The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:14, 16, 17
God’s grace is not an abstract concept or a thing. God’s grace is a person. Jesus Christ is God’s grace personified. The first scripture cited above is from the gospel of John chapter 1. John introduces his gospel talking about Jesus being the eternal word of God who came physically and tabernacled or pitched his earthly tent among us. The word tabernacled used to depict Jesus’ coming to earth through the womb of the virgin Mary is a word that is carefully chosen to remind the reader of God’s dwelling with the Israelites in the tabernacle when they came out of Egypt and was living in the desert. When God lived in the tabernacle, the people saw his glory by the things he did. At that time, when God tabernacled in a man made tent, he gave the law to the children of Israel on mount Sinai. The second time God comes to dwell among his people, he comes in a tent/tabernacle/temple that is not made with human hands. He comes in the fleshly body as Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus referred to his body as “this temple” when he said to the Jews, destroy this temple and I will raise it back in three days. That is also why, Paul talks of our bodies as the temples of the Holy Spirit. The man made tents or tabernacle that God lived in was a shadow of the things to come. It was a shadow of God’s true temple, us, our bodies. So Jesus came in the true temple and he was “full of grace” and truth. From his fullness we have all received grace. God appeared to us as Jesus, in a temple that was foreshadowed by the tent or tabernacle in the Old Testament. In this new tent, unlike the old tabernacle that had the law on table to stones, this new tabernacle or body of Christ was completely filled with God’s grace. Jesus was walking around as the face of God’s grace and his flesh was simply a “coat” or a tent/tabernacle that was put on that grace so that it could take shape that is physically visible.
Titus 2: 11-14 says the same thing. Take a look
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
The description used here by the apostle Paul when he says “the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men…” is a reference to Jesus whom John in chapter 1 of his gospel describes as God’s only son who left heaven and came to earth, full of grace and truth, and from his grace we have each received grace and God’s blessings. When Paul talks about God’s grace instructing or teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensible lives, he is also referring to Jesus who came physically to save us and teach us to obey God.
Ephesians 2:8 agrees affirms that saying “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” We know that the scriptures teach that we are saved by Jesus Christ, by receiving him into our lives. There is no such thing as accepting God’s grace or being saved by grace apart from Jesus Christ. When you accept Jesus, you don’t need to worry about grace because Jesus is the grace of God that saves us. Jesus is God’s grace.
You also see the bible teach of Jesus as God’s grace in Titus 3:4-6 where it is written “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”
Again here, the phrase “the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us..” is referring to God’s grace who is Jesus Christ who appeared. God our Savior there is a reference to God the father who sent Jesus to die for us.
A final scripture that I want to bring to bear here is Romans 5:15 which says “But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.” Again, this emphasizes the fact that Jesus is God’s grace, that grace is God’s gift to us. We know that Jesus is God’s gift to us because John 3:16 says “for God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life” God gave Jesus as a gift to us. That gift saves us. That gift, Jesus Christ is God’s grace to us personified.
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