The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us – John 1:14
Jesus Christ is the incarnate Word of God, the second person of the triune Godhead. He is the preeminent source of life and light for all of humanity, the very “Word” (Greek: logos) that sets forth the truth of God and brings eternal life to mankind.
In John’s day, there was a heresy called Docetism that believed that Jesus was not really human but merely an emanation of God, whose only claim to be human was that He appeared to be. The heresy posed a serious threat to those who trusted in Christ as the Messiah.
Hence, it was very important that the Gospel writers explain Jesus’ true humanity and his unique position within the Triune Godhead. One of the best ways to do this is to explain the incarnation in terms of a parable, as Jesus did in Luke 20:9-16.
The Word became flesh
The term “flesh” in this passage is used to emphasize that the incarnate Son of God did not become flesh only to fill a body, but he also took on all that is inherent to true humanity without surrendering any of His deity. He did this in obedience to the Father and in order to bring salvation to the world.
