The Word Became Flesh
God comes to live among us
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John begins his Gospel before anything was made: the Word was with God and was God, and everything was made through him. John the Baptist came to point people to this Light, and to all who receive him, the Word gives the right to become children of God. Then the Word became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth, and he has made God known.
Where it is in the Bible: John 1:1-18
Before You Read
Who wrote it. This is the beginning of the Gospel of John. Christians have long believed it was written by John, one of Jesus's twelve disciples. John's Gospel calls him "the one whom Jesus loved" (13:23).
Why he wrote it. Near the end, John says why. "These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name" (20:31).
How it begins. Matthew and Luke begin with Jesus's birth. Mark begins with John the Baptist. John begins before anything was made. These first eighteen verses are like the opening of a long piece of music. They introduce the big ideas the rest of the book will play.
How to read it. These verses are about Jesus, but they call him "the Word" until verse 17. This guide explains why. Some lines are about another man named John: John the Baptist, who got people ready for Jesus. He is not the same John who wrote the book.
Map of the Passage
| Section | Verses | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| 1. In the Beginning | 1:1-2 | The Word was with God, and was God |
| 2. Life and Light | 1:3-5 | Everything was made through him. His light shines |
| 3. A Witness Named John | 1:6-9 | John the Baptist points to the Light |
| 4. Not Recognized | 1:10-11 | The world he made did not know him |
| 5. Children of God | 1:12-13 | He gives people the right to be God's children |
| 6. The Word Became Flesh | 1:14 | God becomes a human being |
| 7. Grace upon Grace | 1:15-17 | Gift after gift comes through Jesus |
| 8. He Has Made Him Known | 1:18 | Jesus shows us what God is like |
Section by Section
Section 1 of 8In the Beginning
John starts with three words that sound like the first words of the Bible. "In the beginning" (1:1). Genesis also begins, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (1:1).
"The Word" is a name for God's Son, the one who will be born as Jesus. A word is how we tell others what we think. The Son is how God tells us who he is.
Two things are true at once. The Word was with God. And the Word was God. The Son is not the same person as the Father, but he is fully God.
"He was with God in the beginning" (1:2). The Son was not made. He was always there.
Section 2 of 8Life and Light
"Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made" (1:3).
Everything God made, he made through the Word: stars, oceans, animals, people.
"In Him was life, and that life was the light of men" (1:4). Here "men" means all people.
"The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (1:5).
This is a comparison. The darkness means everything that is wrong and far from God. The light is Jesus. Darkness tried to put the light out. It could not.
Section 3 of 8A Witness Named John
Now John the writer introduces a different John.
"There came a man who was sent from God. His name was John" (1:6). This is John the Baptist.
He came as a witness. A witness tells what is true about someone. John told people about the Light, so that everyone might believe.
"He himself was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light" (1:8). To testify means to say what is true.
The true Light gives light to everyone. And that Light was coming into the world.
Section 4 of 8Not Recognized
The Word was in the world. The world was made through him. But the world did not recognize him.
"He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him" (1:11).
His own means his own people. He was born into God's people, Israel. Many of them did not welcome him.
Halfway thereThis is a good place for a break. Your spot is saved on this device.
Section 5 of 8Children of God
But that is not the end.
"But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God" (1:12).
A right is something you are allowed to have. Jesus gives people a place in God's family.
These children are "born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God" (1:13). Nobody becomes God's child by being born into the right family or by trying hard. God does it.
Section 6 of 8The Word Became Flesh
Now come the most famous words in this passage.
"The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us" (1:14).
Flesh means a real human body. The Son of God, who made everything, became a real human being. This is what Christians celebrate at Christmas.
The words "made His dwelling" come from a Greek word that means to pitch a tent. Long ago, God's glory filled a tent called the tabernacle, where God was with his people (Exodus 40:34). Now God lives among his people in a human body.
"We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (1:14). Glory means God's greatness shining so people can see it. Grace means God's undeserved kindness.
Section 7 of 8Grace upon Grace
John the Baptist spoke about Jesus. He cried out that the one coming after him was greater, "because He was before me" (1:15).
John the Baptist was born before Jesus. But Jesus, the Word, existed long before John was born.
"From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace" (1:16). Fullness means he has more than enough. Grace upon grace means one gift after another, like waves that keep coming.
"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (1:17). Here, for the first time, John says the Word's name: Jesus Christ.
God gave the law through Moses. The law was good. It showed God's people how to live. Through Jesus, God gives grace: forgiveness and life as a gift.
Section 8 of 8He Has Made Him Known
"No one has ever seen God" (1:18).
But the one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father's side, "has made Him known" (1:18).
If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.
Meaning
What does it mean?
Read It
What Does This Mean?
| The text says | It means |
|---|---|
| "In the beginning was the Word" (1:1) | Before anything was made, God's Son already existed. |
| "The Word was with God, and the Word was God" (1:1) | The Son and the Father are two persons, and the Son is fully God. |
| "Through Him all things were made" (1:3) | The Son made everything, together with the Father and the Spirit. |
| "The darkness has not overcome it" (1:5) | Evil and death cannot put out Jesus's light. |
| "He gave the right to become children of God" (1:12) | Jesus brings people into God's family as a gift. |
| "The Word became flesh" (1:14) | God became a real human being in Jesus. Christians call this the incarnation, which means "becoming flesh." |
| "Grace upon grace" (1:16) | Jesus gives one gift after another, and never runs out. |
| "Has made Him known" (1:18) | Jesus shows us who God is. |
Back Then
People already used "the Word" for big ideas. In the Old Testament, God made the world by speaking (Genesis 1:3). God's word was powerful and did what he said. Greek thinkers also used the word logos, the Greek word for "word," for the reason behind everything. John takes that word and says: the Word is a person, and he became human.
The tabernacle was a tent where God met his people. In the wilderness, God's glory filled it (Exodus 40:34). John uses a word that sounds like that tent when he says the Word "made His dwelling among us" (1:14).
John wrote in Greek. The first Christians spoke many languages. Greek was a language many people in the Roman world could read.
Literal Reader Alert
Is Jesus a word, like a word in a book? No. "Word" is a name. It means Jesus is how God speaks to us and shows us himself. Jesus is a person, not letters on a page.
How can the Word be "with God" and also "God"? This is hard to understand, and that's okay. The Bible teaches that there is one God, who is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christians call this the Trinity. The Son is not the Father. But both are fully God.
Did Jesus stop being God when he became human? No. He was fully God and fully human at the same time. He was still God when he was a baby in a manger.
There are two Johns. Which one is which? John who wrote the book was Jesus's disciple. John the Baptist is the man in verses 6 to 8 and verse 15. He baptized people and told them Jesus was coming.
"No one has ever seen God." But didn't people in the Bible see God? God showed himself in different ways, in fire, in a cloud, or in a voice. But God told Moses, "No one can see Me and live" (Exodus 33:20). John says Jesus is the one who shows us God fully.
How People Feel
| Who | Feeling | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The world | Unaware | It did not recognize the one who made it (1:10) |
| His own people | Unwelcoming | Many did not receive him (1:11) |
| Those who received him | Welcomed | They became children of God (1:12) |
| John the writer | Amazed | "We have seen His glory" (1:14) |
For you
What does it mean for me?
Your Turn
Which line do you want to remember? Tap one.
The light still shines
The darkness has not overcome it (1:5). That is true on your darkest day too.
Children of God
Jesus gives this to all who receive him (1:12). It is a gift, not a prize.
The Word became flesh
God did not stay far away. He came close, in a body like ours (1:14).
Grace upon grace
One gift after another (1:16). Jesus does not run out.
I don't understand it
That's honest. Start with one line. Read verse 14 again. Many people have spent their whole lives thinking about it.
You Might Have Heard
"Jesus was a good man who later people said was God."
What's true: Jesus was a real human being. He was born, he grew, he got tired, and he died.
What the passage is mainly about: John says Jesus was God from the very beginning. The Word was with God and was God, before anything was made (1:1). Then that Word became a human being (1:14). Jesus did not become God later. God became human.
Where Jesus is: Before the beginning, with the Father. Then among us, in a human body, full of grace and truth.
Good News
People could not climb up to God. So God came down to us.
"The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us" (1:14).
He did not come to make demands. He came full of grace and truth. And to all who receive him, he gives the right to become children of God (1:12).
God came close. In Jesus, you can see what God is like, and he is full of grace.
Big Idea
The Word who made everything became a human being. In Jesus, God came to live among us, full of grace and truth.
If this passage brings up big feelings, talk with someone you trust, like a parent, pastor, or counselor.
For leaders and parentsLuther, church readings, and notes for teaching.
From Luther
In the Small Catechism, Luther explains the Second Article of the Creed. He confesses that Jesus Christ is true God, born of the Father from eternity, and also a true human being, born of the Virgin Mary. This is what John 1 teaches.
In his Christmas sermons, Luther often stressed the words "for us" and "to us." It is not enough to know that Christ was born. The gift is that he was born for you.
In Church
Many churches follow the Revised Common Lectionary. It reads John 1:1-18, sometimes starting at verse 10, on the Second Sunday of Christmas in all three years. Many churches also read John 1:1-14 on Christmas Day.
We quote Luther for what he got right about grace. He also wrote terrible things about Jewish people. Read our note on that.
Memorize
How do I keep it?
One line from this story to learn by heart. Practice a little now. It will come back later so it sticks.
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.
How did that feel?
You finished The Word Became Flesh.
Using this at church
Read in church on
- Second Sunday of Christmas Year A · Year B · Year CGospel, John 1:[1–9] 10–18
- Third Sunday of Advent Year BGospel, John 1:6–8, 19–28
For a newsletter or sermon notes
The Word Became Flesh, explained in plain words. Before anything was made, the Word was with God. Then the Word became a human being. About 16 minutes. https://freescripture.org/stories/the-word-became-flesh/
Lines for the next eight Sundays, on Digital Lutheran Church