This view supposes existing flesh being infused with the Word -- up to that moment still unfleshed -- when the Spirit descended on Jesus' 30+- year old body at the river. And you may be right. But Matt. 3:14 says that the Baptist recognized Jesus as the present (not future) Son of God before that event., and Luke 2:49 says that Jesus recognized himself as the present (not future) Son of God at age 12 -- the same Son that the voice from heaven at his baptism called "my Son," Luke 3:22. So the argument can be made that it was Jesus's birth, not his baptism, which was the event marking the Word becoming flesh in John 1:14, if for no other reason than that John 1:14 equates the Word with the Son of God.
This would mean that Jesus' baptism revealed him as the Son of God. (Maybe the "Lamb" of God, per John 1:29.) But it didn't endow him with that status. I don't know where I come down on this one!
Good points. I think that Matt 3 is illuminated by John 1. Before John makes any sort of declaration of Eureka! he has already seen (in spirit) that there is one coming. He speaks of himself as one who baptizes with water, while there is another among them that no one recognizes who is coming. One who will baptize with the holy spirit (water from above). In John 1:32 John testifies that he, himself, saw the spirit descending like a dove and resting on this one who would come. This happened before the baptism of Jesus, which is how we know he saw this in a dream, and when he saw it happen, he states that even then, he didn't recognize the one upon whom the spirit came and rested. It was only later, at the river, where he saw Jesus and said-- Look! Behold the Lamb of God. And then, you'll notice that in all of the gospel accounts that describe the scene at the river in detail-- it was Jesus who then has the vision of heaven opening, hearing the voice of the Father, and the dove descending upon him. And from that moment, everything changes.
In the example of Luke 2:49-- it doesn't say that Jesus recognized himself as the son of God, or any such thing. Nor does it indicate that he was hearing voices. If anything, it's descriptive of a boy that had a lot of questions, who thought the temple was the best place to look for answers. It says he went to the temple and sat among the teachers, asking them questions. When his parents finally located him, he asked why they were searching for him-- 'Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?' It's a story told only in Luke.
-But there is another story told only in Luke that precedes this one. It's about the old man Simeon, and the old woman Anna. Like John, Simeon had envisioned someday seeing and recognizing 'the chosen one' in the days to come. It says they had been anticipating the day, waiting at the temple for the moment the messiah would be revealed. Simeon had been promised by God that he would see it before he died. And of Simeon, it is said that the holy spirit was upon him, and in fact it was the holy spirit that had revealed to him that he would see the day. Then it says that Simeon was
directed by the holy spirit to go into the temple courts that day, and to approach Mary and Joseph, take the child in his arms and speak.
Speaking or doing as directed by the holy spirit doesn't provide special status or indicate some sort of super-power. Just as Simeon was directed to go to the temple and speak, so too the boy Jesus could have been directed to do the same by the same holy spirit, some twelve years later, after Simeon and Anna had already declared him to be the chosen one. And they all, including Jesus could be 'set upon' by the holy spirit without being changed beyond the moment. If the holy spirit was an F-35 fighter jet, this could be the equivalent of a touch and go training run. Practicing obedience to the prompting of the spirit.
On a personal note, when I was a young man of around 16 years-- I found myself one night at a mid-week church meeting-- an open congregational meeting with the pastor and church board of elders, where it was presented to the congregation the plans to accept an offer that had been made by a local business to buy the church property, relocate and build a new church on a larger piece of land on the edge of town. The plan was to construct a large multi-purpose facility, that would require chairs to be set up for Sunday services, but that would otherwise function as a gymnasium, wedding venue, conference center, and so forth. The plan was to build this multi-purpose facility right away, then in years to come since the parcel was large, later we would build a proper sanctuary building separate from the gym. Now I don't know why I thought to attend this meeting, it certainly wasn't my practice. I was just a kid, barely having got my driver's license, but there I was, and I sat (in our old church) up in the loft-- the balcony we called it, where most of the teens sat for church, but this night I was up there all by my lonesome. When the presentation was complete, the floor was opened for comments and questions and everyone was in agreement that this was a great opportunity for the growth of our church, since we were bursting at the seams in the present location with nowhere to expand. The offer to purchase was extremely generous and would entirely fund the new land and building construction for the entire project as presented.
I stood up in that balcony like a voice from above-- and said-- "No one would enjoy having a gym at the church more than me." I was very athletic and a star of the church basketball team-- "And I think it would be awesome to have a gym, but we should honor God and build the sanctuary first-- and it should be the gymnasium, not the sanctuary that is built a few years down the road."
Everyone gasped-- then a few heads nodded. But there was this whole group up front, on stage who were visibly angered at having their plan opposed by a snot-nosed kid. I was told that they appreciated the sentiment and would take it under consideration. ---- Here's the thing. I can't tell you why I was there, or why I said what I said, or what gave me the right-- but I said what I said and to this day I feel like it was one of those twelve-year-old Jesus at the temple moments. The next day I was my old self. It didn't change me in the slightest and when the church went ahead and built that gym, I enjoyed the heck out of playing basketball and volleyball and every youth activity that was ever hosted there. It was a momentary, touch and go holy spirit experience for me at that one meeting. I'd tell you about all the others as I was growing up, but there aren't any. Maybe that's why we have no similar stories from Jesus from the age of 12-30.
Here's what I do know. After the scene at the river- everything changed. After the dove descended and rested upon him, he was never the same. Nothing was ever the same.
... blue stripes on mi collar keep my wallet from gathering moths!