A Foundation of Grace: Grace in the New Testament Scriptures

There are 157 occurrences for the Greek word "charis" in the New Testament. This word is most often translated "grace," but when looking at scriptures, I also found that it is translated as "favor, credit, thanks, gift" and a few other words. To read more about the definition of the Greek word "charis," please read an earlier post in the series here.

I thought I would share some scriptures with you about grace today, so you could see them side by side. Sometimes when we see scriptures together, it is like a puzzle with many pieces starting to click and form a picture.

And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.-Luke 2:40

And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.-John 1:16

And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.-Acts 4:33

Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.-Acts 14:33

Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.-Acts 14:3

But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.-Acts 15:11

But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.-Acts 20:24

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.-John 1:17

To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.-Romans 1:17

being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,-Romans 3:24

For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)-Romans 5:17

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,-Romans 5:20

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.-Romans 6:14

But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also.-2 Corinthians 8:7

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.-2 Corinthians 8:9

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.-2 Corinthians 13:14

I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,-Galatians 1:6

I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.-Galatians 2:21

There are so many other scriptures about grace in the New Testament, as well as the Old.  But I think we can see from these how important grace was to the Early Church and how it should be to us as well.

Grace and peace to you...

To read more in the series, please join me here, at A Foundation of Grace.

A Foundation of Grace: Rest

The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.-Psalm 23:1-6 (NASB)

A few days ago, my attention started being drawn to this Psalm.  I felt like maybe the Lord wanted me to share this as a part of this series on grace.  

At first when I started looking at it, I couldn't really see how it applied.  But now, after reading it a few times, and looking up some words in their original language, it makes more sense.

The psalm in its entirety speaks of the Lord as a shepherd, caring for us completely.  In it, we do nothing.  He does it all.  We have no need with Him caring for us.

He leads, restores, guides, protects, comforts, prepares.  He showers us with His goodness and loving kindness. He is perfect.

The psalm as a whole speaks of rest.  Grace is a place of rest.  It comes from the favor and kindness of God, and is not something we produce ourselves by our own efforts or our own works.

Verse 2 especially speaks of rest.  More than one word in this verse mean "rest".

He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.

Lie down obviously means rest. But the word for lead, "nahal," also means "to give rest." The word for quiet, "menuchah," means "a place of rest."

This psalm as often read at funerals, but it is a Psalm for today, for us in the now. It is a picture of our life in Christ.

To read more in the series, please join me here, at A Foundation of Grace.

A Foundation of Grace

Earlier this year, I felt like the Holy Spirit impressed on me that some pilings were going to be added into my life. A piling is a tall vertical structure made of wood, steel, or concrete, that is put into the ground to give support to a structure. It is part of a foundation that is deep.

About a month or so ago, I got the above image. I felt like God gave it to me as part of what been taking place in my life, and as part of what I am going to write about with this writing challenge I am participating in, Write 31 Days.

John 1:17 says,

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Grace came through Jesus. It came through the Son of God, born as a man, to all of humanity.

In her book, Unveiling Jesus, Tricia Gunn says in Chapter 2 on Grace and Truth vs. Religion, "You see grace isn't a topic! Grace is Jesus. Grace is everything. Grace is the foundation for every teaching and every subject!"

1 Corinthians 3:11 says,

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
So, we are going to spend the next 30 days exploring this foundation, A Foundation of Grace, which is actually the person of our Jesus. We are going to explore the stories of His life and ministry and this amazing grace that came with Him. We are going to talk about what the love of God looks like and how that is connected to grace. I hope you will join me.


Day 1: A Foundation of Grace

Day 2: Water Into Wine

Day 3: A Place of Rest 
Day 4: By Grace Through Faith
Day 5: Grace in the Greek
Day 6: Rest
Day 7: Grace From the Touch of Jesus
Day 8: Grace in the New Testament Scriptures
Day 9: (Past Tense) Forgiven
Day 10: Grace Gives Big Time
Day 11: His Name is John
Day 12: What if Grace Were the Focus?

Day 13: Reigning in Life

Day 14: Moses, Joshua, and Jesus

To learn more about Write 31 Days, a writing challenge where writers all over take a topic and write about it consecutively for 31 days, please go here.

31 Days of Healing: The Healing of Malchus' Ear

And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?”  And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.

But Jesus answered and said, “Permit even this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.

Then Jesus said to the chief priests, captains of the temple, and the elders who had come to Him, “Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs?  When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”-Luke 22:47-53 (NKJV)

This was seriously an intense moment.  Jesus had just been praying, and the Bible says that His sweat became like great drops of blood.  He was getting ready to be taken away.  He had prepared the disciples, but they didn't know it was immediately upon them.

And then Judas arrives.  And he identifies to those who have come to arrest Him, which one Jesus is.  When the disciples saw what was happening, I imagine the adrenaline went soaring.

Have you ever been in an intense emotional situation, either in an argument with a friend or loved one?  It usually makes your adrenaline rush and your blood pressure go up right?  Now, imagine you have a sword.  You may laugh, but I know that I have thought about this passage of scripture before when I have gotten angry, mostly to comfort myself.

They were coming to take Jesus away, and the disciples became very protective of Jesus.  One of them became so protective, He pulled out a sword and cut off the high priest's servant, right ear.  What a moment! John's Gospel identifies the man that cut off the ear as Peter, and the servant as a man named Malchus.

What happens next is most amazing.  Jesus gets a moment of pause and touches Malchus' ear, the enemy who has come to take Him away, and heals him.  Everyone sees it.  The High Priest is most likely there and he just witnessed it.  They witnessed the miracle working power of God working on an enemy.

What does that say about the character of Jesus?  He is a healer.  That's who He is.  It is what He does.  He gives life to everything He comes in contact with.  It is always His purpose to heal.

There's a lot more to this story than I have even explored. One new thing that I have learned since first writing this post is that the name Malchus can mean "king" or "kingdom." This was Jesus last healing before He was crucified. I find it very interesting that His last miracle was "healing the kingdom."

Many blessings as you grow in grace and the knowledge of Him,

Beth

To read more about the healing ministry of Jesus, please visit 31 Days of Healing.

Women in the Life of Jesus: Women and Ephesians 4

I hope if you have made it this far with me, that you have enjoyed my series, Women in the Life of Jesus.  It was a lot of fun to write, and I learned so much along the way. Women are valuable to God, and He takes great delight in us.  We are not inferior to men, but equal in humanity and in the call He has on our lives.  That is so important to know in the age of the Church.

The Lord spoke to me earlier this year and told me that the reason there are people in opposition to women in leadership in the Church, is that they don’t understand Kingdom dynamics.  We are not called to Lord it over individuals but to serve.

But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.  And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”-Mark 10:42-45

All women have been given gifts in the Body of Christ.  Some of them are called to the list in Ephesians 4. If you will see my post about Mary the Evangelist, I explain more about this passage there.

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,  for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, -Ephesians 4:11-12

Examples of women from the Bible who possibly walked in the ministry gifts in Ephesians 4 include:

Apostle-Junia (Romans 16)

Prophet-Deborah (Judges 4), Anna (Luke 2), Phillip's daughters (Acts 21)

Pastor (Shepherd)-Lydia (Acts 16), Priscilla (Romans 16)

Teacher-Priscilla (Acts 18)

Evangelist-The Samaritan Woman (John 4), Mary Magdalene (Mark 16)

This is a short list. There are many other women listed in the Scriptures, and down through Church history that served this way. If you find these women in Scripture, you find them in the Body of Christ today.  All of these woman are a picture of how other women are supposed to be functioning in the Church.

Jesus loves women. We see Him teaching women great spiritual truths throughout the Gospels. We see them functioning and active in the Early Church. And we should see them ministering to others in whatever way the Lord has gifted them today.

I believe there are lots of women out there who, though they may not have a job in a physical church building, you may not see yourself doing anything for the Body of Christ.  That is not true. The Body of Christ is not in a building.  It is in the people who come in the building. Jesus lives within you. Much of the ministry that took place within the Early Church as found in the book of Acts happened outside of a building. I am not saying that it is not important for Believers to meet together because it is. Connection to the Church encourages and strengthens us.  But you carry the Kingdom of God wherever you go.  He has placed you where you are now with purpose and given you gift of the Holy Spirit and ministry gifts to carry out His plans for your life, to tell others are about Jesus and to call other people into the Kingdom of God.  Just keep stepping forward and get to know Him and all that He has done for you. Then you will be able to lead many others to Him.

Recently, I wanted to look up some information about women in the book of Romans, so I pulled this book off my shelf called, "What the Bible is All About" by a woman named Henrietta Mears. This is a very well known book, and I highly recommend it for your Bible study. It contains a short synopsis of each book of the Bible along with some other information about Biblical history for your study.

As I was flipping through the pages I came to the section on Judges, and my eyes fell on this, a commentary by Ms. Mears about the prophetess Deborah. It was so cool that I had to share. It reads,

"Now a prophetess arises in Israel (Judges 4:4) She was one of those rare women whose heart burns with enthusiasm when people's hearts are despondent. Many a queen, like England's Elizabeth II, has reigned with honor and wisdom, and often a woman's voice has struck a deep note that has roused nations." (page 113, "What the Bible is All About")

Isn't that an amazing tribute? There are many woman in the Bible whose voice has changed circumstances and turned the tide of events for people. There are many countless women throughout Church history whom this could also be said about. And God is still raising up women for this purpose today!

Many blessings to you as you grow in grace, peace, and love in Him,

Beth

To read more posts in this series, go here to Women in the Life of Jesus. 

Revealing the Character of Jesus: He Has Always Been

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.-John 1:1-5 (NKJV)

Every Gospel writer is telling us the story of Jesus.  That is their purpose, to tell us who He was and why He came, and what He did while He was here.  Each one starts at a different place in His story though.

John starts the Gospel story he wrote at the beginning of time.  

In the beginning was the Word…-John 1:1

Jesus is the Word. He has existed since the beginning of time. He has always been present. Everything that was made, came into existence through Him. Everything. Nothing was made without Him.

Later in John chapter 1, John tells us more about the Word of God. He says,

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.-John 1:14

So, at a time appointed by God, Jesus came in the flesh. He entered this world as a man.That is what "became flesh" means. He became a human being. And for a purpose.

Women in the Life of Jesus: Women at the Resurrection/Mary the Evangelist

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.  Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb.  So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first.  And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in.  Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there,  and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.  Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed.  For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.  Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.

But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb.  And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.  Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.  Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”

She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher).

Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.-John 20:1-18 (NKJV)

There was a flurry of activity amongst the disciples on the day of Jesus’ resurrection!  As I was reading, I noticed that each account by all four Gospel writers gives different details.  There was lots of running back and forth it seemed like, with the women and the men.  It was like putting a puzzle together, but way more fun.  If you want to read all four accounts you can go to Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20.  

Apparently there were many women there that day.  Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, Salome who is the mother of James and John, Joanna, and the other women (as told to us by Luke.)  They had all come bringing spices to anoint Jesus’ body. Now, why would they do that?  Because they all still thought He was dead.

Even though Jesus had told His disciples repeatedly He would rise from the dead, apparently nobody believed Him.  After the women see the empty tomb, and hear the angel’s message, they go and tell the men.  But they think they are speaking “nonsense.”  Human frailty was on display that day, but nevertheless Jesus was still bringing comfort, truth, and encouragement to them all.

The first person Jesus appeared to was Mary Magdalene, so I want to spend a little time talking about her.  She actually gets to have a conversation with Him.  And He gives her a message.  

Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.-John 20:17 (NKJV)

 Some have said that Mary Magdalene was an evangelist. The Greek word for evangelist means “bearer of good tidings.”  The Bible doesn’t refer to her as an evangelist, but it seems to me on that day she qualifies.  She was the first female to share the good news of the resurrection of Jesus.  She gets to tell the apostles that Jesus is alive and He is ascending to God.  

In Ephesians 4, there is a list of ministry gifts, but there is also a mention of His ascension as well.

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.  Therefore He says:

“When He ascended on high,

He led captivity captive,

And gave gifts to men.”

(Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?  He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, -Ephesians 4:7-12

According to Strong's Concordance, the Greek word for "men"  in Ephesians 4:8, And gave gifts to men, is the word "anthrōpos."  It means "man, human, mankind."

HELPS-Word Studies says "anthrōpos " relates to both genders (male and female) as both are created in the image of God – each equally vested with individual personhood and destiny.

In Great Truths to Live By, Kenneth Wuest explains, "There are two words in the Greek which mean man, anēr, which refers to a male individual of the human race, and anthrōpos, which is the racial generic term, and which has the general, generic idea of mankind.

The Lord has given these ministry gifts to women as well as men.  There is no distinction in this passage of scripture about whether men or women gets specific gifts.  It just says that the Lord gave “some.”  Just like the Lord privileged Mary Magdalene that day by giving her the opportunity to serve Him with that message, so He gives other women the same opportunity.  The ministry gifts listed in this passage are for serving.  We are all called to service in some way.

 Many blessings to you as you grow in the knowledge of Him,

Beth

To read more posts in this series, go here to Women in the Life of Jesus.