Grace and Truth
The Gospel of John begins by introducing key themes that are expanded in the body of the book - Life, Light, Witness, Truth, and Grace. Jesus is the Light of the World, the source of Grace and Truth, the True Tabernacle, and the only born Son of God who dwells in the “bosom of the Father.” The Prologue concludes by declaring that he is qualified to interpret the unseen God since he alone has seen Him.
As incomprehensible as it is to the “wisdom
of this age,” the lowly man from Nazareth who died on a Roman cross is, in
fact, the “way, the truth, and the life. No comes to the Father except
through him!” There is no life or knowledge of the one true God apart from Jesus
- (John 14:6).
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| [Photo by Perry Kibler on Unsplash] |
The introduction concludes with a significant contrast – Rather than Moses, Jesus is the only one who interprets the Father. John presents him as the one who reveals God and makes Him known.
- (John 1:14-18) – “And the Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us, and we gazed upon his glory, glory as an only-born from his Father, full of grace and truth… Because from his fullness we all received, even grace over against grace. Because the law was given through Moses, grace and truth through Jesus Christ came to be. No one has seen God at any time. The only born, the One who is in the bosom of the Father, He has interpreted…”
In contrast to Moses, “grace and truth came to be through Jesus.” This declaration challenged
beliefs about the Law held by many Jews of the first century. The “loving-kindness
of Yahweh” was and is found in Jesus, not the Torah.
The term rendered “interpreted” translates the Greek verb exégeomai, meaning, to “lead out, explain, interpret.” In the final
sentence of the Prologue, it has no direct object in the Greek clause. There is
no “him” after the verb “interpreted.” The clause is open-ended since Jesus
is the interpreter of all things related to his Father.
The Greek clause translated as the “only born Son” expands on verse 14 - “We beheld his glory, a glory as of an ONLY
BORN from a father, full of grace and truth.” He is the one who unveils and
provides “grace and truth” to men and women, and throughout the Gospel
of John, he “interprets” and reveals the “unseen God” to anyone
who responds to him in faith - (John 6:46, 8:38, 14:7-9, 15:24).
He is not another in a long line of prophets. Jesus is the ultimate expression of God, His “word made flesh,” and the Father can be understood only in and through him.
The Gospel of John does not present
a Messiah who is identical to the Father, but one who knows and reveals the
Living-Giving God; therefore, anyone who has “seen” Jesus has “seen”
the Father and received “Grace and Truth.” All things were made
according to the “Word,” the Logos, and not according to the Torah or anything else.
The Mosaic Law certainly had its place in
God’s redemptive plan, but it has been superseded by the “Word made flesh,”
the one in whom God’s “glory” is revealed to His children.
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| [Photo by Philip Graves on Unsplash] |
In the Book of Exodus, Moses was only permitted to see the “backside,” the afterglow of God’s glory while He covered him with His “hand” in the hollow of a rock as He passed by - “You cannot see my face, for no son of earth can see me and live” – (Exodus 33:17-22, 34:6-7).
In contrast, Jesus dwells in God’s very “bosom.”
He has seen the Father face to face; therefore, he is the only one who can “declare”
and represent the invisible God to the world - (Exodus 33:17-22).
The purpose is not to denigrate Moses or
the Torah but to highlight the full and final revelation of God that now
and forevermore is found in Jesus Christ. In him alone, is the loving-kindness
of the God of Israel manifested most concretely.
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