The Full and Final Revelation. The work of the Logos culminated in what alone could give to men a complete and intelligible revelation, so far as man can grasp it, of the nature and being of God. The Divine Logos, who, as God, has the knowledge of God which none else can have, entered into the life of men, under the ordinary conditions of humanity, so that He could speak to men in their own language. His disciples had seen how, when He dwelt in the tent of flesh (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:1 fT.), as the Shechinah appeared in Israel in the Tent (Exodus 25:8 f.), His true character and being shone forth, the glory of an only-begotten son, on whom the Father of all had bestowed all that He had to give, full of the attractiveness that God's favour gives, and of truth, so that He could make God known to men. The only natural explanation of John 1:14 is that it refers to bodily and not spiritual vision (cf. 1 John 1:1 f.). It was rendered possible by the Word becoming flesh.
Once more (John 1:15) there is an appeal to John's witness. He spoke with no uncertain voice (cf. Romans 9:27). It is given in words which are practically a quotation of John 1:30, where the phrase of whom I spake is a natural reference to John 1:27. (Here the words are awkward, hence the correction noted in mg.) He was before me must imply belief in His pre-existence. The Book of Enoch shows that One who was regarded as Messiah would be so thought of. The difficulty is bound up with that of John's recognition of Jesus as Messiah. John 1:16 and even John 1:17 f. are sometimes attributed to the Baptist. But they clearly take up the thought of John 1:14. We saw and knew, for we all received from His fullness in ever-increasing supply. The difference between Judaism and Christianity is sharply pointed legal precepts, powerless to give life, imposed through the agency of a man, and the gift of true life and true knowledge brought into being and implanted in men by the creative energy of a greater than Moses. No man has seen or can tell of God. God only begotten, (mg.) the Word who is Divine and possesses the whole power of God, with whom He lives in active communion, has made God known. The sense will be the same if the easier, but less forcible, reading the only-begotten Son (cf. John 3:16; John 3:18, 1 John 4:9) is adopted.