New Testament

There is more love, more life, more light in our God than there is hate, death, and darkness in us. Jesus is full of grace and truth, and he is everything we need.

Day by day, we feel like we are struggling to hold onto Jesus. But he has received us. We have been born again into the light. And one day we will walk in that kingdom of eternal light with the darkness finally gone and our hearts finally home.

Unless the Light came to blaze with a love that is full of forgiveness and a life that we can live in his righteousness rather than our own. Unless the Light came not to shine for his own glory but to be put out in the darkness for our salvation.

“This is my brother, all that is mine is his. Let’s celebrate. For this brother of mine was lost, but now is found.” Christ is not ashamed to call you brother. To call you sister. To call you family. He has joined you to himself and brought you into the same affectionate embrace that he enjoys with the Father.

The stars glimmer with enticing beauty and on a crisp day the sun rises and our hearts leap maybe higher for the brightness of that glory over the snow-dazzled horizon. The Light shines and he will never be put out.

Knowing Jesus means knowing the Father. And Jesus doesn’t just whisper that you’re his brother or sister. He writes it large across the pages of the New Testament. He’s never ashamed to look you in the eye and say, “You’re family” (Heb. 2:11–12).

Christians do recognise other authorities; there are other voices that rightly carry weight. But Scripture is always the voice that trumps all other voices. When forced to choose, we will always choose to follow the Bible. That’s what the doctrine of the supremacy of Scripture entails.

The Samaritan woman isn’t just one woman. She is a picture of the bride of Christ. Deserving to be rejected by Christ, she is pursued nonetheless.

Union with Christ in John’s Gospel and letters is the in-one-another relationship of believers with the Father and Son by the Spirit—the intimate, loving, relational participation of the believer and God, each in the life, affections, ways and work of the other.

The following 15 quotes are from Clive Bowsher’s new title Life in the Son: Exploring participation and union with Christ in John’s Gospel and letters.