John 1:14
John 1:1414The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
JWs read "the Word became flesh" as describing a pre-existent spirit creature (Michael the Archangel) who transferred his life force into a human body. The incarnation is understood as a change of nature — from spirit to human — not as God taking on flesh. The "glory" John witnessed is explained as the glory befitting God's chief agent, not as the glory of Jehovah himself dwelling among his people. The Watchtower emphasises that Jesus was fully human during his earthly ministry, not divine.
is the climax of the prologue that began with "the Word was God" (). The Word who was with God and was God "became flesh and dwelt among us." The Greek eskenosen ("dwelt" / "tabernacled") deliberately echoes the OT tabernacle where Jehovah's glory resided among Israel (). John then says "we observed his glory" — the same glory the Word shared with the Father "before the world was" (). The OT "Word of the Lord" is not merely a message — it appears as a visible person who claims to be YHWH (, ). John explains who that person is: the Word became flesh in Jesus. The Christological significance is confirmed by , which even in the NWT says "in him all the fullness of the divine quality dwells bodily." If the one born of Mary carries the fullness of divinity in a body, the incarnation is God entering creation, not a creature changing form.