To Become and Became in John 1

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jwithnell

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Can anyone shed light on what is translated as "to become" and "became" in John 1? In vs 12: "to become children of God" and vs 14 "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." In English, this connotes change. For a heart of stone to become a heart of flesh, this makes sense. But such a term doesn't seem applicable to immutable God. Yes, I understand that the entirety of scripture points to the incarnation. That it occured is not my question. I'm hoping someone with a grasp on the original verbs can help me see what's happening here linguistically. Thanks!
 
The doctrine of the incarnation teaches that our Lord assumed a created human "nature." He did not assume a created human "person." The nature itself was fashioned and formed by the overshadowing power of the Holy Ghost. As long as the terms are limited to the "nature" it is appropriate to adopt language which indicates the qualities of creation and change.

ἐγένετο is one of those broad words to be determined by context. It has the basic idea of "to be" or "exist" or "happen." To derive some idea of the sense we can look at the different ways it is translated in John 1.

John 1:3, All things were made by him... not any thing made that was made.

John 1:6, There was a man sent.

John 1:10, and the world was made by him.

John 1:14, And the Word was made flesh.

John 1:17, and truth came by Jesus.

John 1:28, These things were done in Bethabara.
 
Thanks, Rev. Winzer -- I would not have recognized the nearby uses of the same verb! I love John 1 and am always surprised by "new" depths no matter how many times I revisit it, or how well I've heard it preached.
 
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