been saved. The situation today is similar. So unless the Lord comes into the world again in the form of Divine Truth, that is, the Word, no more can anyone now be saved.

[2] The particular details of faith on man's part are:

1 God is one, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and He is the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ.

2 Faith leading to salvation is believing in Him.

3 Evil actions must not be done because they are the work of the devil and come from him.

4 Good actions must be done because they are the work of God and come from Him.

5 A person must perform these actions as if they were his own, but he must believe they come from the Lord working in him and through him.

The first two points deal with faith, the second two with charity; and the fifth deals with the joining of charity with faith and thus of the Lord with men.