Of the three personas of the Trinity, one was clothed in mortal flesh and blood that the fullness of the Godhead might be known in lower creation. The fourth gospel opens by describing the creation of the universe through the Word of God, this idea is repeated later in the Jewish Zohar. John uses the term “Word” to describe the preexistent Torah which has been explained as one continuous string of letters without separation (Rambam’s Peirush al HaTorah). John relates that the Word was both with God and simultaneously one and the same as the Creator (John 1:1). Jewish thinkers from the colonial period elaborated on this idea.
The Word has been compared to water, for just as water descends from a higher to a lower level, so has the Word descended from its place of glory, which is His blessed Will and Wisdom; the Word and the Holy One, blessed be He, are one and the same and no thought can apprehend Him at all. Thence the Word has progressively descended through hidden stages, stage after stage, with the descent of the worlds, until it clothed itself in corporeal substances (Tanya ch. 4).
In this passage it is explained that a compression of the Word of God, which is understood to be completely One with the Creator, who is unknowable and beyond investigation, as scripture says, must be “clothed” and presented in a form which might be understood through human faculty. The Eternal was first clothed in what is called the “Word” or “Torah,” in the Jewish tradition, and then is further clothed in physical matter consisting of ink on a biblical scroll or book.
Our Christian scriptures describe Christ as the fullness of that Word robed in the flesh and blood of humanity, the body and physical form of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote,
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in him (Col. 1:19)
This is, after all, the intention of the Torah, that it would be fully lived out and manifest in the man of God. It was through his embodiment of the Word of God, which is One and the same with the Creator, that Christ proclaimed, “I and the Father are One (John 10:30). The Mind of the Creator is condensed and contained within His Word and that Word was further robed within the person of Jesus. This is the teaching of the Gospel. Rabbi Shneur Zalman provides a relevant illustration of one who is embraced by a king. He wrote
There is no difference, in regard to the degree of closeness and attachment to the king, whether while embracing the King, the latter is wearing one robe or several robes, so long as the royal person is in them (Tanya Ch. 4).
God has robed Himself within His Word, that humanity might embrace His wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. He has further clothed the Word within the person of Christ Jesus, our righteousness, in order that He might embrace humanity.