6.3 The Word Made Flesh

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we looked upon His glory, glory as the One-Seed alongside of Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). – It is fully made visible that you ARE a letter of Christ… having already been written… with the Spirit of the living God… inside tablets of hearts of flesh (2 Corinthians 3:3).

“Word made flesh” in 2 Corinthians 3 is the same operation as “Word made flesh” in John 1. – For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. “…into one flesh the two will be” (Ephesians 5:30-32). It is evident that our own flesh made from Christ-Word is the same flesh that is Jesus made from God-Word.

An Opposing Verse. Now, I want to bring in an opposing verse from Paul, one that seems entirely contradictory. – I say to you, walk by Spirit and you will not be bringing the desire of flesh to completion. For the flesh covets against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh; for these are opposed to one another so that you do not do the things you might desire (Galatians 5:16-17).

Here is a simple reality of ALL human thinking. Either (1) “Spirit word written upon flesh” rules over and informs us of the meaning of (2) “these are opposed to one another” or vice versa. If the second rules, the first is eliminated, but if the first rules, the second finds a place of meaning inside specific boundaries, and it is the Spirit who teaches us the difference.

God Is Free. Again, this course is not about redemption but about our being human just like Jesus, the first one of our kind. Here is what redemption says, however. James – A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Hebrews – You are part of Christ when you are confident that you are.

God, by His very nature, is free from manipulation and control. Think about those vast fields of thoughts that are God, Good and True. Can anyone insert their will against those orderly flows of God-thoughts in order to turn God in directions He does not intend inside Himself? God cannot be controlled; therefore God does not know control. God is free; therefore we are free.

Not Control. Just before Paul says that we are one spirit with the Lord AND that the members of our physic, including our sexual organs, are Christ, he says this. – All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any (1 Corinthians 6:12). Let’s paraphrase this. “I can do anything I want; I am not under the control of anything, including the law. But I will NOT do anything that gains power over me to control me.”

When we say that our body is one, physic and spirit together, that is not the word “flesh” as Paul means it in Galatians 5. Those who live in the mind of the knowledge of good and evil interpret everything by that mind. This is “flesh.”

And Not Fakery. Those who live in the mind of the tree of life interpret everything by that mind. This is “spirit.” This is why Romans 8 is the ruling chapter of the Bible. – For the law of the Spirit of life inside of Christ Jesus has made you free far away from the law of sin and death. – BUT YOU DO NOT exist inside of flesh, that is, inside of fake human performance, but INSIDE OF Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells inside of you.

Paul’s definition of “flesh” in the negative sense is human performance coming from a fake identity, trying, lying, and crying, and calling it a “Godly” human response. Animals are physic only; angels are spirit only. Neither one knows the Father in the way we do.

Identity, Not Form. Here is what I am after. Humans are symmorphic; we are created to contain Father in Person inside our beings. Yet we will not define our symmorphic nature inside the purposes of this course until Chapter 10, “Being Symmorphic.”

The issue Paul raised in Galatians 5 is inside the parameters of our identity as symmorphic humans, a clash of identities. The issue of this lesson, “The Word Made Flesh,” rests upon the learner already understanding our symmorphic nature from prior study. In the New Testament the word “sarx,” translated “flesh,” has two different, but related meanings. Both meanings have to do with our identity, rather than just with our physic.

Made Like God. Every part of our physic is filled with the Spirit of God and is part of Christ (1 Corinthians 6). Word become flesh, then, is all the Words that are Christ Jesus written all through our human identity, all through our story of self. Angels and animals are made to be under the benign control of humans. But humans are made just like God, not to be under the control of anything.

If the Word is to become our human identity, then, it can do so only through our express permission. More than that, Word never becomes our human identity as a “controller.” – Creation itself will also be made free from the slavery of decay into the freedom and liberty of the glory of the children birthed out from God (Romans 8:21).

Our Human Identity. And we looked upon His glory, glory as the One-Seed alongside of Father, full of grace and truth. “The Word become flesh,” then, is the One-Seed of God, now planted in our earth, becoming us in all our identity of soul. Grace is Father-with-me, the active presence of the All-Carrying One, and truth is the Spirit of Devotion.

And so let’s continue the thoughts of the last lesson in looking at the experience of every Word God speaks becoming the entirety of our human identity. The how of that experience is redemption, beginning in the human heart, proceeding to the speaking of the mouth, and becoming all the thoughts of the mind and the seeing of the eyes.

What We Are. This course is about the what. What am I as a human written with every Word God speaks in all my identity? Now this is a critical distinction. You see, our NATURE as warriors is not entering this study until Chapter 12, “Made for War.” That nature is not referring to our path of redemption. WHAT we are is completion, not the pathway out of mixed-up and double-minded imagination. Part 3 and Part 4 of this study is concerning what we do as completed humans. We cannot know what we do unless we first know what we are. And to know what we are, according to the Bible, we have only One example, the Lord Jesus Christ.

No Robotics. I am written with every Word God speaks in all my identity. I am filled with grace and truth.

Identity is never passive; our identity comes out from active human engagement. Isaiah did not use the metaphor of a ping-pong ball or a hand-ball court to reference the Word God speaks. God does not want a robotic repetition of His Word any more than He would want a robotic reflection of His Love. “We love Him because He first loves us” requires complete human involvement. It is God-Love returning to Himself, yes, but now it has taken on a very personal and human form and expression.

A Complete Mixing Together. Here is Isaiah’s metaphor again. – “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

The rain does not “bounce back” to God. There is no rote repetition, no mindless “perfect obedience.” The rain [Word] mixes with the earth [flesh] and the flesh mixes with the Word and the two together turn it into something brand new, something personal, something made for others.

Our Full Involvement. Let’s look closer at the meaning. – But water the earth, and make the earth bring forth and bud, that the earth may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. It is not the Word that gives good things to others, but our humanity. Yet our human identity gives good things to others out from the Word written upon us.

You and I, out from our humanity, have full and complete INVOLVEMENT with the Word made flesh becoming life for others. This is why Jesus asked, “When the Son of man comes, will He find faith in the earth?” Apart from full union with our faith, the Word cannot return to the Father fulfilled.

Where Everything Fits. And when that Word returns to the Father fulfilled, it carries the full expression of our own personal and unique humanity.

“Seed to the sower and bread to the eater” means Christ community. And this is why the question of personal and social together must be part of this present discussion of “what we are” before we look at “what we do.” We are known by our doings, yes, but we do what we are.

We can see that the Spirit of God is very interested, in this lesson, in where we place things in relationship to each other, that is, mechanics. We know a thing only when we know where it fits and what it does in its place.

Fellowship with Jesus. Let’s finish this lesson, however, with that fellowship of soul that makes us human, completely different from animals or angels. – You search diligently the Scriptures, for you imagine to have age-unfolding life in them, and these are bearing witness concerning Me; but you do not want to come to Me, that you might possess life (John 5:40).

What makes you human more than anything else is the fellowship of soul that you enjoy with the Lord Jesus inside your heart as every Word God speaks concerning you. “Every Word God Speaks” is a meek and lowly Savior who carries you with tender compassion. And “Every Word God Speaks” becomes food for others only when it is transformed inside this precious and personal Fellowship.

Transubstantiation. Transubstantiation. – The substance of the Father, coming through Jesus, mixes with your humanity in pure Fellowship to become life (substance) for others. It is a simple equation – Christ lives inside of your heart through faith – and it is the meaning of all the great metaphors of the Bible.

Let’s take this thought a little further, for I think that here we will find the meaning of “the Word made flesh.” You see, we are not talking about the substance of Father becoming our own substance; that’s a given. We are talking about the substance of Father becoming the substance of others through our Fellowship with Every Word God Speaks inside our hearts.

Through Us for Others. We are talking about being like God, that is, being human. The Word become flesh as the Lord Jesus is for us, for our transformation as that same Word. But to share with Jesus’ glory, we then turn, and, with Jesus, become that same “Word become flesh” for others.

Isn’t that what it says? – By this we have known love, because He set forth His soul for us, and we also are committed to setting forth our souls for the sake of our brothers and sisters. Clearly, this “setting forth our souls” begins with joining others together with Father inside our own hearts. Yet Jesus is His own Person, and His own unique personality is mixed with mine as I fellowship with Him, leaning against His breast.

Reciprocity. A brother with whom I fellowship regularly inside this Word would not read literature or watch movies or YouTube videos. Yet because the word of Christ I share with him contains and is shaped by my interests, he has been reading books he never would have read and watching movies and videos he never would have watched – and gaining much value as a result. At every point, this brother is connecting with Jesus inside his own soul, yet, in fact, he is becoming “like me” just a bit.  

Because I also am human, this relationship is entirely reciprocal, for this brother’s ways will become part of my identity as well, as we walk together. Because I walk with Jesus in pure fellowship, His identity becomes mine, His Word becomes my flesh.

We Are Fellowship. Because I am symmorphic, I take on the identity of those with whom I fellowship in close togetherness over time. This fact of my construction goes both ways, to Jesus and He to me, as well as outward towards those with whom I walk closely in the same word. And this is why a study of personal and social always in balance together must be part of what we ARE, first, before it can become part of what we do.

We ARE beings of fellowship. Fellowship is central to what God is; fellowship is central to what we are. God made us just like Himself. Fellowship with Jesus is our high personal value; fellowship with others is where we belong. We are made to BELONG, in solitude and in togetherness.