John testified to him and cried out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.'"
... more emphasis on John's subordinate place and Jesus' pre-existance.
From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
... to me this says that the news Jesus brings replaces that given by Moses ... grace and truth trump the law - I like that idea. I think this is partly why I tend to discount Old Tesyament info when it's not seconded in the gospels, though that may be my mistake.
No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father's side, has revealed him.
... if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus :-)
4 comments:
I think this is partly why I tend to discount Old Tesyament info when it's not seconded in the gospels, though that may be my mistake.I don't think you are alone. We are Christian after all. Having said this, the extreme version of this is supersessionism--the notion taht Christianity has replaced Judaism in God's favour--and this leads to antisemetism.
Grace and Truth trup the law. Yes. But the law itself is a grace (gift from God) and the truth. I guess its more a question of finding the spirit and intent behind the law when trying use the law for guidance in modern situations that the law was not origianlly designe dto apply to. But that too is an interpretation.
Not an easy question all in all.
I don't mean to say that christianity is better than Judaism or that it replaces it. I pay more attention to the parts of the bible that are about Jesus, I guess, because he's the only reason I'm a believer at all. But that doesn't invalidate the rest of the bible.
I did not mean to suggest you did Crystal. I do what you do too. I am pointing out the dangers of taking it too far.
Ahh...I am an Old Testament lover. To me the OT is all about Jesus, just in a different way, perhaps (yes, I realize this is a ridiculous statement). Jesus came to fulfill the law, not abolish it -- the Law is not gone, he showed us how to live the law, and even gave us the Cliff's Notes version of the two so we wouldn't get lost in the ten.
The OT is long and maybe more opaque than the NT, but God's love speaks so loudly to me. To me, the OT is the longest parable of all. There is a richness and depth to it that the Gospels can't attain because they are short and focussed on the ministry of one man. In the OT, we get to see the pattern of generations.
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