“Grace for grace…”

 

I'd like to begin with a few verses in John 1

“And the Word was made 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 bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” John 1:14-17 KJV

These verses show very clearly that grace and truth are revealed to us in Jesus Christ in contrast to a system of laws revealed through Moses. In later posts there will be more detailed explanations of the distinctiveness of God’s grace in Christ Jesus but for now we will turn our hearts to another blessed reality found in the verses above: Jesus is declared to be full of grace and truth and out of that fullness we have then received 'grace for grace'. 

For a long time, I really wondered what that phrase 'grace for grace' meant. I found out that Jews have a peculiar manner of using words. They have their own way of expressing thoughts and concepts. Particularly they had a way of expressing superlatives.

I will illustrate with a verse in Genesis 14:10, “The valley of Sidim was full of slime pits” (KJV). The actual Hebrew phrase would read “The valley of Sidim was pits, pits of slime”. The repetition of the word signified a multiplicity or abundance. So the phrase was translated “full of slime pits”.

“Grace for grace” as we read in John 1:16 refers to an abundance of grace; a continuous uninterrupted supply of grace. The Amplified version renders the verse this way:

“For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift”

There is an unending stream of grace from the throne of God available for you!

I remember as a young believer, one story in the Old Testament actually served as an eye opener for me to the unending nature of God’s grace. I crave your indulgence to relate that account found in 2^nd Kings 4.

The setting was in the land of Israel, in the times of Elisha the prophet. A widow whose husband had been a debtor before his death was being hounded by the creditors. If she couldn’t pay her sons would be taken away from her and turned into slaves. So she ran to the prophet and asked for help.

All she had was a pot of oil. Elisha instructed her to gather empty containers from her neighbours, as many as she could. I think most of us will remember the story now. From that pot of oil, she filled up all the vessels they were able to gather. Not one was left empty and yet it was just one initial pot of oil!

“But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many…for if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” Romans 5: 15, 17 KJV

The word “abounded” and “abundance” are both from the Greek word “perisseuo” which means to super abound (in quantity or quality), to be in excess, be superfluous. The grace of God is super abundant. It will never be exhausted.

The picture of oil filling pot after pot as the widow poured it over and over is very vivid in my mind but I know it is nothing compared to the overflowing grace that is available to you and I in Christ Jesus.

Allow these thoughts settle in your heart this week and let them influence your attitude toward God. Our hearts grow in fondness and we become more thankful to Him when we understand in richer detail His wondrous provision for us.

I look forward to sharing more snapshots of God’s abundant grace next time.