He Has Explained Him – John 1:16-18

Do you play car games. Paul Carter of the Gospel Coalition (Canadian version) does and one game he has played in the car is to list the 5 most memorable sermons you have ever heard. Sound like fun? He says it is and he gives his picks that include two from John Piper and links to listen to them for yourself. One of my most remembered sermons was by Bill Hybels on Holy Discontent. Wow! But have you ever thought of Jesus as a sermon? John did.

Because from his fullness we have received even grace after grace. Because though the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has explained Him. (John 1:16-18)

The unmerited love of God, grace, was poured out in the person of Jesus. Moses gave the law, which itself was an expression of God’s grace and truth, but the fulfillment of that grace and truth came through Jesus the Messiah, the anointed one, the expected deliverer of Israel and the world.

Previous “sightings” of God were not really seeing Him without some veiling, but the only begotten (unique) Son (later manuscripts) or the only begotten (unique and only) God (earlier manuscripts), who is in the bosom of the Father (has intimate relationship with Him), has made Him known in a way that goes beyond even His gracious witness to Himself through creation, deeds of deliverance and written revelation.

“Only Begotten” translates monogenes, a Greek word that doesn’t always focus on the begetting part. But if that is being focused on here it does not indicate that the Son and Father were once humans, the Son being begotten by the Father before they became Gods, nor does it refer to Jesus being God’s highest creation. The eternal Father, who has always existed when no others did, who brought everything into existence, has eternally begotten the Son. There never was a time they were not in this relationship, never was a time when the Son was not, and the Son is the exact “DNA” of the Father, not created, but begotten, so that He is in every respect God. The Holy Spirit proceeds from both Father and Son and there never was a time He did not, so that there are three equal personages who make up the one God.

And the unique responsibility of the Son is to make God known to us. That is why he is called the Word. He expounds or explains to us the invisible God. Taking on human nature, what we call the incarnation, is just another way of making God known to us. He was doing it as the angel or messenger of Yahweh so prominent in the Old Testament record, but this is now his most important way of making God known to us.

Discussion Questions

What is one of the best sermons or speeches you have heard and what made it so good?
What has made Jesus such a good sermon on God?
In what ways is the law an expression of grace and truth?
How does Jesus coming provide an even more complete expression of grace and truth?
Where do you need grace in your life and where truth?

About the Author Randall Johnson

A full-time pastor since 1979, Randall originally graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary (ThM) in 1979 and from Reformed Theological Seminary (DMin) in 1998. He is married with four grown children and a pile of epic grandchildren.

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