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Grace and Truth by Jean-Louis Coraboeuf "And the Word [logos] became flesh and dwelt [skenoo, to tabernacle] among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law [nomos] was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him" (John 1:14-18). The Greek word nomos is the equivalent of the Hebrew word torah, it means 'teaching', 'direction', 'written law', although it is always translated by 'law'. The Greek word logos is the equivalent of the Hebrew word dabar; it means 'word'. The Logos (Jesus) is the Truth (John 14:5) who 'tabernacled' on earth in order that the prophecy of Micah be fulfilled, "For out of Zion the Law [Torah] will go out, and from Jerusalem the Word [Dabar] of the Lord" (Micah 4:2). So Jesus did not come to abolish the Torah of Moses, but to accomplish it [pleroo] (Matthew 5:17). The Greek verb pleroo means 'to make perfect', 'to bring to fullness', 'to bring to completion'. That is why the Word brought by Jesus is called: "Torah of the Kingdom" (James 2:8), "Torah of freedom" (James 2:12) and "Torah of Christ" (1 Corinthians 9:21). The "gift of the Torah [nomo-thesia]" of the First Covenant (Romans 9:4 Darby) belongs to the Jews and God was the only "Giver of the Torah [nomo-thetes]" (James 4:12); but Jesus Christ was the mediator of a more excellent Covenant, which has been "established in Torah [nomo-théteo, to be legislator]" on better promises (Hebrews 8:6). And so the renewed Covenant became a 'Torah' through which Jesus made us know the mystery of the will of God, His benevolent design vis-à-vis His Bride, but also His personal expectations regarding the relationship of His Bride to Himself. The grace [charis] is a favour accorded by God; it was abundantly poured out on the earth by Jesus, that is why God has blessed Him forever (Psalm 45:2). The crowd was astonished even at the gracious words, which came out of His mouth (Luke 4:22). Because Jesus has ascended to the Father, we have received the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:29), which puts to work the different gifts of grace [charisma] (1 Corinthians 12:4,11). The Holy Spirit with His gifts thus constitutes the guarantee of her inheritance the Bride receives from her Husband. These gifts are necessary while waiting for the manifestation [apocalupsis, revelation] of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:7), which will only take place at the moment of the taking up of the Bride. |