DEVOTION//Grace upon grace
Out of his fullness we have all received grace upon grace (John 1:16 EHV).
In Jesus we have received "grace upon grace," grace piled high on grace, layer after layer. A mountain of grace that can never erode. Grace that we can never outlive or use up. No matter how far we stray. No matter the extent of the help we need.
Martin Luther rejoices in this truth in the paragraphs below.
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Only grace in Christ makes us right with God
The holy evangelist informed us earlier that without Christ life, light, and mercy are unattainable. Only the believer in Christ’s name enjoys the power and the prerogative to become a child of God….
Therefore it is a terrible and detestable blindness and a demonic presumption when a person has the audacity, as all work-righteous and hypocrites do, to attempt atonement for sin through his works and tries in this way to earn the grace of God….
We have no right to indulge in much bragging and boasting when we step before God…. We have nothing of which to boast but God’s mercy and compassion which Christ imparts to us from His inexhaustible fullness….
Only grace gives an unending source of blessing
If we do want to boast, then let us boast that we receive from the fullness of Christ, that we are enlightened by him, attain forgiveness of sin, and become children of God through him.
For this is the sum and substance of it all: Whoever wishes to be safeguarded from the devil’s might and to escape sin and death must draw from this well, Christ; from him flows all salvation and eternal bliss.
This fountain is inexhaustible; it is full of grace and truth before God; it never fails no matter how much we draw from it. Even if we all dip from it without stopping, it cannot be emptied, but it remains a perennial fount of all grace and truth, an unfathomable well, an eternal fountain. The more we draw from it, the more it gives. Such water, as St. John remarks later, wells up to eternal life (John 4:14).
The sun is not dimmed and darkened by shining on so many people or by providing the entire world with its light and bright splendor. It retains its light intact. It loses nothing; it is immeasurable, perhaps able to illumine ten more worlds. I suppose that a hundred thousand candles can be ignited from one light, and still this light will not lose any of its brilliance.
Likewise, a learned man can educate a thousand scholars without forfeiting any of his own learning. The more he shares with others, the more he has himself.
Only grace is our source of hope
Thus Christ, our Lord, to whom we must flee and of whom we must ask all, is an interminable well, the chief source of all grace, truth, righteousness, wisdom, and life, without limit, measure, or end. Even if the whole world were to draw from this fountain enough grace and truth to transform all people into angels, still it would not lose as much as a drop.
This fountain constantly overflows with sheer grace. Whoever wishes to enjoy Christ’s grace—and no one is excluded—let him come and receive it from Him. You will never drain this fountain of living water; it will never run dry. You will all draw from it much more than enough, and yet it will remain a perennial well.
Source: Luther, M. (1999). Luther’s Works, vol. 22: Sermons on the Gospel of St. John: Chapters 1-4. (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald, & H. T. Lehmann, Eds.) (Vol. 22, pp. 130–135). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.