John 1:11-18, The Symbiotic Relationship Between Law And Grace, Being Born Of God & More

Welcome back to our study of the book of John, we’ll continue with chapter 1 today as we zero in on John 1:11-18-The Symbiotic Relationship Between Law And Grace. Last wee, we talked about the divinity of the Word ( Jesus). We also talked about the Word expressing the light of God ( the plan, purpose and mindset, reasoning of God). And finally we also talked about the provisions that God made so that mankind can be drawn to the Light that is found in the Word (Jesus). I’ll invite you to watch Dr. Baruch Korman’s in depth lecture of this passage as well.

Law and Grace Work Together

The Passage

¹¹ He came to his own,^[b] and his own people^[c] did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son^[d] from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.^[e] 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; the only God,^[f] who is at the Father’s side,^[g] he has made him known.

Key Points Of John 1:11-18

• Verses 11-13

We need to first understand what the word “own” means in verse 11. Upon closer inspection, own in that phrase means [that which belonged to Him—His world, His creation, His possession].What can we learn from verse 11? We know that Jesus was also of the seed of David according to His flesh ( humanity). And Jesus Himself says in numerous verses that He came to first save the lost sheep of Israel then the gentiles. To the Jews belonged the oracles of God so if anyone were to be acquainted with the coming and ways of the Messiah, it would have been the Jews. But based on the scripture above, we learn from verse 11 that many within the Jewish nation rejected Him as King ( because their concept of the Messiah was flawed). I want to be very careful here, when we read the term “Jews” in the New Testament, it usually refers to the leadership ( those whose teachings were rooted in the tradition of the elders or shall I Say traditional Judaism). True Judaism would’ve recognized Jesus as the true Messiah. The gentiles were already far off but they were always in the mind of God.

But there is a transition in verse 12, John informs us that those who received Him ( those who recognized who HE Was, who believed in His name, who trusted that He Was the Savior announced in the Law and the prophets) were given the right to be called children of God. He is going to explain what being a child of God means.

Being Born Of God

A child of God is born of God. The phrase who were born is in the passive form, which indicates that it is an action performed by GOD alone. Let me explain it using human examples. You had nothing to do with with your human birth, you didn’t decide to be born , you had no part in coming out of your mother’s womb. In the same way, a person who believes in the name of Jesus does so because he/she is born of God. So a man/woman receives Jesus as their Lord and Savior, it is solely because they were born of God, that is the pre requisite. This is why John puts such an emphasis on this in verse 13 when he says born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh or the will of man. He cites three unique examples to support his point: being a child of God is not the doing or work of mankind, you cannot choose to become a child of God, and it is exclusively God’s and God’s alone right to make you His child.

• Verse 14

John puts an emphasis on the humanity of Jesus in the first part of verse 14, the Word becoming flesh is simply saying that the Triune God added the humanity to the divine nature. It doesn’t mean that Jesus stopped being God, all it means is the humanity was added to the divine nature. You can read about this in Philippians 2:4-11,

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,^[a] 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,^[b] 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,^[c] being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The ultimate form of humility Jesus displayed was by adding humanity to the divine nature, He thus concealed His glory. But it is interesting even though the humanity concealed the Glory of the divine nature, the disciples were able to see the Glory of Jesus as times to times He displayed it in keeping with the Father’s will so that Scriptures may be fulfilled. This is why John said that they beheld His Glory , Glory as to the only Son of God. The Glory of God is the summation of all His attributes and Jesus exuded all of them thus showing that He was truly the only Son of God. And Joh adds that Jesus came full of grace and truth. Those two work hand in hand, you can’t have one without the other. We’ll see what they mean in the verses to come.

The Symbiotic relationship between the Law and Grace & Truth

• Verses 15-17

¹⁵ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.^[e] 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ

Jesus Divine Nature Confirmed By John the Baptist

The apostle John wants us to understand that Jesus is truly the Son of God ( of the same essence as God). This is the reason for verse 15. He had already mentioned the function of john earlier ( testify to the Light that is found in Jesus). And now he recalls the testimony of John the Baptist concerning Jesus- he recognized that Jesus was indeed God. Even though in his human nature, Jesus was six months younger than John, in His divine nature as we saw in our previous study, He existed for all eternity. And John the Baptist testified about it.

The law (the five books of Moses) served a definite purpose, which was to guide Jews and gentiles to the Messiah Jesus if properly understood. Some believe that the law of Moses contradicts the law of Grace. That is a profoundly inaccurate understanding of God’s essence. The law was never intended to be a means of redemption; rather, it was intended to bring man to entire reliance on God for salvation. So when John writes that grace and truth came via Jesus, he indicates that the Law was designed to keep the people focused on the Grace and Truth that would come through the Messiah. Law, Grace, and Truth have always had and will always have a symbiotic connection. The coming of Jesus was supposed to liberate us from the burden of servitude imposed by our sinful nature. God’s grace in Jesus helps us to receive His Truth about our situation and redemption. In other words, the Law was supposed to be the entrance to Grace and Truth, and Jesus means God is my savior. That is the Gospel’s beauty, the complementarity of each of its aspect.

Jesus Is The God-Man

• Verse 18

The first thing we can learn from this is our sinful nature. Many people say that if God exist, why can’t we see Him. The bible tells us in Matthew 5:8,

⁸ “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Essentially, the reason you and I can’t see God with our natural sight is because our hearts are dirty. Seeing here might also mean experiencing. So, in order to encounter God, our hearts must be pure. So we learn from John that people cannot perceive God in His actual form ( because of our sinful state). As a result, in order for God to physically dwell with us, He had to conceal His Glory by taking the shape of a human, thus Jesus Christ. So Jesus is the manifestation of God in the flesh, which is why He is known as the God-Man. Listen to what the book of Hebrews says in Hebrews 1:1-4,

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. ³ He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power

Jesus is the exact imprint of the nature of God, so if you see Jesus, you’ve seen God and that’s what the apostle is telling us.

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