July 12: Affirming His Grace.
HIS GRACE.
For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.--John 1:17
In his insightful article entitled "The Covenants: A Developmental Approach," * Dr, van Rooyen discusses the process of continuity and discontinuity in the developmental stages of the everlasting covenant that God made with the human race. A phrase that he utilizes in his article has stayed with me for many years and continues to aid my understanding: "The oak is in the acorn, and the acorn is in the oak, yet the tree is not the acorn." I believe that this was the concept that John was conveying from the very beginning of his Gospel.
After the striking revelations that "the Word became flesh, and dwelt [tabernacled] among us...full of grace and truth" (John 1:14), the Gospel writer expands on what this last sentence means. "For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace" (verse 16). Grace is ongoing, and never-ending; grace is replaced with more grace and more grace, like the widow's oil and flour, which were never exhausted. This verse is followed by a statement of the developmental nature of the covenant of grace: "For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). It's not that there was no grace in the Old Testament because the whole sacrificial system was pointing to a Redeemer. God Himself had given the Law, which embodied His character, that has always been love (see Exodus 34:6; Psalm 86:15). But Jesus is the exact and complete revelation of God's grace, surpassing that of Moses and the prophets (see Hebrews 1:1-3). John emphasizes the expansion of the old with the fullness of the new: the new wine is better than the water of purification (John 2:10); a new birth, not related to ancestry, is needed to enter the kingdom (3:3-5), the Water of Life is greater than the water of Jacob's well (4:13, 14), et cetera. In John 1:17 the Word is given a name for the first time: Jesus Christ. He is the personification and the fullest expression of grace. Through Him we have received unmerited grace, and His grace is our assurance of salvation: grace upon grace! Let's share His grace!
My Response:__________________________________________________________
* Smuts van Rooyen, "The Covenants: A Developmental Approach," Ministry Magazine, February 2004, https://www.ministrymagizine.org.archive/2004/02/the-covenants-adevelopmental-appraoch.html.
HIS GRACE.
For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.--John 1:17
In his insightful article entitled "The Covenants: A Developmental Approach," * Dr, van Rooyen discusses the process of continuity and discontinuity in the developmental stages of the everlasting covenant that God made with the human race. A phrase that he utilizes in his article has stayed with me for many years and continues to aid my understanding: "The oak is in the acorn, and the acorn is in the oak, yet the tree is not the acorn." I believe that this was the concept that John was conveying from the very beginning of his Gospel.
After the striking revelations that "the Word became flesh, and dwelt [tabernacled] among us...full of grace and truth" (John 1:14), the Gospel writer expands on what this last sentence means. "For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace" (verse 16). Grace is ongoing, and never-ending; grace is replaced with more grace and more grace, like the widow's oil and flour, which were never exhausted. This verse is followed by a statement of the developmental nature of the covenant of grace: "For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). It's not that there was no grace in the Old Testament because the whole sacrificial system was pointing to a Redeemer. God Himself had given the Law, which embodied His character, that has always been love (see Exodus 34:6; Psalm 86:15). But Jesus is the exact and complete revelation of God's grace, surpassing that of Moses and the prophets (see Hebrews 1:1-3). John emphasizes the expansion of the old with the fullness of the new: the new wine is better than the water of purification (John 2:10); a new birth, not related to ancestry, is needed to enter the kingdom (3:3-5), the Water of Life is greater than the water of Jacob's well (4:13, 14), et cetera. In John 1:17 the Word is given a name for the first time: Jesus Christ. He is the personification and the fullest expression of grace. Through Him we have received unmerited grace, and His grace is our assurance of salvation: grace upon grace! Let's share His grace!
My Response:__________________________________________________________
* Smuts van Rooyen, "The Covenants: A Developmental Approach," Ministry Magazine, February 2004, https://www.ministrymagizine.org.archive/2004/02/the-covenants-adevelopmental-appraoch.html.
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