John 1:14

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

A critical part of the gospel is the fact that Jesus was truly, fully, physically human.

The first eighteen verses of John's gospel not only introduce Jesus, they counter false spiritual beliefs. One of these errors is that idea that Jesus was only a mirage, or an illusion.

This is not true: Christ was a one hundred percent authentic human being. Verse 14 makes this explicitly clear by using the name of "The Word," while saying very directly that He "became flesh," living among human beings. This means Jesus was not a hologram, or a ghost disguised as a person. He was a real, living, breathing person. As a result, He could claim to have experienced everything we do as mortal people (Hebrews 4:15).

The Greek word used here is skenoō, which suggests the tabernacle of the Old Testament. The tabernacle was a temporary structure, symbolic of God's "dwelling" with His people, while at the same time a literal physical place. Jesus is with us and among us, in human form, much as God was among His people in the tabernacle. Verse 14 also uses a critical term, found also in John 1:18 and John 3:16: monogenes.

This is the source of the phrase, "one and only," or "only begotten," and it means that Jesus is of the exact same "stuff" as God. This verse also mentions the second of John's seven names for Jesus, "The Son of God."