(14) And the Word became 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. (15) John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. (16) And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. (17) For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:14-17)💜 Notice in verse 14 that Jesus is described as full of grace—suggesting lovingkindness and benevolent gifts—and truth. Then, verse 16 says that from that fullness of grace we receive grace. In other words, it is from our relationship with Him that we receive many beneficent gifts toward salvation. Other Bibles translate the phrase grace for grace as grace on grace or grace upon grace. In a paraphrase, it may be rendered as blessing after blessing. The phrase pictures grace as if it were objects being stacked one on top of another or endlessly linked if side by side. As we have seen, our calling is an act of Gods grace, a gifting completely apart from any merit on our part. We tend to think of grace primarily in regard to justification and the forgiveness of sin, but that is far, far too limiting. John is showing us that our relationship with God through Jesus Christ is a connection that supplies us with a continuous flow of grace, blessings, gifts, favor, powers, forgiveness, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, healings, protection, and more through Gods loving concern. He is not supplying our every desire but our every need as His spiritual creation of each of us moves toward His conclusion. Again, remember that, for this truth to be more fully appreciated, it must be understood that He does not owe us one tiny jot or tittle of it. Just as surely as the manna physically appeared to the unconverted Israelites every morning in the wilderness and the cloud was in the sky by day and a pillar of fire by night, God is supplying our every need in relation to His salvation and purpose. It is all freely given toward His glorification and His purpose of creating us to fill a position, a place in His Kingdom. The apostles used charis (grace) in many other situations, but they applied it most especially to mean the powers given by God to meet our spiritual needs. — John W. Ritenbaugh
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 19:28:47 +0000
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