Quote:
Originally Posted by Timotheist
I will address your "Word became flesh" question in a later post.
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Never mind... Later is now here
When did the Word become flesh?
I have been asked more than once to explain my assertion that the Word became flesh at Jesus' baptism.
Context is everything. Let’s look at the verse in its context:
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
The concept of the “second birth” is introduced here and developed throughout the gospel. The author starts off by first delineating the second birth from the first. God is the Father of the second birth, not man. It is through the second birth that the believer becomes a child of God.
This sets the stage for verse 14:
14 And the Word became flesh… the only begotten from the Father.
I now feel pretty stupid that it took me most of my life to see the obvious. Verses 12-13 flow right into 14. The Greek word “ginomai”, translated as “become” in verse 12, is repeated in verse 14, thus linking the thoughts together. (Now I am starting to sound like Witness Lee, explaining simple language principles. Just picture this as a footnote.)
We become children of God not by the first birth, but by the second. The first is by man, the second is by God. Likewise, the man Jesus became the Son of God via an act of the Father.
Going on from this point to read the rest of John’s gospel, it does not take much of an extrapolation at all to assert that this act of “conception” occurred at the baptism (as it does for us).
I could continue with the justification, but frankly, this explanation should suffice. The Spirit at the end of the chapter brought the Logos to the flesh, just as the Spirit initiates a new life in us.
The context is not Matthew and Luke. I no longer connect the dots in that way.
But I do connect the dots to the version of Mark that Justin Martyr used:
"This is My beloved Son. Today I have begotten You"