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Whenever our creed compels us to wish that Scripture says other than it
does, that item of our creed is immediately suspect and should be renounced.
According to John 1:14 the Sonship of Christ begins in time, and according to
1 Corinthians 15:28 the Son Himself is to be made subject at the end of time,
but here again care is called for. 1 Corinthians 15:28 does not say, 'That
the Father may be all in all', for that would mean that the Saviour will have
a subordinate place for all eternity. No, it says with intention 'that God
may be all in all', and inasmuch as the title, 'God', is ascribed equally to
'the Son' as to 'the Father' we are taught that the voluntary limitation that
Deity submitted to at the Incarnation, is at last exchanged for the glory
which He had before the world was. Many of the titles and assumptions of God
are for the ages and not eternal, and must not be projected either back into
the eternity of the past, or into the eternity of the future. The great name
Jehovah is explained for us in the Apocalypse, it is He Who 'is', 'was' and
'is to come' (Rev. 1:4). The last occurrence of this title shows that it,
too, is a title of time and will pass away because its glorious purpose will
have been accomplished, for the R.V. omits the last clause in the divine
title, and reads:
'We give Thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, which Art and which
Wast',
and the reason for the omission of the clause, 'and which Art to Come' is
given:
'Because Thou hast taken Thy great power, and didst reign' (Rev. 11:17
R.V.).
When the seventh angel sounds, the kingdoms of this world will have
become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and the goal indicated by
the name Jehovah will have been reached. In like manner, when God shall at
last be 'all in all' the goal of the ages will likewise have been reached.
The redemptive work of The Son will have been accomplished, and another
assumption of Deity will have achieved its end. But neither the title,
Jehovah, nor Son are spoken of God in the absolute and unconditional realm,
and into that realm all who seek to enter, do so without the illumination of
the inspired Word.
Returning to John 1:14 let us now see what the Scriptures actually say:
'And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace
and truth'.
Three terms used in this verse point to the relative and the time element
rather than to the absolute and the eternal in the Divine nature of the
Saviour.
(1)
'Was made', egeneto. The verb, ginomai, of which this is a part,
means, 'to begin to be, to come into existence'. It has already
occurred in John 1 where we read, 'all things were made by Him', panta
di' autou egeneto (1:3), 'there was a man', egeneto anthropos (1:6),
'power to become the sons of God', exousian tekna theou genesthai
(1:12). This last reference is important. The same word is used of
the believer who 'becomes' a child of God, as is used of the Word Who
'became flesh' and is there called, 'the only Begotten of the Father'.