Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
And the Word, etc.—To raise the reader to the altitude of this climax were the thirteen foregoing verses written.
was made flesh—BECAME MAN, in man's present frail, mortal condition, denoted by the word "flesh" (Isaiah 40:6; I Peter 1:24). It is directed probably against the Docetæ, who held that Christ was not really but only apparently man; against whom this gentle spirit is vehement in his Epistles (I John 4:3; II John 1:7, II John 1:10-11), [LUCKE, etc.]. Nor could He be too much so, for with the verity of the Incarnation all substantial Christianity vanishes. But now, married to our nature, henceforth He is as personally conscious of all that is strictly human as of all that is properly divine; and our nature is in His Person redeemed and quickened, ennobled and transfigured.
and dwelt—tabernacled or pitched his tent; a word peculiar to John, who uses it four times, all in the sense of a permanent stay (Revelation 7:15; Revelation 12:12; Revelation 13:6; Revelation 21:3). For ever wedded to our "flesh," He has entered this tabernacle to "go no more out." The allusion is to that tabernacle where dwelt the Shekinah (see on Matthew 23:38-39), or manifested "GLORY OF THE LORD," and with reference to God's permanent dwelling among His people (Leviticus 26:11; Psalms 68:18; Psalms 132:13-14; Ezekiel 37:27). This is put almost beyond doubt by what immediately follows, "And we beheld his glory" [LUCKE, MEYER, DE WETTE which last critic, rising higher than usual, says that thus were perfected all former partial manifestations of God in an essentially Personal and historically Human manifestation].
full of grace and truth—So it should read: "He dwelt among us full of grace and truth"; or, in Old Testament phrase, "Mercy and truth," denoting the whole fruit of God's purposes of love towards sinners of mankind, which until now existed only in promise, and the fulfilment at length of that promise in Christ; in one great word, "the SURE MERCIES of David" (Isaiah 55:3; Acts 13:34; compare II Samuel 23:5). In His Person all that Grace and Truth which had been floating so long in shadowy forms, and darting into the souls of the poor and needy its broken beams, took everlasting possession of human flesh and filled it full. By this Incarnation of Grace and Truth, the teaching of thousands of years was at once transcended and beggared, and the family of God sprang into Manhood.
and we beheld his glory—not by the eye of sense, which saw in Him only "the carpenter." His glory was "spiritually discerned" (I Corinthians 2:7-15; II Corinthians 3:18; II Corinthians 4:4, II Corinthians 4:6; II Corinthians 5:16) —the glory of surpassing grace, love, tenderness, wisdom, purity, spirituality; majesty and meekness, richness and poverty, power and weakness, meeting together in unique contrast; ever attracting and at times ravishing the "babes" that followed and forsook all for Him.
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father—(See on Luke 1:35); not like, but "such as (belongs to)," such as became or was befitting the only begotten of the Father [CHRYSOSTOM in LUCKE, CALVIN, etc.], according to a well-known use of the word "as."
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing John 1:14:
Exodus 40:34
Deuteronomy 16:13-17
Song of Solomon 3:6
Isaiah 4:5
Isaiah 7:14
Ezekiel 26:20
Ezekiel 37:27
Daniel 2:11
Joel 2:27
Amos 9:11
Haggai 2:7
Zechariah 2:10
Luke 2:11
Luke 2:30
John 1:1
John 1:6-9
John 1:16
John 2:21
Acts 13:34-37
Romans 1:3-4
Romans 1:4
Romans 1:7
2 Corinthians 2:15
Ephesians 4:21
Philippians 2:7
Colossians 2:9
1 Timothy 3:16
Hebrews 8:2
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