The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1931-12-31
Lesson for January 3
THE SON OF GOD BECOMES MAN
LESSON TExT-John Ills.

LESSON TEXT-John 1:1-18.
GOLDEN TEXT-Jesus saith unto
him, Have I been SO long time with
you, and yet hast thou not known me,
Philip? He that hath seen me hath
seen the Father; and how sayest thou
then, Shew us the Father?
PRIMARY TOPIC-Jesus Comes to
Live on Earth.
JUNIOR TOPIC-Jesus Comes to Live
on Earth.
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOP
1C-Seeing God in Jesus.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOP
1C-The Fact and Meaning of the In
carnation.
The lessons for this quarter are
taken from the Gospel Of John, CIV
ing an opportunity for the presenta-
tiOn of this great message from God.
In order intelligently to present the
lessons of the quarter, the teacher
must get hold of Johns central pur-
pose and bend every lesson thereto.
Happily the writer has plainly de-
clared his purpose-John 20:S0, 81.
1t is twofold:
l. To prove that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God.
2. To show that eternal life is to be
obtained through faith in him.
With this twofold objective, John
proceeds lawyer-like to lay down his
propositions and to introduce his wit
ment. The section for today's lesson
is commonly called 1.-THE Prologue"
|. The Pre-existent Word wv. 1-4).
The eternal Son is called the Word
of God because he is the expression
of God to man. He is the one who ut
tiers to men the Fathers will. God
has in these days spoken to us by his
Son (Ieb. Il, y. Observe:
l. The son is person separate and
distinct from the Father ". ~. There
is at the same time an inseparable
union existing between them.
2. The Son is eternal ". p. He
was with God in the beginning. He
did not begin to exist when the
heavens and the earth were created,
neither did he become the Son at his
baptism, for he was before all things
(Col. 1:17).
g. The Son is divine ". ~. "The
Word was God" He is being equal
with God and one in essence with him.
4. The Word of God is the omni-
potent Creator ". 81. By him were
all things made, the world and all
things therein. This refutes the gross
error which postulates the eternity of
matter.
S. The Word is the source Of all
life ". A..
6. The Word Of God is the light of
men ". ~. Mans power to reason
has come from Jesus Christ. The very
faculties which the skeptic uses in his
attempt to destroy Christ's work in
the world have been derived from
Christ. The conscience has it's source
in him.
II. The Worlds Attitude Toward
the Word of God wv. 5-13).
l. Men are insensible to the pres
ence of the true light wv. 5-10). So
dense is the ignorance Of mankind
that the presence Of the very Lord of
Glory is unrecognized. Being thus
unrecognized. God, in his grace, sent
John the Baptist as witness that all
men might believe wv. 6, y. Mans
ignorance can only be accounted for
by the malicious binding of his mind
by the Devil (II Cor. 4:4).
2. The desperate wickedness Of
mans heart ". 11). The Word was
rejected by the chosen nation. They
would not receive the one whom God
had anointed to be their King. With
the self-revealing light, the earnest
testimony of John the Baptist, and the
glorious privilege of becoming the
sons of God, the rejection Of Christ
most certainly reveals the awful per-
yersity of the human heart in its
natural state. ITO be carnally minded
is death" from. 500.
3. Some received Christ and thus
became sons Of God wv. IL, 13). In
this section we are shown how men
DeCOIuG CIllluTeu VI NUu. II Is uOL ny
blood relation with the covenant peo-
pie, "of blood" (grace is not inherit
ed); not by the efforts of our natural
hearts, "the will of the flesh; nor by
the acts and deeds of others-"the
will Of man; but of God"
III. The Eternal Word Became In.
carnate, "Made Flesh" wv. 1873.
In these words we are taught that
the enternal Word became the incar-
nate Son. The eternal Son Of God be-
came man, born of a woman. The
eternal Son did not become a Jew, but
''fesh." He designated himself "the
Son of Man." He became really hui
man. The eternal personality did not
cease or become modified in any way
when he entered upon human relation.
The human and divine natures were
united in one person. This incarnate
Son of God tabernacled among us.