THE PROLOGUE
OUTLINE
55
IN
As we proceed in our study we trust that we too will be able to behold
His glory, and gladly acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God.
The occurrences of the word `flesh' in relation to Christ in the
Synoptic Gospels are very few indeed. If the words of Matthew 26:41
and Mark 14:38, `the flesh is weak', may be taken to be the Lord's
words with reference to Himself and His physical weakness in the
garden of Gethsemane, they constitute the only reference to His `flesh'
found in those two Gospels, while Luke has only one reference
(24:39), where the risen Christ says: `A spirit hath not flesh and bones,
as ye see Me have'. Over against these three references in the
Synoptic Gospels (or one reference only if those cited from Matthew
and Mark are of doubtful application) we have seven references in
John's Gospel, and three in his Epistles. The seven are 1:14 and
6:51,52,53,54,55,56. The expansion of 1:14 in 6:51, where the Lord
says: `The bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the
life of the world', shows the essential purpose of the incarnation. We
have the same thought in Hebrews 10:5: `Sacrifice and offering Thou
wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me'.
The three references in the epistles are 1 John 4:2, (1 John 4:3 in
the Received Text) and 2 John 7. These references are in contexts of
great solemnity.
`Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that
confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God'.
`For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an
antichrist'.
John uses two different tenses of the verb `to come' in these two
epistles. In the earlier passage he is speaking of the historic fact, and
so the verb is eleluthota, the perfect participle, meaning `has come'. In
2 John 7, on the other hand, it is not in effect a question of time, and
the present participle, erchomenon, is used. In the first passage it is a
question of the historicity of the incarnation; in the second it is its
possibility.
In the very early Church it was not so much the Deity of Christ that
was the subject of attack, but rather His humanity. Today the