(GRACE AND TRUTH — Can I Rely on This?)
Heaven and hell, our faith, our relationship with God, is (on our end) a matter of choice. The enemy of our souls has filled our world with lies in an attempt to lead us to choose against connection with a good and loving God, with the ultimate goal of separating us from Him, forever. In the first few chapters of John’s Gospel, we are brought face to face with the grace and truth of God’s limitless love for us, and that choosing to entrust God with our souls is a rational, positive choice.
John 1:17 ....For the law was given through Moses; Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ.
This verse, simple though it may appear, is an often overlooked key to understanding New Testament scripture and the Christian faith. Jesus brought Grace and Truth... the nature and reality of Jesus is so bound up with the reality of the Truth of God’s Grace towards us that they cannot be disentangled.
Grace and Truth… What does this mean for me? Consider John 3:16 ....For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
This is the Gospel in a sentence, so simple and familiar(1) that many of us tend to blow right by without seeing the implications. It deserves a closer look and a bit of thought.
First – and this is absolutely foundational for a rational, chosen-of-free-will sort of faith – is the almost blindingly simple truth that I can indeed trust God… with my life, my heart, my soul. In this single amazing statement, we find an incontestable rebuff to Satan’s most harmful lies: That God is not Good, that He doesn’t really love me, that He will not intervene in my life. These lies are huge, because they serve to keep us from trusting God, which we must indeed do if we are ever to enjoy any sort of relationship with him.
When we consider that God gave (completely!) his Son so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but instead enjoy Eternal Life together with God… it is simply not logically possible to read that statement and say that God is not Good, does not really love me, will not intervene in my life in the ways I really need him to.
It doesn't matter whether you think of scripture as symbolic or literal; it doesn't matter what your other doubts about God may be. This one sentence proves that God is Good, that He loves me, that He will help me -- That I can trust him with my heart and soul and life.
And the result? Eternal Life, as a permanent state, beginning now... read John 5:24 and Romans 8:28-39 to see how this plays out, both in the short run and in the long run. (2)
Second, this verse very plainly extends God’s love and grace to... everyone. The word whoever is key, all-inclusive. God’s demonstration of utter trustworthiness is not just for a particular membership or club, or this group, or that system of thought. It is for anyone who will accept it.
Whoever -- no exceptions or exclusions. Whoever... that means regardless of race, institutional religion, economic status, ethnicity, or church affiliation, or political views, or even a life marred by serious sin. (3)
It is here that we begin to see Grace entering the picture. Whoever literally means anyone – no matter what kind of life one has led, pious or sin-soaked, deserving or undeserving. Plainly, this is a gift, rather than something to be earned. Grace.
A third remarkable thing about John 3:16 is the word used for the verb “believe” -- pisteuo, in the original Greek. This Greek word can also translate as “entrust” as in entrust oneself to. How very interesting! This puts a very practical “do” into verses using the verb believe. We are talking about more than a sterile intellectual acknowledgement of Jesus’ existence, nature, and mission – even Satan himself does that much. Rather, we are asked to intentionally, purposefully entrust ourselves, our lives, our very souls, to God’s Love as demonstrated to us in his gift of Grace in Jesus.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Entrusting -- depending upon, relying upon. For what? For everything - “for in him,
we live and move and have our being.” But, especially, Life with God… Eternal Life.
Regardless of how far short our thoughts, words, and deeds fall
before the perfect righteousness of the Lord and Master of the entire Universe,
our life with God is nonetheless ensured.
The Gospel places God’s gift of Grace in Christ
at the very forefront of our relationship with him,
inviting us to rely upon him for what we cannot possibly earn.
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On a related note, the oft-repeated phrase “...believed in his name…” (John 1:12, for example) bears careful examination, as it further cements the rock-solid connection
between God’s Love, Grace, Truth, and Jesus.
If the words "entrust ourselves to" clarify what it means to believe,
what are we to make of believing in the name of, entrusting ourselves to the name of?
In general terms, “in the name of” means the sum total of the subject’s characteristics, nature, and purposes. One wonders: when scripture uses the curious phrasing "believed in his name" in reference to Jesus, one might reasonably think that “name” to be Grace and Truth. John certainly seems to think so, saying so plainly enough in verse 1:17... "Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ." This verse emphasizes what John had exclaimed just prior, in verse 1:14…
We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son,
who came from the Father, full of Grace and Truth.
Noting that the Greek for the word “glory” carries the meaning
“the essential nature of,” John is calling out here
Jesus’ very essence, nature, purpose, and legacy: Grace and Truth.
And, in as much as the Son is bound up with the Father (see John 1:1) (4), we see that this unique expression of Grace and Truth does more than describe Jesus – it describes the Father as well.
Jesus, the only son, the unique extension of his Father, and the Father himself, are about grace and truth. Grace and Truth.
So…to “believe” means to entrust oneself to; “in the name of” refers to the essence of…
to believe in the name of Jesus is to entrust oneself to the Truth of God’s Grace.
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As Peter observes in Acts 4:12 , there is no other name given under heaven by which men can be saved. Or put another way, those that will not entrust themselves to God's grace simply CANNOT be saved. No mere act of man can secure a place with God; such a thing simply cannot be earned, only given… that's Grace.
To what would you rather entrust your eternal life?(5) Your own efforts at living a totally moral, perfectly loving life? Jesus clarifies this in John 14:6 when he says:
I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
It requires Grace, and that is found in Jesus. Grace is the only way for a human being to stand before, and certainly, to commune with, the God of the entire universe. This is less a claim to religious exclusivity, as is often imagined, and more a rational statement of simple natural fact.
The simple truth is that there is no other way in which we can approach, relate to, or live with, a consumingly powerful and blindingly perfect God… only by grace – unmerited favor, unearned standing, undeserved elevation. And this grace is proven for all time in the gift to us of his Son, who in the ultimate act of love and grace, willingly chose to die in our place.
“No one comes to the Father except through me.” Grace.
This is the Truth found at the very core of the Gospel, of the Christian faith.
God’s amazing Love for us, expressed in Grace, given to us in Jesus Christ.
Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.... to all who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God… for God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 1:17, 1:12, 3:16)
You really can entrust your heart, your soul, your Life with God, to this Jesus and to the Father who sent him… (6)
End Notes:
Grace and Truth
(1) What an amazing experience this verse is turning out to be, 30 years into my faith walk!
Early on, this verse summarized a lengthy and complicated New Testament into something simple that I could hang my hat on. Cool Enough!!! Yet, as I was introduced to other scripture (especially Paul’s writing) and more in-depth study, the ubiquitous 3:16 signs in the crowds at football games began to lose their shine, producing a kind of “oh yeah, that one too” sort of feeling. In particular, as my focus shifted to trying to apply scripture to an ongoing transformation in myself and my walk, the word “believed” started to feel a little lightweight... almost sounds like "believing in" Santa Claus, doesn't it? Seriously, is that all? And what does it even mean, to “believe in?” Good questions; you can see how this most famous of Gospel passages began to lose some of its attraction. Lately, though, this verse has again been rising to the top for me, reclaiming a position of fundamental relevance, critical importance, and simple yet powerful application. For more, back to the text…..
(2) Beginning now??? Yes, Jesus’ words in John 5:24 say so, quite plainly:
Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
Eternal Life is a very now sort of thing!
As to Romans 8:28-39, consider the marvels of life with God, of living in His Love:
- And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
- For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters….
- What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
- He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
- Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
- Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
- No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
- For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[c] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Wow!!!
(3) We see this all-inclusiveness playing out later in chapter four. The first instance of “whoever” occurs in Jesus' extravagant attention to the Samaritan woman, and then her whole town. Samaritans were despised by the Jews as religious and ethnic inferiors. Yet, Jesus reveals himself as Messiah for the first time to these Samaritans, rather than to his own people, as one might guess. A second instance of “whoever” in chapter 4 occurs in the healing of the Roman official's child. This man, as a Roman and an official, represented everything the Jews hated most in the world -- the culture and system that actively and cruelly oppressed them every day. Yet, to this man's simple expression of faith, Jesus responded with a life-giving miracle.
(4) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
(5) A couple of Old Testament connections might be helpful here. The story of the Exodus, the Old Testament’s essential witness to us concerning God’s nature and character, tells of God’s saving power, against overwhelming worldly odds, for a people hopelessly trapped in cruel slavery. Our God is a Deliverer. And in John 3:16, he is at it again -- in an even bigger way: the world... whoever... and note the very next verse (v.17)... he did this not to condemn but to save. This is a God who can be trusted.
Then, we find God instructing his "deliverees" to have no other gods before him (Exodus 20:2-3). Today, we can best approach this question of idolatry (a pervasive theme in scripture) by asking ourselves “on what do I depend or rely the most?” My work ethic? or intelligence? or emotional maturity? Money? or education? or personality? or attitude? Willpower? We all have these substitute gods. God asks, can you really entrust yourself to any of these, no matter what the circumstance -- and especially, can you entrust your soul, your Eternal Life, your life with God, to them? Nope. Jonah (2:8) reminds us that when we devote our heart of hearts to things other than God, we miss out on the grace that would have been ours. That is truly tragic. So…. What about entrusting your soul, your Eternal Life, to God -- who gave his only Son so that we would not die in slavery to the world's fallenness, but live in unbroken communion with Him……. Sounds like the better bet, doesn't it?
(6) Jesus, fielding a question about the work God expects of man, answers simply “...to believe in the one He has sent.” – John 6:29