fact is a pledge that He will raise our bodies at the last day, and glorify them together with His own.
Notes. John I. 14.
[And the ivord was made flesh.] This sentence means that the eternal Word of God, the second Person in the Trinity, became a man, like one of ourselves in all things, sin only excepted This He accomphshed, by being born of the Virgin Mary, after a miraculous manner, through the operation of the Holy Grhost And tlie end for which He became flesh, was that He might live and die for sinners.
The expression " the "Word," shows clearly that " the Word " who " was with God and was God," must be a Person. It could not reasonably be said of any one but a Person, that He became " flesh and dwelt among us." Whether St. John could have found any other name for the second Person of the Trinity equally proper, we need not trouble ourselves to inquire. It certainly would not have been accurately correct to say that " Jesus was made flesh," because the name Jesus was not given to our lord till after His incarnation. Nor yet would it have been correct to say, " In the beginning was Christ," because the name Christ belongs to the times after the fall of man.
This is the last time that John uses this expression, " The Word," about Christ in his Gospel. From the time of His incar- nation he generally speaks of Him as " Jesus," or " the Lord."
[ Was inade.] This expression might perhaps have been better translated " became." . At any rate, we must carefully remember that it does not signify " was created." Tlie Athanasian Creed pays truly, " The Son is of the Father alone, neither made nor created, but begotten."
[Flesh.] The use of this word, instead of " man," ought not to be overlooked. It is purposely used in order to show us that when our Lord became incarnate, He took upon Him nothing less than our whole nature, consisting of a true body and a reasonable soul. As Arrowsmith says, " That which was not taken could not be healed. If Christ had not taken the whole man. He could not have saved the sou\"— It also implies that our Lord took upon Him a body liable to those weaknesses, fatigues, and pains, which are inseparable from the idea of tlesh. He' did not become a man like Adam before the fd', with a nature free from all infirmity. He became a man like any one of Adam's children, with a nature hahle to every thing that f dlen humanity is Hable to, except sin. He was made " flesh," and '' all flesh is gra^b."— Finally, it teaches that our Lord did not assume