Gen 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
How did Noah find grace since Jn 1:17 says:
17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ!
Thks
It is good not to further downgrade God’s name, BTW, which was used in Gen.6:8—
https://www.catholic.org/bible/book.php?id=1&bible_chapter=6. Putting it as [Lord]—a clear and present danger with Bible versions which don’t put God’s name as a name—fosters the ancient and present heresy of Sabellianism. The KJV, following Tyndale, has [LORD]. That’s not perfect but it’s a start though for many versions is the finish too.
As to the grace which Noah won by his spiritual orientation, it was simply within the spectrum of common grace which has always been the lot of mortal man, and the LXX has the same word as used by John. With Sinai, a new orbit of grace came. And with Yeshua, yet again a new orb of grace came, which when compared to Sinai was as noontime to dawn.
If John had been wooden, then he would also have denied that [any] truth had predated the incarnation! John was not wooden, and indeed the preceding line χαριν αντι χαριτος affirms Sinai grace, though now as chaff to wheat. The most common Septuagint meaning of αντι is
replacement/
instead of: “From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace” (NABRE). Taken thus, John would have contrasted Sinai grace to its replacement new covenant grace.
Torah/
instruction came with Moses, came by grace (a big OT theme), is good, and is the takeaway from Sinai. By contrast,
truth/
fulfilment/
realisation (αληθεια) came with messiah, came by grace (a big NT theme), is better, and is the takeaway from the gospel.
As D A Carson put it (
John (IVP), 1991:134), “v16 is an explanation of v14 (it begins with hoti, ‘for’ or ‘because’): we have seen his glory, John wrote, because from the fulness of his grace and truth we have received grace that replaces the earlier grace—the grace of incarnation, of the Word-made-flesh, of the glory of the son ‘tabernacling’ with us, now replacing the grace of the antecedent but essentially promissory revelation.”
en.m.wikipedia.org
