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realization--"The Word", "The Light", "The Glory", "The Fullness", "The Word was
God", "The Word was made flesh", and now "God only begotten". He "was" in the
beginning; he "tabernacled" among us; He "is" in the bosom of the Father. This last
statement uses the words ho on: "The One Who is." These words speak of the Lord's
ascension, as in John 3::
"No man hath ascended up into heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the
Son of man Which is (ho on) in heaven" (John 3: 13).
The Saviour, as the Son of man, has gone back "where He was before" (John 6: 62),
and it is as the "Only Begotten" Who is in the bosom of "The Father" that John 1: 18
now speaks of Him. Before the incarnation, before the Word was made flesh, the Lord is
not spoken of as "the Only Begotten", neither is He called "The Son of man". He has
gone back now to the glory, but He has gone back with the evidences of redemption
accomplished, and so can reveal the invisible God as Father.
There is only one other reference to the word "bosom" in John's Gospel, and that is in
13: 23: "Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples whom Jesus
loved." The word indicates not only a place of warm affection, but also a place in which
confidences are received, as we see from Peter's suggestion that John should ask the Lord
in confidence as to who was the betrayer. In John 13: 23 we have the word en ("in the
bosom"); in verse 25 it is epi ("on the breast"); while in John 1: 18 it is eis ("unto").
The latter indicates something more intimate and resembles the word "with" (pros) in
John 1: 1.
We find this same emphasis upon the new relationship of the ascended Lord in
Heb. 1: 3-5. In verse 3 He is spoken of as "The brightness of His glory" and "The
express image of His person" (titles comparable with "The Word" of John 1: 1). He is
also credited in Heb. 1: 10 with the work of creation just as in John 1: 3. The parallel is
again evident in Heb. 2: 14, which is comparable with John 1: 14, and in Heb. 1: 3-5,
parallel with John 1: 18, we read:
"When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
on high: being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a
more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou
art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee?"
The Lord returns as "The only Begotten Son", having "obtained" a more excellent
name than angels. To say such a thing of the Lord as "God" would be absurd. No one
needs to be told that He who is "God" (John 1: 1; Heb. 1: 8) has a more excellent name
than angels. In what sense, then, could "The Word" Who "was God" "obtain" this name?
The answer is that He who was so high, stooped to man's estate and was made a little
lower than the angels for our sake and for our redemption. As the Man Who had thus
triumphed He could be spoken of as having "obtained" by inheritance a more excellent
name, this name being "The Only Begotten Son of God".
As "The Word", the Lord's office was to make known the will and the glory of the
invisible God. Sin, however, had come into the world; and so the Word "was made