It does not appear probable that the Jews should borrow the term Logos (here translated " the Word," and elsewhere trans- lated " Wisdom,") from the Platonists ; or that the Apostle would adopt it from them. We rather suppose that the Jews, and consequently the Apostle also, received the term from the Scriptures themselves : for the Psalmist says, " By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made:" and Solomon, in the Book of Proverbs, speaks of " Wisdom" in almost the same terms as the Apostle uses in reference to " the WordV At all events, we know from the whole preceding context, as also from the text itself, that the Logos or " the Word" is no other than " the only-begotten Son of God." We know that he subsisted from all eternity; that he was personally distinct from God the Father; that, nevertheless, he was truly and properly God; and, finally that, so far from being himself a creature, he was the Creator of all things, without any limita- tion or exception b.
This divine Person (the Second Person in the ever-adorable Trinity,) " was made flesh ;" that is, he assumed our nature with all its sinless infirmities ; and " was made in all things like unto us, sin only excepted" In that state of humilia- tion he sojourned upon earth, as once he dwelt with his people in the wilderness ; his Deity being veiled by human flesh, as formerly it had been by the Shechinah, the bright cloud, which, as the symbol of his presence, dwelt in the tabernacle first, and afterwards in the temple.
We stop not to enlarge upon this stupendous mystery ; wishing rather to shorten our discussion, that we may have the more room for a practical improvement of it.]
The Apostle, as we might well expect, after men- tioning the incarnation of Christ, proceeds to notice,
II. His character —
[In the primary sense of the passage, the terms " full of grace and truth" refer to the official character of Christ. He came to introduce a dispensation very different from that which had hitherto existed. The law which Moses had given to the Israelites " was a ministration of death and condemnation :" and though the ceremonial law had held forth hopes of pardon and acceptance, yet it consisted merely in ritual observances, which in themselves were of no value, and which could never take away sin. But Jesus Christ came to proclaim pardon and peace to all ; and was himself the substance, of which all the rites of Moses were only types and shadows. View the
a Prov. viii. 22 — 30.
b vcr. 1—3. This is confirmed by Phil. ii. G, 7. Col. i. 10, 17.