In this gospel the glory and praise of the Son of God is proclaimed, along with the darkness of men. As this Son of God has created all things, so he also makes all things alive and enlightens them, so that the devil's teachers, who seek to become righteous and pious in another way, must finally be silent.
All flesh must be silent before the glory of the Lord; all human statutes and dreams must fall silent: the divine and eternal Word of God, which lives, burns and shines in the heart, teaches us and makes us blessed. It is spirit, not flesh. Nor does it belong to the outward worldly statutes of the Pharisees and works saints.
But when the evangelist says, "His own did not receive him," this is a harsh word against those who boast of being God's people. Only the faithful recognize this word, which John speaks of here.
**This Summa is by Bugenhagen. See the conclusion of the sermon at the Christmas Eve Mass, Col. 2029.
4. all our things must perish, so that we may be born of God through this word. This is what the evangelist Joh. 1, 12. 13. wants, when he says: "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become children of God, who believe in his name. Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." That is, we become children of God by faith, not by fleshly birth, or because our parents were pious, as the Jews boast of Abraham, nor by our will; for as St. Paul says Rom. 9:16: "It is not in anyone's willing or running, but in God's mercy," which is against the works saints. Nor do we become children of God by our best will or wisdom, which any cleverest man can devise. Summa, faith does it, nothing else.
This is the highest and only sacrament of Christians: the Word became flesh. Which, if we believe it to the end, is nothing else than eating the flesh of Christ at all times, as John Cap. 6, 51 says. There you have the Emanuel, that is, God with us, as Matthew interprets Cap. 1, 23.