For the law was give by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. John 1:17
What is John really saying here? Is there really a contrast between God’s law and the grace and truth of Jesus Christ? If Jesus did not come to destroy the law, or the prophets, but to fulfil them, then why the “but”? I wonder if the “but” really even belongs.
I looked back in a Greek interlinear Bible, because when I looked at the Strong’s numbers, there isn’t one after the “but”. What does that mean? To me, it meant that “but” isn’t an original word or thought in this declaration of John. And when I looked back at the Greek, well, it’s just not there. What we should really be reading is, “For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Or, maybe it was two sentences. After all, like in Hebrew, there is no punctuation in Greek. And maybe it matters that John didn’t use “but” here.
See, using “but” sets the law and grace and truth at odds. But they aren’t at odds. The traditions of man became at odds with grace and truth and the law, but God’s law and grace and truth have never been at odds. Believers never had to make a division. You can follow the law, even Jewish law, and live by grace and truth, and you can follow the laws of God outside of Jewish practices and live by grace and truth. But you cannot destroy or despise or throw away the law and live by grace and truth in Jesus.
See, you can’t be anti-semitic, or anti-anybody and live in grace and truth. You would be also breaking the law of God. You can’t go around stealing or lying or cheating or defaming people and live in grace and truth. You would also be breaking the law of God. The offering system wasn’t the point of value for God or that’s all He would have required. If you want to know what the heart of God’s law is, go back to Deuteronomy 10:12. God tells us through Moses, “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good?” What God was asking for by His law was for His people to “Circumcise …the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked” (Deut. 10:16).
Samuel got it. Why can’t we? Is it that we can’t get it or just that we don’t want to? Is it that our hearts haven’t really been circumcised and we are still just stiffnecked like those we joy to point our fingers at? Samuel asked a poignant thing and if we thought about it, we would have to see what he sees and what Jesus saw and knew, wouldn’t we? Well what did he see? “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king” (1 Samuel 15:22,23). Now, Samuel said this to king Saul. Why? Because the law said that only a priest was to offer, to conduct the ceremony, for offerings to God. Saul had been told to wait for Samuel to conduct the offering and he had been told to destroy the livestock of the enemy. But Saul chose his own way. What he knew was from the LORD, he did not keep. He loved the keeping of livestock for his people more than he loved trusting God. His heart wasn’t delighting in God but in something else. He was picking and choosing what he wanted to trust God with. And God knew.
The problem wasn’t with the law of God. It did not require too much of Saul. But it did require what Saul did not wish to give. Whether is was inconvenient for him to obey, or seemed silly, I can’t tell you. But the law wasn’t the problem; Saul’s heart was the problem. And for many years, we’ve been acting as though the law is a problem, but it’s not! We are the problem. What ever gave believers the idea that the law was a problem?
Is it really detrimental to honor the Sabbath? I’ve found it a blessing. But it would be a detriment to honor the Sabbath so much that we forsake doing good or helping others or reaching out to others because it’s “too special a day.” Is there something inherently bad about all the holy days and celebrations that God instituted? Absolutely not. Should we be blessed to learn about them and celebrate them with our Jewish brothers and sisters, we would learn even more about the Lord.
Maybe it’s time we started looking at the totatlity of God’s word and law as Jesus did. Maybe it’s time we embrace it all just as Jesus did and time we lived to fulfil the law and the prophets in the spirit of Jesus, which he has given us, if we are believers, because it’s what he has called us to do. Maybe it’s time we shone as the lights in the world that we have been called to be, to both Gentiles and Jews. Maybe it’s time that we lived in the fulness of Christ instead of the fulness of ourselves, like Saul. Maybe it’s time we lived according to grace upon grace.
A Deeper Treasure 