Full of Grace and Truth

The fullness, grace, and truth of God are found only in the Word that became flesh, namely, Jesus of Nazareth – John 1:14-18.

The Prologue of the Gospel of John introduces key themes that are expanded in the book, including Life, Light, Witness, Truth, and Grace.  Jesus is the light of the world, the source of grace and truth, the true tabernacle in which God dwells. He alone is qualified to interpret the unseen God since only he has seen the Father.

However incomprehensible as it may be to the present world order, the lowly man of Nazareth is “the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through him!” There is no life, light or knowledge of the one true God apart from Jesus Christ - (John 14:6).

• “Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even in him does this man stand here before you whole. He is the stone which was set aside by you, the builders, which was made the head of the corner. And in none other is there salvation, for neither is there any other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” – (Acts 4:10-12).

[Niagara Falls - Photo by Sergey Pesterev (Russia) on Unsplash]

The Prologue concludes with a pivotal contrast. Rather than Moses or the Law, Jesus interprets God. John presents the Nazarene as the Messiah who radiates God’s glory and unveils His nature:

• “And the Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us, and we gazed upon his glory, glory as an only-born from his Father, full of grace and truth <…> Because from his fullness we all received, even grace over against grace. Because the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came to be through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only born, the One who is in the bosom of the Father, He interprets” - (John 1:14-18. Compare Exodus 34:6-7).

In contrast to Moses, grace and truth are found and experienced in Jesus. This statement challenges beliefs about the Law held by many Jews of the first century. The “loving-kindness of Yahweh” is found in Christ, not the Torah.

The Greek term translated as “interprets” is the verb ‘exégeomai’, which means “to lead out, explain, interpret.” In John 1:18, the verb has no direct object in the Greek clause. There is no “him” or “it” after the verb. The clause is open-ended. Jesus is the Messiah, the ‘Logos’ (λογος), the Living Expression of God, and he interprets everything about his Father.

The Greek clause translated as the “only born Son” expands the statement of verse 14 - “We beheld his glory, a glory as of an only born from a father, full of grace and truth.” Christ provides grace and truth to men and women, and throughout the Gospel of John, this same Jesus reveals God to anyone who responds to him with faith - (e.g., John 6:46, 14:7-9, 15:24).

UNVEILING THE LIVING GOD

Jesus is not another in a long line of prophets. He is the ultimate expression of God, the word that became flesh, the Divine ‘Logos’ embodied in the man from Nazareth. God can only be understood in Christ.

The Gospel of John does not present a Messiah who is identical to the Father, but one who knows and reveals the living-giving God; therefore, anyone who has seen Jesus or heard his words has seen and heard the Father. All things were made according to the ‘Logos’ and not the Torah or anything else. Jesus has been the heart of God’s redemptive plan since the beginning.

The Mosaic Law certainly had its place, but it has been superseded by Jesus Christ. He alone has the words of life that impart grace and life to God’s children.

• “Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of everlasting life. And we have believed and know that you are the Holy One of God” – (John 6:68).

• “Truly, truly, I say to you, He that hears my word, and believes him that sent me has everlasting life and does not come into judgment. He has passed out of death into life” – (John 5:24).

• “For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives not the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. He that believes on the Son has everlasting life; but he that disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” – (John 3:34-36).

• “He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life” – (1 John 5:12).

In the Book of Exodus, Moses was only permitted to see God’s “backside,” the afterglow of His glory, while Yahweh covered Moses in the hollow of a rock as He passed by - “You cannot see my face, for no son of earth can see me and live.” John’s phrase, “full of grace and truth,” alludes to this incident:

• “And Yahweh passed by before Moses, and proclaimed, Yahweh, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth, keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…” – (Exodus 34:6-7).

In contrast to the Mosaic Legislation, Jesus dwells forever in God’s “bosom,” and the glory revealed in him will never fade. Rather than consume any man who sees the face of Yahweh, the light and life of God revealed in Jesus provides men and women with everlasting life and the knowledge of God.

• “Seeing it is God who said, Light will shine out of darkness, who enlightened our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” – (2 Corinthians 4:6. Note the allusion to Genesis 1:1-3).

This Nazarene has seen God face to face and lived to tell about it. He is the only one who can unveil and represent the invisible God to the world and bring grace and truth to humanity. The pure unfiltered loving-kindness of the God of Israel is manifested for all men to behold in Jesus and no one or nothing else.

[NOTE: Text printed in small capital letters represents quotations and allusions of Old Testament passages]

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SEE ALSO:

• The Glory of God - (Jesus is the Word made flesh, the Greater Tabernacle where the glory of God is manifested and resides forevermore – John 1:14)

• Jesus is the Key - (Jesus is the key that unlocks the Hebrew Scriptures and reveals the nature and redemptive purposes of the God of Israel)

• Seeing the Unseen God - (The fullness, grace, and truth of God are found in the Word made Flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, who alone has seen the unseen God – John 1:14-18)

• Graça e verdade - (A plenitude, a graça e a verdade de Deus são encontradas somente no verbo que se fez carne, a saber, Jesus de Nazaré-João 1:14-18)