The Incarnation: A Crucial Doctrine (John 1:14)

Biblically speaking, what was the purpose of the incarnation? This question is of utmost importance and is not to be trivialized. To misunderstand the purpose of the incarnation is to misunderstand the righteousness of God and the necessity of penal substitution through a pure and sinless sacrifice for the purpose of legal pardon of sinners. When it comes to giving pardons there are only two possibilities: the pardon will either be legal or illegal. In other words the pardon will either uphold the law (legal) or nullify the law (illegal). Of the two kinds of pardons which one do you believe is the kind God gives?

God never gives illegal pardons. God only gives legal pardons. In simple terms, God is righteous and just and will never do anything wrong or unjust. Therefore God cannot and will not illegally pardon. So the question must be asked: “How can God pardon sinners and remain righteous and just in the process?” The right answer to this question will show that the incarnation is a crucial doctrine and that our pardon came at a great cost to God.

The Gospel of John answers how God can pardon sinners and remain righteous and just in the process. The Old Testament sacrificial system with its tabernacle illustrated that God would provide the only law upholding means of pardon. The innocent would have to die in the place of the guilty for pardon to be extended. The sinner’s death penalty for violating God’s Law had to be paid by an innocent substitute. This is called Penal Substitution, meaning penalty substitution.

Could the death penalty for a man really be paid by an animal? Never! That is why the Bible says, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). The sinner’s death penalty for violating God’s Law would have to be paid by an innocent man. Therefore the incarnation of Christ was a necessity for penal substitution and legal pardon. The Gospel of John shows Jesus as the fulfillment of the Tabernacle because He was God in flesh come to live a sinless life, die a sacrificial death, and experience a supernatural resurrection so that God could be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

This was the primary purpose of the incarnation – to make propitiation (legal pardon) for the sins of the people. It would not and could not be an innocent animal that allowed God to give a legal pardon but only an innocent, sinless man. The uncreated Son of God had to become a man to achieve our legal pardon. John said, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Amazing truth – the Son of God on earth as a man! Even more amazing is the reason He was on the earth as a man – “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)!

According to God’s Word, God could not have pardoned any other way, “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendents of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted” (Hebrews 2:14-18).

Penal substitution is the only way God can legally pardon. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Therefore the incarnation was necessary for the realization of penal substitution (legal pardon) and that is the primary biblical interpretation for the incarnation. If God could have legally pardoned any other way, surely He would have done it!

Our salvation cost God everything! There has never been and never will be a greater demonstration of love than the truth that God sent His only begotten Son into the world as a man to die as a substitute for sinners (John 3:16; Romans 5:8). The incarnation is a precious doctrine; it is a marvelous doctrine; it is a crucial doctrine. No one can be saved apart from pardon based on faith in Jesus. God does not save any other way – there is no other way.

The Deity of Christ (John 1:1-5)

The first eighteen verses of John’s Gospel are the prologue to the book. A prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting or theme. We know from John 20:30-31 that the purpose of the book is to persuade people to the point of trusting that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God; and that believing (trusting) they may have life in His name. In his prologue John declares that Jesus is God, that He became a man, that He dwelt (tabernacled) among us, and that He explained the Father.

It is my conviction that John was showing Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament Tabernacle. John purposefully related events from the life and ministry of Jesus to show Him as the fulfillment of Old Testament concepts moving from Jesus as the lamb of God and culminating in Jesus as the fulfillment of the Mercy Seat (see John 20:12). For Jesus to fulfill these Old Testament concepts He would have to be nothing other than God in the flesh.

The prologue (John 1:1-18) sets the stage so to speak for the unveiling or revelation of Jesus as the fulfillment of the Tabernacle. Since the Tabernacle stood as the heart of the Old Testament sacrificial system and the only way that sinners could approach a holy God, John reveals Jesus as the only way to the Father (John 14:6) because He is the only One who could and did make substitutionary atonement. Jesus is the only hope for man. What you do with Jesus Christ determines your eternal destiny.

The parallel between John’s prologue and the book of Genesis is striking. Just as Genesis sets out in seed form all the major doctrines of the Bible that will be developed later in their mature form so it is with John’s prologue. John will develop the doctrines that he sets forth in the prologue to their full meanings.

In this post, The Deity of Christ (John 1:1-5), we will only cover the first five verses of the prologue to John's Gospel which parallel the beginning of the Bible.

Christ is the eternal Word (John 1:1-2). Christ is the uncreated eternal Son of God. He is equal to God and is God. “In the beginning” means before the beginning began. He is timeless -He had no beginning because He has always been and always will be.

John used the term “Word” for a particular reason - the Jews would have readily understood its background in the Old Testament that God sends His Word to accomplish His purposes (Isaiah 55:10-11). It is interesting that the Old Testament says that (1) God sends His Word in order to accomplish a particular divine purpose, (2) God’s Word unfailingly accomplishes God’s purpose, and (3) God’s Word returns to Him after accomplishing God’s mission. This seed truth will sprout and grow in John’s Gospel as Jesus refers to God as His Father who sent Him (John 3:17; 6:38); as coming to accomplish the Father’s will (John 4:34, 6:38); as having accomplished the Fathers will (John 17:4); and as returning to the Father (John 17:5, 13).

In these first two verses we note three divine attributes that the Word shares with God: (1) He is equal to God in time – He was in the beginning with God. (2) He is equal to God in rank – He was literally face to face with God – that is the meaning of “and the Word was with God.” (3) He is equal to God in essence – “and the Word was God.” The doctrine of the Trinity lies at the heart of John’s exposition. God is one, but his unitary essence is complex, not simple. God is a complex unity, not a mathematical cipher.

Christ is the living Word (John 1:3-4a). Christ is the giver of life – He created everything that has come into being. This verse points out the fallacy of evolution which believes that life arose from nothing – that life came from non-life. Evolutionists and naturalists believe in “spontaneous generation” but they say they do not believe in miracles! The Bible teaches that life came from life – “In Him was life.” Life does not arise from non-life no matter how many billions or trillions of years you allow.

Not only is Christ the giver of life in the physical realm, He is also the giver of life in the spiritual realm and this should be of utmost importance to spiritually dead sinners. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you have no life in yourselves” (John 6:53). Once again the seed truth in the prologue is developed into maturity in the remainder of the Gospel.

Christ is the revealing Word (John 1:4b). Both life and light reveal. Life reveals deadness and light reveals darkness. The sinless life of the Lord becomes the light that illumines or reveals our deadness and our darkness. Light will reveal blindness, badness, and beauty. The blindness of men was revealed by the Lord when He came into the world and the world did not know him (John 1:10). The badness of men was revealed by the Lord when He came to His own and His own did not receive Him (John 1:11). The beauty of the Lord was revealed to those who did receive Him and were saved (John 1:12-13). Light reveals.

Christ is the accomplishing Word (John 1:5). Light is powerful. Darkness cannot overpower it. The darkness desires to snuff out the light. John 12:35 uses the same word that is used in John 1:5. There Jesus said, “Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you.” Jesus is the accomplishing Word. The darkness could not overpower Him. John 1:4-5 are the seed truth concerning the epic battle between Light and darkness. Before His crucifixion Jesus told the corrupt religious establishment, “This hour and the power of darkness are yours” (Luke 22:53). Satan and sinful men did everything in their power to snuff out the Light but the darkness did not overpower it. In Him was life and on the third day He got up and walked out victorious over darkness and deadness. Jesus is the accomplishing Word.

Let me show you the striking parallel between the John 1:1-5 and Genesis 1:1-3.

I. Christ is the eternal Word – In the beginning

II. Christ is the living Word – God created

III. Christ is the revealing Word – Then God said, “Let there be light”

IV. Christ is the accomplishing Word – and there was light