Hello This is a Test

Wednesday Devo

Scripture:

John 1:16-18
16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.

Commentary:

1:16–17 Grace indicates God’s (unmerited) favor that brings blessing and joy. Grace and truth most likely recalls the Hebrew behind the phrase “steadfast love [Hb. hesed] and faithfulness [Hb. ’emet]” in Ex. 34:6 (cf. Ex. 33:18–19), where the expression refers to God’s covenant faithfulness to his people Israel. According to John, God’s covenant faithfulness found ultimate expression in his sending of his one-of-a-kind Son, Jesus Christ. The contrast is not that the Mosaic law was bad and Jesus is good. Rather, both the giving of the law and the coming of Jesus Christ mark decisive events in the history of salvation. In the law, God graciously revealed his character and righteous requirements to the nation of Israel. Jesus, however, marked the final, definitive revelation of God’s grace and truth. He was superior to Abraham (8:53), Jacob (4:12), and Moses (5:46–47; cf. 9:28).
1:18 No one has ever seen God, that is, in a full and complete way (cf. 6:46), but some people did see partial revelations of God in the OT. To see God in Christ would be far better (see 14:6). Some ancient manuscripts say “the only Son” here (see ESV footnote), but the earliest manuscripts say the only God (using the same word for “only” as 1:14, meaning “unique, one-of-a-kind”). John refers to two different persons here as “God,” as he did in v. 1. John concludes the prologue by emphasizing what he taught in v. 1: Jesus as the Word is God, and he has revealed and explained God to humanity.

Questions:

  • Jesus was FULL of grace and truth. He balanced them perfectly. He spent most of his ministry reaching the worst of sinners. But he didn't act like their sin was ok. One way to say it is that Jesus took sinners to dinner, but he wasn't afraid to call a sinner a sinner. While we can't possibly do this as perfectly as Jesus, it does give us something to strive for. We should seek to emulate our Savior and balance every interaction and response, every day, with both grace AND truth. Think about what it might look like to balance grace and truth. Imagine yourself applying this to current situations and relationships in your life. What kind of changes in your attitudes and words might this require? 

  •  Most of us fall heavier on one side or the other. Some are all truth and no grace, some are too heavy on the grace and afraid to speak the truth. When it comes to your life and relationships, which side do you tend to lean more towards? Which one do you need God to help you improve on?

Pray:

  • That you would strive to be full of grace and truth.
  • That you would be more like Jesus when it comes to your relationships.

City 7:

Try to commit to memory! 

2. Are there sources outside the Bible that confirm the Biblical account of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead? Many Roman and Jewish historians have confirmed that the apostles died as martyrs for preaching that they saw Jesus risen from the grave. No one dies for something they know to be a lie.
(Luke 1:1-4; Acts 26:26; 1 John 1:1-4, Josephus, Clement, Hegesippus, Tertullian, Origen, Polycarp)

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