by Dr. Corinne Wong
The Logos was with God in the beginning, before anything existed, and all things came into being through him; thus he was present at creation and was an agent of the creation of all that exists (1.1-4). John refers to Christ as the Logos only in the Prologue. After this, John's title for Jesus is “the Son of God” and “the Messiah” or “Christ.” The Logos is God, and the glory of the Logos is the glory of the unique Son of God. After he came into the world, he is given the title monogenēs para patēr. Although many second century writers translated the word monogenēs as “only begotten,” other authors in John's time rendered this word to show that Jesus was a “unique son”, rather than “an only begotten son”. In Jewish accounts of God's instruction to Abraham regarding the boy Isaac, Abraham was told to “sacrifice your son, your only son, whom you love” (Genesis 22.2).
Craig Keener notes that “[i]n John as in common usage, the 'special' son is the 'beloved' son (rather than 'only begotten') … Jesus is monogenēs not in the sense of derivation but as unique and the special object of divine love. …. What is extraordinary is that in him, this same love becomes available to all who are his followers (17.23)” (415, 416).
Since God is Spirit, he is invisible. No one has ever seen God. The Logos, the Son of God who was in the beginning with God, became a human being, born of flesh and blood, in order to make God visible, revealing the nature of God as a God of unfailing love and abundant mercy. The incarnate Christ manifests the glory (δόξα, dóxa) of God, which is full of grace (χάρις, charis, love) and truth (αλήθεια, truth, faithfulness).
In many passages in the Old Testament, God is described as full of steadfast love (חֶסֶד,: Ḥeseḏ) and faithfulness (אמת : "truth," Emeth). “'Truth' often includes the sense of 'covenant faithfulness' in the Fourth Gospel” (Keener, I:418). The phrase “grace and truth” connects the “beloved Son” to YHWH and his nature of Ḥeseḏ and Emeth. The unseen and unseeable God becomes manifested in a human person (flesh), so that human beings would be able to see God and come to know God as the God and Father who desires that they not perish but be saved and live as children of God (John 1.18; 3.16-17). The grace and kindness with which God showed mercy to his people in the time of the Old Testament patriarchs now is manifested even more fully. “From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another” (John 15.16).
God demonstrated his mercy and faithfulness, giving his Son to be lifted up to die on a cross in order to save people from their sins. This is the purpose of the incarnation, so that God's δόξα (glory) and his χάρις (love), may be revealed in the Cross of Christ, who is the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the lost sheep, to bring them back to the safety of the fold, so that they would be safe in the Father's hand and never perish, but have eternal life (10.10-11, 15, 17, 18, 28, 29).
The Son of God has life in himself (John 1.4; 5.26). The Father has given him authority over all human beings to give eternal life to all whom the Father had given him (17.2). The Logos was the true Light, the Light that shines in the darkness of this sinful world, calling sinners out of the darkness of error and wrongdoing, so that they would be rescued from unrighteousness and become children of God, following the Son of God (1.4; 3.19-21; 8.12; 12.12). What moved the Father to send his Son into the world to save sinners was his great love (3.16). In obedience to the Father, the Son gave his life so that he might set people free from slavery to sin and become servants of God living righteous lives, walking in the light (8.32, 36). The Prologue declares that the world was filled with darkness, but the Son of God came as the True Light that conquered the darkness, and the darkness was unable to overcome the light (1.5). “The people who dwelt in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9.3). The people who saw Christ and answered his call arose and became people of light, shining in the dark world (12.36), for the glory of the Lord arose upon them (Isaiah 60.1-2), and the radiance of the Lord saved many, so that they no longer belong to the world but are now children of God through faith in Jesus Christ(1.12-13).
Since they have received the Logos, the Son of God, they belong to God and are sanctified in the Word of God, which is truth and life (17.11, 14, 16, 17). They are held in God's hand and will never perish (10.28). As the Father loves the Son, so the Father loves those who believe in the Son and obey his words and do the same works that he does (14.12; 16.27). This is what is meant by being one with God and having the glory of God (John 17.22-23). This is what it means to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent (17.3), for although when the Logos became flesh, the world did not recognize him, and rejecting the light, they remained in the darkness of sin, those who believe in Jesus Christ are given new life and are born of God and become God's children, indwelt by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and they have eternal life and will never perish. They will be with Christ where he is, in the Father's presence, and they will see and share his glory (17.22, 24-26). They will know the Father and the Son, and will be loved by God and will live forever with the Father and the Son for eternity (17.24-26).