The Bible

 

John 1:14

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14 And the Word was made 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.

Commentary

 

Explanation of John 1:14

By Brian David

{{en|1=Ascension of Christ}}

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.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #82

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82. (Verse 18) And am he that liveth. That this signifies who is from eternity, is evident from the fact that He alone lives who is from eternity, and that all others, who are not from eternity, have been created from Him, and thus made recipients of life from Him; therefore He alone who is from eternity has life in Himself, and no one besides Him. That the Lord, with respect to the Human, as well as to the Divine, has life in Himself, is evident from what is said in John:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (1:1, 4, 14).

That it is the Lord who is here meant by the Word is clear; for it is said, the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

And again:

"As the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself" (5:26).

And again:

"Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life" (11:25).

And again:

"Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life" (14:6).

It is commonly believed that man has life implanted in him, and thus that it does not continually flow in from Him who alone has life in Himself, and who thus alone is life; but this is a faith of falsity (as may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 9).

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.