5 Eternal Birth and Incarnation

Описание: 5 Eternal Birth and Incarnation THE ETERNAL BIRTH AND INCARNATION OF THE SON OF GOD
(John. 1:1–14) While the Evangelists Matthew and Luke narrate about the earthly birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, St. John begins his Gospel with an exposition of the doctrine of His eternal birth and incarnation as the Only Begotten Son of God. The first three Evangelists begin their narrative how the Kingdom of God received its beginning in time and space – St. John, like an eagle, ascends to the eternal basis of this Kingdom, contemplates the eternal existence of Him who only "in the last days" (Heb. 1:2) became a man.

He calls the second person of the Most Holy Trinity-the Son of God - "the Word". It is important to know that this "Word" in Greek "logos" means not only a word pronounced, but also a thought, a sense, a wisdom expressed by the word. Therefore, this name of the Son of God means the same as the name "Wisdom" (see Lk. 11:31 and Mt. 23:34). St. Paul in I Cor. 1:24 calls Christ "The Wisdom of God". The teaching about the Wisdom of God is undoubtedly set forth in the same sense in the book of Proverbs (see especially the remarkable passage of Prov. 8:22–30). After this, it is strange to assert, as some do, that St. John borrowed his teaching about the Logos from the philosophy of Plato and his followers. St. John wrote about what he knew from the Holy scriptures. The books of the Old Testament, that he learned from His Divine Teacher and that was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. "In the beginning was the Word" means that the Word, The Son of God is co-eternal with The Father and The Holy Spirit. John explains that this Word is not separated from God in relation to Its being, that It is therefore consubstantial with God, and finally, he directly calls the Word God: "the Word was God". Here the word "God" in Greek is used without the definite article ("Theòs" instead of "o Theòs"), and this gave rise to the Arians and Origen to assert that the "Word" is not the same God as God the Father. However, this is the indication to the non-merger of the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity. The article "o" in Greek indicates that we are talking about the same subject that was just mentioned. Therefore, if, when speaking about the fact that "The Word was God," the Evangelist would also use the article here - "O Theòs" - then it would be an incorrect idea that the "Word" is the same God the Father, which was mentioned above. Therefore, when speaking about the Word, the Evangelist calls It simply "Theòs", thereby indicating Its Divine dignity, but at the same time emphasizing that the Word has an independent hypostatic being, and is not identical with the Person of God the Father.
St. John, revealing to us the teaching about the Son of God, calls Him "The Word", and not "the Son", so that when we hear about the Son, we do not think about a passionate and carnal birth. As the word is born from the mind dispassionately, so the Son is born from the Father dispassionately.

"All was made through Him" does not mean that the Word was only an instrument in the creation of the world, but that the world came from the first Cause of all being (including the Word Itself), God the Father through the Son, Who in Himself is the source of being for everything, but not for Himself and not for the other Persons of the Holy Trinity.
"The life brought light to people" – this is the spiritual life, originating from the Word of God, which enlightens people with full, perfect knowledge.

"And the light shines in the darkness" - The Word that gives people the light of true knowledge, does not cease to guide people even in the darkness of sin.

Then the Word took extraordinary measures to bring people who are in the sinful darkness to Its Divine light. John the Baptist was sent and, finally, the Word itself became flesh.
"There was a man – his name is John" – "there was" in Greek is said "egeneto", i.e. John the Baptist "occurred", was born in time, and was not eternal, like the Word Who existed forever (Greek verb "in").

"He was not light" – John was not an original light, but he shone only with the reflected light of that One True Light, which alone "enlightens every person who comes into the world".
The world has not known the Word, although it owes its very existence to It. "and His own did not accept Him," that is, His chosen people, Israel, rejected Him, although not all, of course. Those who believed in Him, He gave them right to become God's children, that is, the opportunity of a new spiritual life, which, like carnal life, also begins through birth, but through birth not from carnal lust, but from God, by power from above.

"And the Word became a human being" - the Word became a complete and perfect man, without, however, ceasing to be God. "full of grace and truth." By "grace" we mean both the goodness of God and the gifts of God's goodness, which open people access to a new spiritual life, i.e. the gifts of the Holy Spirit.