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, and the only born Son of God who dwells in “the bosom of the Father.” Moreover, only Jesus is qualified to interpret the unseen God since he alone has seen Him.

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

As incomprehensible as it is to the “wisdom of this age,” the lowly man from Nazareth who died on a Roman cross is “the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through him!” There is no life 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).

John’s Prologue concludes with a significant contrast. Rather than Moses or the Law, Jesus is the one who interprets the Father. John presents him as the Messiah who reveals God’s glory and discloses His nature:

• (John 1:14-18) – “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 through Jesus Christ came to be. No one has seen God at any time. The only born, the One who is in the bosom of the Father, He interprets.”

In contrast to Moses, the Great Lawgiver, “grace and truth came to be through Jesus.” This statement challenged beliefs about the Law held by many Jews of the first century. The “loving-kindness of Yahweh” is found in Jesus from now on, not in the Torah.

The Greek term translated as “interprets” is the verb ‘exégeomai’, meaning, 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 “interprets.” The clause is open-ended. Jesus is the Messiah, the ‘Logos’ (λογος), the Living Expression of God, who now interprets everything related to and about his Father.

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

UNVEILING THE LIVING GOD

Jesus of Nazareth is not another in a long line of prophets. He is the ultimate expression of God, His “word made flesh,” and the Father can be understood only in and through him.

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 has “seen” the Father and received “grace and truth.” All things were made according to the Word of God, the ‘Logos’, and not according to the Torah or anything else. Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, has been the center of God’s redemptive plan since the beginning.

The Mosaic Law certainly had its place, but it has been superseded by Jesus Christ, the one in whom God’s glory is unveiled to His children. He alone has the words of life that impart grace and truth 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, but 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).

In the Book of Exodus, Moses was only permitted to see God’s “backside,” the afterglow of His glory while He covered Moses in the hollow of a rock as He momentarily passed by - “You cannot see my face, for no son of earth can see me and live.” In fact, 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 former legislation, Jesus dwells forever in God’s very “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.

Jesus of Nazareth has seen the Father face to face and lived to tell about it. He is the only one, therefore, who can unveil and represent the invisible God to the world, and bring grace and truth to humanity.

John’s purpose in all this is not to denigrate Moses or the Torah, but to highlight the full and final revelation of God in Jesus Christ, and its vast superiority. In him alone is the unfiltered loving-kindness of the God of Israel manifested for all men to behold.

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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)

• Jesus é a Chave - (Jesus é a chave que abre as escrituras hebraicas e revela a natureza e os propósitos redentores do Deus de Israel)