Title The Incarnation (John 1:14-18)
Contents
“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” (John 1:14).
“The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
Among the verses 14 to 18 of today's text, the most important word is 'grace and truth'. The most important word in verse 14 is “behold his glory” the word “see”.
There is nothing more difficult than the saying that if you believe in Jesus you will be saved. So, what is the difference between being saved by believing in Jesus and being saved by grace?
Salvation means that God has come to save us because we cannot go to the place of salvation. But, since Jesus Christ has done all the work for us, all we have to do is believe it, and if we say that for what we do not believe we are condemned, and whoever believes is saved because of what we believe, that is, we acknowledge it. none.
The biggest difference between the law and the gospel is that the law was given as a method. The truth is that if you keep the law, you will be saved. However, the reason the law is never presented as a means of salvation in the Bible is because we do not have the ability to keep the law.
After receiving the law, the Jews thought that receiving the law was the proof of salvation. But neither the Jews nor the Jews had the power to keep the law, just like the Gentiles. The law was given as a guide to reaching a destination. The law is clearly given as a method. If you keep it, you will be able to find your destination. As mentioned in John chapter 1, because everyone is blind, they did not know how to see it, and the only thing they used was a staff.
On the other hand, the gospel is often used in this way. He did not give us the rod of law, but now the living God has come as a rod of salvation for us. Hold onto Jesus Christ. Then you get to your destination. However, it must be remembered that verse 14 is the interpretation of this problem.
“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” (John 1:14).
John 1 is divided into two groups of people. “Those who see the glory of God and those who do not see it.”
“To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).
If you simply think of these words, you feel as if you are choosing salvation based on whether you believe in Jesus Christ or not. However, the Bible says that salvation is not one's own choice, saying, “They were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).
Verse 14 is about those who see. Humans cannot choose for themselves. Therefore, you cannot force a choice out of darkness and light. because he is blind All believers are not those who choose the light, but those who see the light. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, full of grace and truth. The Bible speaks of us as those who were not born of blood, of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, and that we are those who have passed through miracles and have been saved.
As such, all of us have absolutely no ability to choose the issue of salvation. Salvation means to come to the destination through that method when the law is presented from the legal level. He told them to come to the place where they could meet God, but that was impossible, so God came directly to them. The biblical definition of eternal life is as follows:
“Eternal life is to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
To know God and Jesus Christ, to know that, means to have a close relationship. Humans sinned and became those who could not know God. Therefore, even if they presented the law and drew a map, they could not find it. Then God did not provide a method to man, but made it himself. It's not that I'm going to have people come to me, I'm saying I'm going to find it myself.
The best symbol of this problem in the Old Testament is Jacob's Bethel incident. Jacob met God at Bethel on his way to his uncle's house. It was not that Jacob found God and met God, but God found Jacob and met him. So its name is Bethel, which is the house of God. We are all saved that way. But the reason we are confused is because of the biblical texts that seem to require our choice.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).
“Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31).
We all confess that we believe by surrendering to what we know, but never once in the Bible is the word “believe” substituted for the content. To believe is an expression of the fact that you know the essence but do not know the way to it.
We know who Jesus Christ is and who God is, even if we have no way of convincing others with explanations. That is the belief that believers have. To say I believe in Jesus is to surrender through Jesus Christ and God. This means that I have fully understood the content, essence, and core.
It becomes clear when we look at how many problems this is in the practical part of our religious life. Is your religious life full of setbacks? Or are you full of victories? After living a depraved and miserable life like this, with what face, in what aspect, have you ever thought like this? The reason I feel that way is because my salvation is based on the same logic that if my faith in Jesus Christ is the basis, then I can let go of Jesus as a living without a face.
We did not come to salvation by believing in Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ came and changed us. It is only when you change that you will know that fact. This is just a confession of faith to surrender to God. Even if we lived as children of God and lived a depraved life, our destiny is now that we are people who cannot go to hell. Since we are already in God's hands, we must go before God.
Ordinary people ask if we can live as we please from now on as long as we are in God's grace. We are beings that cannot escape God's hand even if we live our own lives. Salvation itself is through God. As long as God holds us, we cannot fall into circumstances and conditions that allow us to escape from God's hand. Because it was caught at the worst level. We should be comforted by the fact that we are in a place where our destiny will not change no matter how we live now.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. My Father’s house has many dwelling places, otherwise I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will will come again and receive you to Me, that where I am, there you may be” (John 14:1-3).
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach unless they are sent? as the feet of those who bring the news” (Romans 10:13-15).
How much we live as believers is a secondary matter. Only believers can see Jesus and the world.
The most striking difference between the gospel and the law is that the law requires that we do what is said and those who do not do it must be punished. it is not The gospel is that God directly penetrates into us and transforms us.
“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” (John 1:14).
“And we all received from his fulness, grace upon grace. The law was given through Moses, and grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:16-17).
The subject of every word is Jesus Christ. By his overflowing fullness we receive life. The result of what he has done to us is that we have come to know God.
The evangelization of the gospel is the fact that it has penetrated us and healed us in his own way through grace, prayer, with a great blessing from God and not us. So we are here today. Therefore, we have to stress our lives with gratitude, remembering that we have no choice but to win and have to win, remembering that we have been invited to that blessing.