Jesus was the source of grace and truth

JESUS WAS THE SOURCE OF GRACE AND TRUTH
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 1:17 17Forthe law was given through Moses;
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Moses And Christ
John 1:17
D. Young
Let us proceedat once to particular instances ofthe Law given through
Moses,and of the grace and truth coming through Jesus Christ. Thus we shall
better see how Moses is brought into connectionwith Christ, and Law into
connectionwith grace and truth. Look, then, at Exodus 20, where the great
principles of the Law given through Moses are stated.
I. CONSIDER, THE BASIS OF JEHOVAH'S CLAIM. "I am Jehovahthy
God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage." The fact of deliverance was indisputable, and just as indisputable
the factthat the people had not delivered themselves;and for a while the
delivered people hardly knew why they were delivered. Left to themselves,
they might have scattered;but there was a compulsion on them all the time - a
compulsion into liberty, a compulsion to go through the Bed Sea, a
compulsion towards the awful solitudes of Sinai. Then at lastJehovahtells
them what he expects. He who has done greatthings for them wants to know

what they will do for him; and, lest they be inattentive, he states, to begin
with, the solid basis of his claim. Then turn from Moses to Jesus Christ, and
we have but another aspectof the same Jehovah. Jehovahwas really gracious
in the giving of the Law; but the grace gothidden. In Jesus Christ grace is
manifest to all. There is the basis of a claim on you. You have but to look back
on the experiences ofothers, human beings like yourselves - like in infirmity,
like in manifold needs, like in the pollution of an evil heart, like in suffering
and sorrow, like in sicknessand mortality. As Jesus in the flesh actually dealt
with men in various positions, so now, in the spirit according to his view of
your needs, will he deal with you. Jesus turned no waterto blood, smote no
cattle with pestilence, bruised no fields With hail, gathered no clouds of
locusts, wrapt no land in gross darkness, robbedno parents of their firstborn,
overwhelmed no armies in the sea. A little child cansee that grace and truth
are in Jesus Christ.
II. CONSIDERTHE CLAIM OF JEHOVAH ITSELF. Take the first item.
"Thou shall have no other gods before me." Look at all that is involved in this
claim. It means that we are to worship Jehovahalone, and that, of course,
assumes that we are actually worshippers of the one Godto begin with. What
if we are deluding ourselves with mere outward performances before a name?
Do we know what we worship? Labelling the unknown with the name of God
does not make it better known. And Moses gave no help in revealing the
nature of God. He uttered bare law. But Jesus comes witha grace and truth
which are strangelyself-revealing. He winds gently into the hearts of men, by
every entrance he canfind. He quietly accepts as his right the reverence and
adorationof every heart willing to render them. No long elucidations are
needed to make it plain that he is a gracious Being. We needno formal
command to worship him. We are instinctively drawn to our knees in his
presence. He carries the essence ofhis commandments charactered in his
gracious face. Thus by considering all the ten commandments, we should get
illustrations of the grace and truth in Jesus Christ. The ten commandments,
just by themselves, howeveroften repeated, canbring comfortto no human
being, only a deeperconviction of one's sin and misery. Jesus brings the Law
just as vigorously as Moses;but he brings more than Law. Through his
demands there shine forth gloriouslygrace and truth, favour and reality. Not

simply goodwishes on the one side, or bare reality on the other. Christ brings
a grace that is truthful, and a truth that is gracious. He comes as both the
kindest and ablestof physicians. He gives strength before he asks service.
Grace and truth flow from him to us, and then in due time grace and truth
flow forth from us also. - Y.
Biblical Illustrator
The Law was given by Moses.
John 1:17
Points, of contrastbetweenJudaism and Christianity
S. Jones.
I. IN THE PERSONSREPRESENTINGJUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY.
1. Moseswas the servant, Christ the master.
2. Moseswas a subject, dependent, Christ was King of kings.

3. Moseswas only a man, but Christ was the God-man.
4. Moseswas the agent smiting the rock, Christ was the rock smitten.
5. Moseswas but the channel of communication betweenGod and His people;
Christ is the source of all our mercy.
6. Moseswas only the student; in Christ dwelt all the fulness of wisdom.
7. Moseswas delegated;Christ spoke in His own name and on His own
authority.
II. IN THE CREDENTIALS OF THE WORK OF MOSES AND THOSE OF
THE WORK OF CHRIST.
1. The ten plagues were wrought for punishment. The thirty-two miracles of
Christ were performed in mercy.
2. The miracles of Moses were a nationalcalamity; those of Christ a national
blessing.
3. The miracles of Moses were destructive;those of Christ remedial.
4. Those ofMoses were wroughton matter; many of those of Christ on mind
or spirit.
5. Those ofMoses were wroughtby power derived from God; those of Christ
by Himself.
III. IN THE FESTIVALS OF JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY.
1. The former refer to temporal deliverances and to carnalthings; the latter
commemorate spiritual deliverances, and refer to the heavenly and the Divine.
The Passover, e.g.,sets forth the emancipation from Egypt; the Lord's Supper
of redemption from sin.
2. The JewishSabbath, the last day of the week, commemoratedthe creation
of the world; the Christian Sabbath, the first of the week, is the sign of the
new creation.

3. The JewishPentecostcommemoratedthe giving of the Law on Sinai; our
Pentecost, the baptism of the Spirit.
IV. ABOUT JUDAISM WE HAVE THE OUTWARD; ABOUT GRACE AND
TRUTH WE HAVE THE INWARD.
1. The virtue in the Jewishsacrificeswas outwardlyderived; the virtue in the
Atonement is the inward.
2. Their laws were given amidst the external thundering and lightning of
Sinai; ours amid the calmness and quietness peculiar to Christ.
3. The Jews were separatedfrom the world more by outward signs;we are
separatedby the circumcision of the heart.
V. THE LIFE OF OBEDIENCE GOD REQUIREDFROM THE JEWS WAS
EMBODIED IN A CODE OF LAWS; THAT OF THE CHRISTIAN IS IN
THE LIFE OF CHRIST.
(S. Jones.)
The Law by Moses
W. L.
— God's educationof the world, class by class — the Law one of the most
important lessons evertaught it. Advisable to review these old lessons.
I. THE LAW. Wider and narrowermeanings of the word.
1. Political, representing the theocratic idea.
2. The ceremonial, representing the sacrificial.
3. Moral, representing the inculcation of holiness. A remarkable
foreshadowing ofthe Holy Trinity.
II. BY WHOM GIVEN: Moses. Fulness ofaccounts concerning him. Scenes
and dates of his life easily traceable.

1. His outer life.
(1)Education.
(2)Energy.
(3)Patriotism.
2. His inner life.
(1)Meekness,disinterestedness(Exodus 32:20-32).
(2)Prayerfulness.
III. TO WHOM GIVEN
1. Notto the world, but to a peculiar people; this contrary to human practice,
and a proof of heavenly origin.
2. To a people speciallyprepared from the time of Abraham in all the
circumstances oftheir national life and location.
3. To a people who nevertheless failedto keepit in its entirety for a single
generation. Hence we see that, while Godhas always a law, and that law has
always been in its greatcharacteristics the same, man has always failed to
keepit.
(W. L.)
Grace and truth by Jesus Christ
W. L.
I. GRACE.
1. The Divine message.
2. The heavenly gift.
3. The supernatural help.

II. TRUTH. This grace, embodiedin the life, working outwards from the
heart —
III. CAME BY JESUS CHRIST.
1. They could come by no other.
2. From Him they were inseparable. The twofold nature of the Divine Man.
IV. FOR WHOM. Not like the law for a people, but for the world (Matthew
11:28;John 3:16; 1 Timothy 2:4; Titus 2:11).
(W. L.)
Moses andChrist
T. Whitelaw, D. D.
I. A COMPARISON.
1. Both men.
2. Both messengers from God.
3. Both bearers of a revelation.
II. A CONTRAST.
1. Mosesonly man; Christ the Son of God.
2. Mosesraisedup by God; Christ sent forth from God.
3. Mosesthe bearerof a revelation outside of himself; Christ the bringer of a
revelation in Himself.
4. Mosesa lawgiver;Christ a declarerof grace and truth.
(T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
The three dispensations in history and in the soul

Bp. Huntington.
(cf. Galatians 3:6): —
I. The dispensation of NATURAL RELIGIOUS FEELING.
1. The race was in childhood. It actedfrom impulse. It obeyedno written code
of moral regulations. The man chosenas the representative of this period was
Abraham. The recordof it is the book of Genesis. Thatwriting is the first
grand chapter in the biography of man; and its very literary structure — so
dramatic in contents, so careless ofthe rules of art, so like a child's story in its
sublime simplicity — answers to the spontaneous periodit pictures. "The
patriarchal age" we callit. Throughout the whole of this era, reaching from
Adam to Joseph, there were beautiful virtues, flowering into the light by the
spontaneous energyof nature, but poisonedin many spots by the slime of
sensuality. The human stock threw out its forms of life with a certain
negligence, as the prodigal force of nature does her forests — as a boy swings
his limbs in the open air. Characterneededa staunch vertebral column to
secure its uprightness.
2. Corresponding to this impulsive religious age of the race, is the natural
state of the individual. It is the condition we are born into, and the multitudes
never pass beyond it, because they are never renewedor made Christian.
Morally, they are children all their lives. Bad dispositions mix with good.
Conduct is not brought to the bar of a governmentalexamination, and judged
by an unbending principle. Nature, true enough, is always interesting; and
spontaneous products may be beautiful. But man, with his free agency, beset
before and behind by evil, is not like a lily growing under God's sun and dew,
with no sin to deform its grace or stain its colouring. He has to contend,
struggle, resist. He is tried, enticed, besieged. Naturalreligion might possibly
answerin the woods orin some solitary cell. But let the young man travel to
the city, and the young woman lend her ears to the flatteries of that silver-
tongued sorceress,society;and all this natural piety is like a silken thread
held over a blazing furnace.
3. And as the first dispensation ended in a slavery in Egypt, or broods darkly
over Pagannations still, so the lawless motions of every self-guidedwill end in

a servitude to some Pharaohin the members that cries aloud for emancipation
— a settled alienationfrom the household of the good.
II. Next comes the LEGAL OR JUDICIAL stage.
1. The world's religious experience is concentratedin Judaea, human progress
running on through Hebrew channels. Others have wanderedoff into hopeless
idolatries. Now God calls Moses andappoints him the head of the second
epoch. A period of law begins. Instinct must be curbed, for it has done
mischief enough. Impulse must be controlled by principle, for it has proved
itself insufficient. There must be positive commands, ceremonies, and
ordinances, coercive restraints, andpenalties.
2. So with all of us; there comes a time when we feel that we cannot actby
inclination, but must follow law. The principle of duty is that law. Babyhoodis
passed, and its instincts suffice us no longer. To do as we like would still be
pleasant, but it is dangerous and false. We become stewards, and must give
accountof our stewardship. Life has put its harness upon us, and we must
work in it. The beneficence as wellas the rectitude of this is apparent. By
obeying a law, we acquire superiority to it. Voluntarily submitting to certain
rules for a time, our virtue is strengthened and finally becomes independent of
them, so that it can go alone. The inebriate binds himself by a pledge, and thus
regains his freedom. Let us not despise law, for every day practicalproofs are
scatteredbefore us that it is a schoolmasterto bring us to Christ.
III. But there is a THIRD DISPENSATION, andat the head of it one greater
than Moses.These outgrew the period of literal commandment. It became a
dead profession, a schoolof foolish questions, a shelterof hypocrisies. The
enlarging soul of the race asks a freer, more sincere, more vital nurture, and it
comes. If the simple religious instincts of Abraham had been acceptedfor
righteousness;if the law had been given by Moses, graceand truth enter in by
Jesus Christ — grace for the heart, truth for the understanding.
1. Christ does not abrogate law, but by His own life and sacrifice first satisfies
its conditions. "Think not that I came to destroy, but to fulfil." The Cross does
not unbind the cords of accountability, but tightens and strengthens them.
Divine laws never lookedso sacredas when they took sanctityfrom the

redemption of the Crucified. We must still be under discipline; but the
Lawgiveris lostin the Redeemer. The drudgery of obedience is beautified into
the privilege of reconciliation. Love has castout fear. The soulis released
from the bondage.
2. Neitherof these three stages,whetherof the generalor the personal
progress, denies or cuts off its predecessor. Nature prepares the way for law,
making the heart restless by an unsatisfying experiment without it. The Law
disciplined wayward, uncultured man, making him ready for Christ. Judaism
and Moses lookedforwardto the Messiah. So, in the heart of childhood, there
are expectations ofthe responsible secondstage ofmanhood; it is too
thoughtless yet to look beyond, to the age of mature Christian holiness. But
see, again, whenthat secondage of stern command and strict obedience
comes, it grows soberand reflective. It feels heavily that it is not sufficient to
itself. It must look forward for the consolations ofthe Cross.
3. Eachstage requires fidelity in the preceding. You must have been true to
the better impulses of youth, that you may be, to the bestadvantage, a servant
of the law of maturity. You must be faithfully obedient to duty before you are
fit to be a subject of grace. Do not imagine you canglide over into the favour
of heaven, without first keeping the commandment. Abraham, Moses, Christ;
impulse, discipline, faith; nature, law, gospel;instinct, obedience, grace;
Mature, Sinai, Calvary; this is that Divine order — not bound by rigid rules
of chronologicalsuccession, but having the free play and various
intershadings of a moral growth — to which we are to conform our lives.
(Bp. Huntington.)
Use of the law
F. Lockhart.
"You never saw a woman sewing without a needle!She would come but poor
speed, if she only sewedwi'the thread. So, I think, when we're dealing wi'
sinners, we maun aye put in the needle o' the law first; for the fact is, they're
sleepin' sound, and they need to be awakenedup wi' something sharp. But

when we've got the needle of the law fairly in, we may draw as lang a thread
as you like o' gospelconsolationafterit."
(F. Lockhart.)
The law shows us our need of Christ
J. Spencer.
One of the persecutors, in QueenMary's days, pursuing a poor Protestant,
and searching the house for him, chargedan old woman to show him the
heretic. She points to a greatchestof linen, on the top whereoflay a fair
looking-glass.He opens the chest, and asks where the heretic was. She
suddenly replied, "Do you not see one? meaning that he was the heretic, and
that he might easilysee himself in the glass. And thus God's law is the glass
that shows us all our spots. Let us hold it right to our intellectual eye; not
behind us, as the wickeddo, they castGod's word behind them; not beside us,
like the rich worldling that called to Christ — not to turn the back of the glass
towards us, which is the very trick of all hypocrites; nor, lastly, to look upon
ourselves in this glass when we are muffled, masked, or cased, forunder those
veils we cannot discern our own complexions. But let us see the clearglass
before our face, and our open face to the glass, andthen we shall soon
perceive that the sight of our filthiness is the first step towards cleanliness.
(J. Spencer.)
Grace and thruth came by Jesus Christ
W. Jay.
I. HOW THEY CAME.
1. Let us begin with truth. Truth came by Jesus Christ.(1)The truth of
performance in distinction from engagement. You read of the promise made
unto the fathers. It was first announced in Paradise, andwas renewedfrom
time to time. That promise has been fulfilled by Jesus Christ.(2)The truth of

reality in distinction from prefiguration. The Law was a shadow of good
things to come. We are in possessionofthe truth, of Which the paschallamb,
the manna, the rock, the altar, the mercy-seat, etc., were the shadows.(3)The
truth of certainty in distinction to error and falsehood. Whatis heathenism?
An assemblageoffalse gods, temples, sacrifices,hopes, fears:"turned the
truth of God into a lie." What is Mohammedanism? A vast improvement on
heathenism. Mohammed was a man of greattalent; but that his
communications from God, that his puerile and depraved notions were
Divinely inspired, is a lie. What is Popery? Take her traditions, rites of saints,
miracles, infallibility — what are these but lying wonders? Whatis
justification by works? Whatis antinomianism, but a lie? But the gospelis the
truth, and we can point to its incontestible evidences.(4) The truth of
importance in distinction from all other truth. Things may be equally true,
and yet not equally valuable. There is physical, historical, and moral truth;
but I lay my hand on the Bible and say, "This is life eternal."(5)This is truth
the most honourable to God, suited to man, most influential, most beneficent;
and we do not wonder at Paul saying, "I count all things but loss," forthe
excellencyof it.
2. Grace came by Jesus Christ.(1)BecauseHe revealedit (ver. 18). "Never
man spoke as this man." "Grace was poured into His lips," therefore "the
common people heard Him gladly."(2)Because He is the effect of it. "Godso
loved," etc.(3)BecauseHe is the medium of it. Everything worthy of the name
flows from His mediation — "promises which are yea and amen through
Him"; redemption, which is through His blood.(4) BecauseHe is the
exemplifier of it. Look at His Old Testamentemblems, and those in the New:a
lamb is the image of His Person, a dove of His Spirit. Righteousnessand joy
and peace is the characterofHis kingdom.
II. WHAT ARE WE TO DO WITH THEM NOW THEY ARE COME. We
must have something to do with them, or they will have something to do with
us. Having come in contactwith the gospelyou cannotshake it off. It will
either be a savour of life or a savour of death.

1. We are to receive them. Notgrace without truth or truth without grace. The
gospelis truth, and therefore to be receivedwith the firmness of conviction
and assent;grace, therefore to be receivedwith cordiality, gratitude, and joy.
2. To exemplify them. Under the agencyof the Spirit we are softenedfrom our
natural hardness to receive Divine impression, and fashionedinto the very
characterof the gospelso that we realize it, embody it, and render it visible, so
that we adorn the doctrine of Godour Saviour by showing what it is.
Whateverthe gospelis we are required to copy it — if light, we are to be
illuminated; if salt, we are to be seasoned;if love, we are to be lovely; if
holiness, we are to be holy. There are some who are all truth who are not all
that grace requires. The perfectionof the Christian arises from the harmony
and proportion of these excellencies. In your zeal for orthodoxy you must not
renounce charity and candour.
3. To extend and diffuse them. Though grace and truth came by Jesus Christ,
there are millions who have never heard of the Saviour. But are they to
remain ignorant always?
(W. Jay.)
The purpose of the law
The law threatened, not helped; commanded, not healed; showed, not took
away, our feebleness. Butit made ready for the Physician, who was to come
with grace and truth.
( Augustine.)
Law and grace
Bp. Wordsworth.
The Law was given, but grace came, because the one was sent by a servant,
the other was brought by the Son.

(Bp. Wordsworth.)
Grace and truth one with Christ
F. Godet, D. D.
The words "was given" imply the external and positive institution of the Law;
"came" denotes graceand truth appearing historically in the very person of
Him who is their essentialsource (ver. 4), and becoming realized in His life
and communicated through Him. Moses may disappear, the Law remains
nevertheless;it is only given by him. But take Jesus Christ away, and grace
and truth are gone;for these gifts have come by Him, and are closelyunited to
His Person.
(F. Godet, D. D.)
Claim and gift
J. Culross, D. D., G. J. Brown, M. A.
There was first, in the Law, God's claim of right, which man could not meet,
and now, in Jesus Christ, God's gift of salvation.
(J. Culross, D. D.)The one could only give the command, but the other
supplies motives and strength to keepit. The one could only show in figure,
what the other exhibits in fact, the means whereby we may obtain pardon
where the command has unhappily been broken.
(G. J. Brown, M. A.)
Grace and truth
Bp. Reynolds., Dr. Preston.
Grace in oppositionto the curse of the moral law;truth in opposition to the
figures of the ceremoniallaw.

(Bp. Reynolds.)Grace comprehends allthe perfections of the will; truth all the
virtues of the understanding.
(Dr. Preston.)
Truth
Archbishop Trench.
— It is plain that the antithesis cannotbe betweenthe false and the true, but
only betweenthe imperfect and the perfect, the shadowyand the substantial.
So, too, the eternal word is declaredto be τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν(John 1:9), not
denying thereby that the Baptist was also "a burning and a shining light"
(John 5:35), or that the faithful are "lights in the world" (Philippians 2:15;
Matthew 5:14); but only claiming for a greaterthan all to be "the Light that
lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Christ declares Himself ὁ
ἄρτος ὁ ἀληθὶνος (John 6:32), not that the bread which Moses gave wasnot
also "bread of heaven" (Psalm105:40), but it was suchonly in a secondary
inferior degree;it was not food in the highest sense, inasmuchas it did not
nourish up into eternal life those that ate it (John 6:49). He is ἡ ἀμπελος ἡ
ἀληθινὴ (John 15:1), not thereby denying that Israelalso was God's vine,
which we know it was (Psalm 80:8; Jeremiah2:21), but affirming that none
exceptHimself realized this name, and all which this name implied, to the full
(Hosea 10:1; Deuteronomy32:32). The fact that in John's writings the word
ἀληθὶνος is used two and twenty times as againstfive times in all the rest of
the New Testament, is one which we canscarcelydismiss as accidental.
(Archbishop Trench.)
Jesus Christ
F. Godet, D. D.
It is at this point that the Apostle for the first-time announces the great name
so long expected. In proportion as the history of the mercies of the Word

towards humanity unfolds before his view, the spectacleinspires him with
terms even more concrete and more human. The Loges ofver. 1 appeared as
Light in ver. 5; as Son, ver. 14; and in ver. 17 He is at length called Jesus
Christ.
(F. Godet, D. D.)
Law and grace
B. W. Dale, M. A.
These greatwords have stoodhere in John's Gospelfor eighteenhundred
years, but I am afraid there are millions of Christian people who have not
discoveredtheir glorious meaning. They are still under law, and are still
surrounded by the unreal shadows ofdarkness. About the grace and the truth
which have come through Jesus Christ, they know almost nothing. I will begin
with what is most obvious. We find ourselves living in a world in which the
forces of nature are constant, in which what we describe as natural laws are
uniform and invariable. There is an iron rigidity in the constitution of things.
We have to discoverthat constitution. We cannot change it. We have to take
accountof it in the conduct of life. What we call Nature seems to show no
mercy to those who disregardher method. She will give us harvests, but we
must pay her price, and her full price. We canhave health and strength, but
only upon her conditions. Now this relentlessness ofnature forms men to
think of God sometimes as relentless;for nature, they say, is the revelation of
God. We are under law — this is the inference — under law throughout every
province of life, and we can never escape the natural consequences ofour sins.
We must exhaust the penalty in this world or other worlds, we must pay the
debt to the uttermost farthing. Christ meets us in nature and contradicts that
inference. Nature is only the partial and incomplete revelation of God. Christ
reveals the actual truth. You believe that there is no releasefrom the natural
consequencesofignorance, offolly, of recklessness, ofvice, and that in the full
and unqualified sense ofthe words "What a man soweththat shall he also
reap." But the whole story of Christ's life contradicts that belief. If natural
laws were supreme, men born blind would remain blind to the end of their

days. Christ gave them sight. That is not merely part of the evidence of the
gospel. It is a very substantial part of the gospelitself, and a part of the gospel
exceptionallynecessaryin our times. If natural laws were supreme, deaf
would remain deaf, the dumb would remain dumb. Christ gave them hearing,
speech. The laws of nature are not supreme. In Christ, the gracious powerof
the Eternalrevealed, not to one age only but to all ages, that nature is not
supreme, but that God is supreme. Nature may be relentless;God is not. And
it was in the natural order itself that Christ by His miracles gave us this great
discovery. The universe is a greatschoolfor the discipline of the intellect and
the virtue of mankind, and it could not be an effective discipline if the natural
order were not constant. But to infer that the methods of God are bound by
the methods of nature is a false inference. Let me take another illustration of
how Christ contradicts what may be calledour natural belief in law. We are
conscious offault, perhaps of something that ought to be describedby a
darker name. It lies upon our conscience, andwe cannotescape from it. We
say, "No, it is impossible that I should ever escape. The guilt is mine, and if I
live for a thousand years it will be mine still." Grace came by Jesus Christ.
You think that by an eternallaw you must suffer for your sins. The Christian
gospeldeclares thatChrist suffered for them. His relations to us — you will
discoverthis, I hope, some day if you have not discoveredit yet — are of a
kind which made it possible for Him, as it was possible for no one else. But
does He deliver from the external and natural consequencesofwrong-doing?
Not obviously. Perhaps not frequently. If He delivered men from these
obviously and frequently, the moral discipline which we are to derive from the
constancyof the order of nature would be imperilled. Sometimes, indeed —
and far more often than we even suppose — I am inclined to believe that
Christ does really deliver us even from the natural consequences ofwrong-
doing. But even when these remain their whole characteris changed. As sins
they are forgiven. Then they become simply the natural consequencesofwhat
we have done, not the penal consequences.We do not see behind them a God
that is punishing us for having done wrong, but a God who has pardoned us,
and who is standing by us to discipline us by certain hard conditions of life to
a higher perfection. Consequenceswhichwere penal as long as we were
unforgiven, become simply natural and disciplinary as soonas sin has been
remitted. Do you say that if the consequencesremainit makes no differ. ence

whether they are penal or whether they are natural and disciplinary? You
would hardly say that if you knew the difference from experience. But even
apart from experience you may getsome glimpse of the truth. Here is a man
who, as the result of his recklessnessandhis gross vices, is suffering disease
for which there is no cure. He is miserably weak, sometimes he is in great
pain. His condition is the natural result of his evil life, and since he brought it
on himself by his vices, he feels that it is the penal result of his evil life. Here is
another man, suffering from weakness equallyprostrating, from pain equally
severe, but his weaknessandpain came upon him from no fault of his own.
They are the result of exposure to damp air acting on some original defectof
the constitution, or the result of overwork for the sake ofhis wife and
children, or of accident, or they came upon him on the battlefield when
fighting for his country. They are natural consequencesofcertain pastevents
in the man's history; they are not the penal results of the man's vices. Would
not the first man give a greatdeal to exchange the weakness andthe suffering
which are penal for the weaknessandthe suffering which are merely natural?
That is what Christ reveals. Law came by Moses, gracecame by Jesus Christ.
Let me take another illustration. Law, moral law, law as we know it — and I
am using the word in its popular sense — begins by imposing duty. The law of
consequence begins by imposing duty. The law given to the Jewishpeople so
far forth as it was law begins by imposing duty, and it makes the fulfilment of
duty the condition of peace with God and of larger powerto do well and of
eternal blessedness. All this is of the very essenceofwhat we call law. Grace
came by Jesus Christ. He begins in altogethera different way. He does not say
"Live righteously, and God will be at peace with you,", but "Godis at peace
with you, therefore bye righteously." He finds us in our sin. Whenever He
really finds us we are conscious ofour sin, and so we are ready in our strong
belief in that form of law which is familiar to us to say, "Godcan be no friend
of mine as yet; I must amend my ways, I must break off my evil habits, I must
master my evil passions, I must become pure, devout, earnestabout religion,
and then God will be at peace with me." That is law. What Christ says is,
"Godis already at peace with you, is already your Friend. He will not wait till
you have amended your ways before He dismisses the remembrance of your
sin. He dismisses it at once, and will help you to mend your ways, will help you
to break off evil habits, will help you to master evil passions, willhelp you to

become pure, devout, and earnestabout religion." That is grace. People do
not see the glory of it, do not see whatit means. They think that Christ only
came to make some things plainer to the world than they were before. It never
occurredto them that it would not have been worth while for the eternal
Word of God to become flesh in order to do that. Truth — there is an infinite
suggestivenessin the wayJohn puts the contrastbetweenwhat Moses did and
what Christ has done. He does not merely say, "The law was given by Moses,
grace came by Jesus Christ." What he says is, "The law was given by Moses,
grace came — grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Judaism was evidently
wanting in grace;it was wanting in reality too. All its institutions were
elementary, visible, material illustrations of the spiritual realities, the very
truth of things, which are ours in Christ. Not only grace and truth, reality
came by Jesus Christ. And whereverthe grace is obscured, the truth, the very
reality and substance of the Christian revelation loses its place, and the mere
shadows ofheavenly things remain. It was so among the Judaising opponents
of Paul. You remember how they insisted on the necessityofcircumcision if
men were to be saved. But, said Paul, circumcision is nothing. It is a shadow,
it produces no real change in a man. We Christians have the true thing, of
which circumcision is but the shadow, the circumcision of the heart, in the
spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not of man but of God. I entreat you to
dismiss shadows, allshadows. Recognize the truth, the reality that has come
by Jesus Christ, and in the truth you will find grace. There is a real sacrifice
for sin, the eternal Son of God. There is a real Priest. While we deal with the
shadows ofsin, the shadows ofsacrifices and the shadows ofpriests may avail
for us; but when the sin comes home to us in its reality, be sure of this, that
only the sacrifice that is real and the Priestthat is real will give us courage
and peace. And the glory of what Christ has achieved, and the revelation of
grace which has come by Christ, is this, that while Christ has cancelledthe old
and infirm form of law, Christ creates a righteousness transcending allthat
law had demanded. Grace comes, grants us to begin with more than man had
ever hoped for by perfect obedience, and grace tells man that, by an obedience
he would never have been capable of before, he is to retain this greatwealth
and constantlyto augment it. And so in a higher regiongrace and law blend.
The law is not made void — it is established;the righteousness thatlaw

demands grace renders possible; and so man is glorified for ever in the eternal
glory of God.
(B. W. Dale, M. A.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(17) The word “for” connects this verse by way of explanation with what has
gone before. The Old Testamentthought of grace and truth has been already
present in John 1:14. The fulness of these divine attributes has been beheld in
the glory of the Word. The revelation of them, that is, the removing of the veil
which hides the knowable, has been made dependent on the use of the already
known. But this is the essence ofChristianity as distinct from Judaism; of a
spiritual religion developed from within as distinct from a formal religion
imposed from without; of a religionof principles, and therefore true for all
time and for all men, as distinct from a religion of works, based, indeed, on an
eternal truth (the oneness andthe righteousness ofGod) but still specially
designedfor a chosenpeople and for a period of preparation. The law was
given (from without) by the human agencyof Moses. The true grace and truth
came into being by means of Jesus Christ. Therefore it is that we receive grace
for grace, there being in Him an ever constantfulness of grace, and for the
man who uses the grace thus given an ever constantrealisationof deeper
truth. Note that here, when the divinity and humanity have both been dwelt
upon, and in contrastto the historic Moses, the name Jesus Christ first
appears. Is there, too, in this union of the human and divine names a reference
to the union in Him of the faculty to receive and the truth to fulfil? St. Luke
speaks ofHim as “increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favour (grace)
with God and man” (Luke 2:52; see Note there).
MacLaren's Expositions

John
GRACE AND TRUTH
John 1:17.
There are scarcelyany traces, in the writings of the Apostle John, of that
greatcontroversyas to the relation of the Law and the Gospelwhich occupied
and embittered so much of the work of the Apostle Paul. We have floated into
an entirely different region in John’s writings. The old controversies are dead-
settled, I suppose, mainly by Paul’s own words, and also to a large extent by
the logic of events. This verse is almost the only one in which John touches
upon that extinct controversy, and here the Law is introduced simply as a foil
to set off the brightness of the Gospel. All artists know the value of contrastin
giving prominence. A dark background flashes up brighter colours into
brilliancy. White is never so white as when it is relieved againstblack. And so
here the specialpreciousness anddistinctive peculiarities of what we receive in
Christ are made more vivid and more distinct by contrastwith what in old
days ‘was given by Moses.’
Every word in this verse is significant. ‘Law’ is setagainst‘grace and truth.’
It was ‘given’; they ‘came.’Moses is contrastedwith Christ. So we have a
threefold antithesis as betweenLaw and Gospel:in reference to their
respective contents;in reference to the manner of their communication; and
in reference to the person of their Founders. And I think, if we look at these
three points, we shall getsome clearapprehension of the glories of that Gospel
which the Apostle would thereby commend to our affectionand to our faith.

I. First of all, then, we have here the specialglory of the contents of the Gospel
heightened by the contrastwith Law.
Law has no tenderness, no pity, no feeling. Tables of stone and a pen of iron
are its fitting vehicles. Flashing lightnings and rolling thunders symbolise the
fierce light which it casts upon men’s duty and the terrors of its retribution.
Inflexible, and with no compassionfor human weakness, it tells us what we
ought to be, but it does not help us to be it. It ‘binds heavy burdens, and
grievous to be borne,’ upon men’s consciences,but puts not forth ‘the tip of a
finger’ to enable men to bear them. And this is true about law in all forms,
whether it be the Mosaic Law, or whether it be the law of our own country, or
whether it be the laws written upon men’s consciences.These allpartake of
the one characteristic, thatthey help nothing to the fulfilment of their own
behests, and that they are barbed with threatenings of retribution. Like some
avenging goddess, law comes downamongstmen, terrible in her purity, awful
in her beauty, with a hard light in her cleargrey eyes-in the one hand the
tables of stone, bearing the commandments which we have broken, and in the
other a sharp two-edgedsword.
And this is the opposite of all that comes to us in the Gospel. The contrast
divides into two portions. The ‘Law’ is set against‘grace and truth.’ Let us
look at these two in order.
What we have in Christ is not law, but grace. Law, as I said, has no heart; the
meaning of the Gospelis the unveiling of the heart of God. Law commands
and demands; it says:‘This shalt thou do, or else-’;and it has nothing more
that it can say. What is the use of standing beside a lame man, and pointing to
a shining summit, and saying to him, ‘Get up there, and you will breathe a
purer atmosphere’? He is lying lame at the foot of it. There is no help for any
soul in law. Men are not perishing because they do not know what they ought
to do. Men are not bad because they doubt as to what their duty is. The worst

man in the world knows a greatdeal more of what he ought to do than the
best man in the world practises. So it is not for want of precepts that so many
of us are going to destruction, but it is for want of powerto fulfil the precepts.
Grace is love giving. Law demands, grace bestows. Law comes saying ‘Do
this,’ and our consciencesrespondto the imperativeness of the obligation. But
grace comes andsays, ‘I will help thee to do it.’ Law is God requiring; grace is
God bestowing. ‘Give what Thou commandest, and then command what Thou
wilt.’
Oh, brethren! we have all of us written upon the fleshly tablets of our hearts
solemn commandments which we know are binding upon us; and which we
sometimes would fain keep, but cannot. Is this not a messageofhope and
blessednessthat comes to us? Grace has drawn near in Jesus Christ, and a
giving God, who bestows upon us a life that will unfold itself in accordance
with the highestlaw, holds out the fulness of His gift in that Incarnate Word.
Law has no heart; the Gospelis the unveiling of the heart of God. Law
commands; grace is God bestowing Himself.
And still further, law condemns. Grace is love that bends down to an evildoer,
and deals not on the footing of strict retribution with the infirmities and the
sins of us poor weaklings. And so, seeing that no man that lives but hears in
his heart an accusing voice, and that every one of us knows what it is to gaze
upon lofty duties that we have shrunk from, upon plain obligations from the
yoke of which we have selfishly and cowardlywithdrawn our necks;seeing
that every man, woman, and child listening to me now has, lurking in some
corner of their hearts, a memory that only needs to be quickenedto be a
torture, and deeds that only need to have the veil drawn awayfrom them to
terrify and shame them-oh! surely it ought to be a word of gladness for every
one of us that, in front of any law that condemns us, stands forth the gentle,
gracious form of the Christ that brings pardon, and ‘the grace ofGod that

bringeth salvationunto all men.’ Thank God! law needed to be ‘given,’ but it
was only the foundation on which was to be reared a better thing. ‘The law
was given By Moses’-’a schoolmaster,’as conscience is to-day, ‘to bring us to
Christ’ by whom comes the grace that loves, that stoops, that gives, and that
pardons.
Still further, there is anotherantithesis here. The Gospelwhich comes by
Christ is not law, but truth. The objectof law is to regulate conduct, and only
subordinately to inform the mind or to enlighten the understanding. The
Mosaic Law had for its foundation, of course, a revelation of God. But that
revelation of God was less prominent, proportionately, than the prescription
for man’s conduct. The Gospelis the opposite of this. It has for its object the
regulation of conduct; but that objectis less prominent, proportionately, than
the other, the manifestation and the revelationof God. The Old Testament
says ‘Thou shalt’; the New Testamentsays ‘God is.’ The Old was Law; the
New is Truth.
And so we may draw the inference, on which I do not need to dwell, how
miserably inadequate and shallow a conceptionof Christianity that is which
sets it forth as being mainly a means of regulating conduct, and how false and
foolish that loose talk is that we hear many a time.-’Never mind about
theologicalsubtleties;conduct is the main thing.’ Not so. The Gospelis not
law; the Gospelis truth. It is a revelation of God to the understanding and to
the heart, in order that thereby the will may be subdued, and that then the
conduct may be shaped and moulded. But let us begin where it begins, and let
us remember that the morality of the New Testamenthas never long been held
up high and pure, where the theologyof the New Testamenthas been
neglectedand despised. ‘The law came by Moses;truth came by Jesus Christ.’
But, still further, let me remind you that, in the revelation of a God who is
gracious, giving to our emptiness and forgiving our sins-that is to say, in the

revelation of grace-wehave a far deeper, nobler, more blessedconceptionof
the divine nature than in law. It is great to think of a righteous God, it is great
and ennobling to think of One whose pure eyes cannot look upon sin, and who
wills that men should live pure and noble and Godlike lives. But it is far more
and more blessed, transcending all the old teaching, when we sit at the feet of
the Christ who gives, and who pardons, and look up into His deep eyes, with
the tears of compassionshining in them, and say:‘Lo! This is our God! We
have waited for Him and He will save us.’ That is a better truth, a deeper
truth than prophets and righteous men of old possessed;and to us there has
come, borne on the wings of the mighty angelof His grace, the precious
revelation of the Father-Godwhose heart is love. ‘The law was given by
Moses,’but brighter than the gleamof the presence betweenthe Cherubim is
the lambent light of gentle tenderness that shines from the face of Jesus
Christ. Grace, and therefore truth, a deeper truth, came by Him.
And, still further, let me remind you of how this contrastis borne out by the
fact that all that previous system was an adumbration, a shadow and a
premonition of the perfect revelationthat was to come. Temple, priest,
sacrifice, law, the whole body of the Mosaic constitutionof things was, as it
were, a shadow thrown along the road in advance by the swiftly coming King.
The shadow fell before Him, but when He came the shadow disappeared. The
former was a system of types, symbols, pictures. Here is the reality that
antiquates and fulfils and transcends them all. ‘The law was given by Moses;
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.’
II. Now, secondly, look atthe other contrastthat is here, betweengiving and
coming.
I do not know that I have quite succeededin making clearto my own mind the
precise force of this antithesis. Certainly there is a profound meaning if one

can fathom it; perhaps one might put it best in something like the following
fashion.
The word rendered ‘came’ might be more correctlytranslated‘became,’or
‘came into being.’ The law was given; grace and truth came to be.
Now, what do we mean when we talk about a law being given? We simply
mean, I suppose, that it is promulgated, either in oral or in written words. It
is, after all, no more than so many words. It is given when it is spokenor
published. It is a verbal communication at the best. ‘But grace and truth came
to be.’ They are realities;they are not words. They are not communicated by
sentences,they are actualexistences;and they spring into being as far as
man’s historical possessionand experience of them are concerned-theyspring
into being in Jesus Christ, and through Him they belong to us all. Notthat
there was no grace, no manifest lore of God, in the world, nor any true
knowledge ofHim before the Incarnation, but the earlier portions of this
chapter remind us that all of grace, howeverrestrainedand partial, that all of
truth, howeverimperfect and shadowyit may have been, which were in the
world before Christ came, were owing to the operation of that Eternal Word
‘Who became flesh and dwelt among us,’ and that these, in comparisonwith
the affluence and the fulness and the nearness of grace and truth after
Christ’s coming, were so small and remote that it is not an exaggerationto say
that, as far as man’s possessionandexperience of them are concerned, the
giving love of God and the clearand true knowledge ofHis deep heart of
tenderness and grace, sprang into being with the historicalmanifestation of
Jesus Christ the Lord.
He comes to reveal by no words. His gift is not like the gift that Moses brought
down from the mountain, merely a writing upon tables;His gift is not the
letter of an outward commandment, nor the letter of an outward revelation. It
is the thing itself which He reveals by being it. He does not speak about grace,

He brings it; He does not show us God by His words, He shows us God by His
acts. He does not preach about Him, but He lives Him, He manifests Him. His
gentleness, His compassion, His miracles, His wisdom, His patience, His tears,
His promises;all these are the very Deity in action before our eyes;and
instead of a mere verbal revelation, which is so imperfect and so worthless,
grace and truth, the living realities, are flashed upon a darkenedworld in the
face of Jesus Christ. How cold, how hard, how superficial, in comparisonwith
that fleshly table of the heart of Christ on which grace and truth were written,
are the stony tables of law, which bore after all, for all their majesty, only
words which are breath and nothing besides.
III. And so, lastly, look at the contrast that is drawn here betweenthe persons
of the Founders.
I do not suppose that we are to take into considerationthe difference between
the limitations of the one and the completeness ofthe other. I do not suppose
that the Apostle was thinking about the difference betweenthe reluctant
service of the Lawgiver and the glad obedience of the Son; or betweenthe
passionand the pride that sometimes marred Moses’work, and the continual
calmness and patient meeknessthat perfectedthe sacrifice ofJesus. Nordo I
suppose that there flashed before his memory the difference betweenthat
strange tomb where God buried the prophet, unknown of men, in the stern
solitude of the desert, true symbol of the solemn mystery and awful solitude
with which the law which we have broken invests death, to our trembling
consciences, andthe grave in the garden with the spring flowers bursting
round it, and visited by white-robed angels, who spoke comfortto weeping
friends, true picture of what His death makes the grave for all His followers.
But I suppose he was mainly thinking of the contrastbetweenthe relation of
Moses to his law, and of Christ to His Gospel. Moseswas but a medium. His
personality had nothing to do with his message. Youmay take awayMoses,

and the law stands all the same. But Christ is so interwoven with Christ’s
messagethat you cannotrend the two apart; you cannothave the figure of
Christ melt away, and the gift that Christ brought remain. If you extinguish
the sun you cannot keepthe sunlight; if you put awayChrist in the fulness of
His manhood and of His divinity, in the power of His Incarnation and the
omnipotence of His cross-ifyou put away Christ from Christianity, it
collapses into dust and nothingness.
So, dear brethren, do not let any of us try that perilous experiment. You
cannot melt awayJesus and keepgrace and truth. You cannot tamper with
His character, with His nature, with the mystery of His passion, with the
atoning powerof His cross, and preserve the blessings that He has brought to
the world. If you want the grace which is the unveiling of the heart of God, the
gift of a giving God and the pardon of a forgiving Judge; or if you want the
truth, the reality of the knowledge ofHim, you can only getthem by accepting
Christ. ‘I am the Truth, and the Way, and the Life.’ There is a ‘law given
which gives life,’ and ‘righteousness is by that law.’There is a Personwho is
the Truth, and our knowledge ofthe truth is through that Person, and
through Him alone. By humble faith receive Him into your hearts, and He will
come bringing to you the fulness of grace and truth.
BensonCommentary
John 1:17. Forthe law — Working wrath, and containing shadows;was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ — Grace, opposedto the
condemnation and wrath by the law, and truth, opposedto the ceremonies
thereof. Further, in the gospelwe have a discoveryof the most important
truths to be receivedby the understanding, as well as of the richestgrace to be
embracedby the will and affections. It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all
acceptation;that is, it is truth and grace. The offers of grace are sincere, and
what we may venture our souls upon. The gospelis grace and truth, with
reference to the law; for, 1st, It is the performance of all the Old Testament
promises. 2d, It is the substance of all the Old Testamenttypes and shadows.
There was a measure of grace, both in the ordinances that were instituted for

Israel, and the providences that were concerning Israel; but they were only
shadows ofgoodthings to come, even of that grace which is brought to us by
the revelationof Jesus Christ. He is the true paschallamb, the true scape-
goat, the true manna. They had grace in the sign and picture, we have it in the
thing signified and the reality. Because, in this passage,the apostle, speaking
of the law, says, εδοθη, it was given by Moses;but that grace and truth,
εγενετο, was, or came by Jesus Christ, Erasmus supposes, that the expressions
were meant to imply, that whereas Moseswas only the messengerofthe law,
Christ was the original of the grace and truth he brought into the world by the
gospel. But it must be observed, that the preposition δια, through, is here used
of Christ as well as of Moses, so that, in this passage, both of them seemto be
representedas messengers,though of very different dispensations, and the
former of infinitely greaterdignity than the latter.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
1:15-18 As to the order of time and entrance on his work, Christ came after
John, but in every other way he was before him. The expressionclearlyshows
that Jesus had existence before he appearedon earth as man. All fulness
dwells in him, from which alone fallen sinners have, and shall receive, by
faith, all that renders them wise, strong, holy, useful, and happy. Our
receivings by Christ are all summed up in this one word, grace;we have
receivedeven grace, a gift so great, so rich, so invaluable; the goodwill of God
towards us, and the goodwork of God in us. The law of God is holy, just, and
good;and we should make the proper use of it. But we cannot derive from it
pardon, righteousness, orstrength. It teaches us to adorn the doctrine of God
our Saviour, but it cannot supply the place of that doctrine. As no mercy
comes from God to sinners but through Jesus Christ, no man cancome to the
Father but by him; no man can know God, exceptas he is made known in the
only begottenand beloved Son.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
The law was given - The Old Testamenteconomy. The institutions under
which the Jews lived.

By Moses - By Moses, as the servant of God. He was the greatlegislatorofthe
Jews, by whom, under God, their polity was formed. The law workethwrath
Romans 4:15; it was attended with many burdensome rites and ceremonies
Acts 15:10;it was preparatory to another state of things. The gospel
succeededthat and took its place, and thus showedthe greatness ofthe gospel
economy, as well as its grace and truth.
Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ - A systemof religion full of favors, and
the "true" system, was revealedby him. The old systemwas one of "law," and
"shadows,"and"burdensome rites;" "this" was full of mercy to mankind,
and was true in all things. We may learn from these verses:
1. that all our mercies come from Jesus Christ.
2. "All true believers receive from Christ's fulness; the best and greatestsaints
cannot live without him, the meanestand weakestmay live by him. This
excludes proud boasting that we have nothing but 'we have receivedit,' and
silencethperplexing fears that we want nothing but 'we may receive it.'"
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
17. For, &c.—The Law elicits the consciousnessofsin and the need of
redemption; it only typifies the reality. The Gospel, onthe contrary, actually
communicates reality and power from above (compare Ro 6:14). Hence Paul
terms the Old Testament"shadow,"while he calls the New Testament
"substance" (Col2:17)[Olshausen].
Matthew Poole's Commentary
For the law was given by Moses;the law, moral and ceremonial, came not by
Moses,but was given by Moses as God’s minister and servant; that law by
which no man canbe justified, Romans 3:28. In this was Moses’shonour, of
whom you glory, John 5:45. God indeed made an eminent use of him, as his
minister, by whom he revealedhis will to you; both in matters of his worship,
according to that dispensation;and in matters which concernyou in your
whole conversation;but yet there is an eminent difference betweenhim and
Jesus Christ. The law is no where calledgrace, neither doth it discoverany

thing but duty and wrath; it showethno remission, in case that duty be not
done, nor affordeth strength for the doing of it.
But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ; all that is from Christ; all the
favour of God for the remissionand pardon of sin, and for strength and
assistanceto the performance of duty, is (not given from God by Christ, as the
law by Moses, but) from Christ as the fountain of grace;and not grace only,
but truth, whether takenfor solid and real mercy, or with respectto the law;
the fulfilling of all the types and prophecies in it was by and in Christ.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
For the law was given by Moses,....Bothmoral and ceremonial. The moral law
was given to Adam, in innocence, whichhaving been broken, and almost lost
out of the minds, and memories of men, was given by Moses,in a new edition
of it in writing; and points out what is man's duty both to God and men;
discovers sin, accuses ofit, convicts of it, and condemns for it; nor could it
give strength to perform its demands; nor does it give the leasthint of
forgiveness;nor will it admit of repentance:and hence is opposedto grace;
though it was a benefit to men, being in its own nature goodand useful in its
effects. The ceremoniallaw pointed out the pollution of human nature, the
guilt and punishment of sin; was a type and shadow of deliverance by Christ,
but could not give the grace it shadowed, and therefore is opposedboth to
grace and truth. Now both these were given by Mosesto the people of the
Jews, notas the maker, but the minister of them: it was God who appointed
eachof these laws, and ordained them in the hand of the mediator Moses, who
receivedthem from him, by the dispositionof angels, and delivered them to
the people of Israel; and a very high office this was he was put into, and a very
greathonour was conferredupon him; but Jesus Christ is a far greater
person, and in an higher office:
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ: by grace and truth, is meant the
Gospel, in oppositionto the law; which is calledgrace, becauseit is a
declarationof the love, and grace, ofGod to men; it ascribes salvation, in all
the parts of it, to the free grace and favour of God; and is the means of

implanting and increasing grace in the hearts of men. And "truth", not only
because it contains truth, and nothing but truth, it coming from the God of
truth; and the substance ofit being Christ, who is the truth; and being
revealed, applied, and led into by the Spirit of truth; but because it is the truth
of the types, and the substance of the shadows of the law: or these two may
mean distinct things; grace may designall the blessings of grace whichare in
Christ, and come by him; and truth, the promises, and the fulfilment of them,
which are all yea, and amen, in Christ: and when these are said to be by him,
the meaning is, not that they are by him, as an instrument, but as the author
of them; for Christ is the author of the Gospel, and the fulfiller of the
promises, and the giver of all grace;which shows the superior excellencyof
Christ to Moses,and to all men, and even to angels also.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
John 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses;grace and truth were
realized through Jesus Christ. (NASB: Lockman)
Greek:hoti o nomos dia Mouseosedothe, (3SAPI)e charis kai e aletheia dia
IesouChristou egeneto. (3SAMI)
Amplified: Forwhile the Law was given through Moses, grace(unearned,
undeserved favor and spiritual blessing)and truth came through Jesus Christ.
[Ex 20:1]
ESV: For the law was given through Moses;grace and truth came through
Jesus Christ.
KJV: For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ.
NLT: For the law was given through Moses;God's unfailing love and
faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.

Phillips: For while the Law was givenby Moses,love and truth came through
Jesus Christ. I
Wuest: Becausethe law through the intermediate agencyof Moses wasgiven,
the aforementionedgrace and the truth came through Jesus Christ.
Young's Literal: for the law through Moseswas given, the grace and the truth
through Jesus Christ did come;
TREASURYOF SCRIPTURE KNOWLEDGE
The law: Jn 5:45 9:29 Ex 20:1-17 Dt 4:44 5:1 33:4 Acts 7:38 28:23 Ro 3:19,20
5:20,21 2Co 3:7-10 Gal3:10-13,17 Heb3:5,6 8:8-12
Grace:Jn 8:32 14:6 Ge 3:15 22:18 Ps 85:10 89:1,2 98:3 Mic 7:20 Lk
1:54,55,68-79 Acts 13:34-39 Ro 3:21-26 5:21 6:14 15:8-12 2Co 1:20 Heb 9:22
10:4-10 11:39,40 Rev5:8-10 7:9-17
For (term of explanation) - Steven Cole sees this as John's elaboration
(explanation) "onthe fact (from John 1:14) that Jesus is also full of truth."
The Law was given - Strictly speaking the Law referred to the Torah(Genesis
through Deuteronomy), but in this context probably is a reference to the
entire OT (cf Jn 5:39 below), especiallyin view of the fact that the entire OT
pointed to the Logos, the Messiah. And in the present passage John is in effect
presenting a contrastbetweenOld and New, Moses andJesus, Law and grace
and truth.
Even the Law was to have pointed Israelto Jesus for as Jesus Himself said
“You searchthe Scriptures (in context this refers to the OT, including the
Torah) because youthink that in them you have eternallife; it is these that
testify about Me." (John 5:39)
Jesus declared"Do not think that I will accuseyou before the Father; the one
who accusesyouis Moses, in whom you have set your hope." (Jn 5:45)
Through Moses

Dt 4:44 Now this is the law which Moses setbefore the sons of Israel;
Dt 5:1 Then Moses summonedall Israel, and saidto them, "Hear, O Israel,
the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking todayin your hearing,
that you may learn them and observe them carefully.
D L Moody - The Law begins with commands and ends with blessings;but the
blessings are fruit upon lofty branches, which fallen man cannever reach: he
cannot and will not climb the tree. The Gospel, on the contrary, begins with
promises, and promises give birth to precepts. The Law demands justice; the
Gospeldelights in mercy through satisfiedjustice. Mosesblessesthe law-doer;
Jesus pardons the guilty and saves the lost.
Grace (5485)(charis from from chairo = to rejoice. English = charity. Beggars
need "charity" even as sinners need grace, for we are all spiritual paupers
outside of Christ, but "Godgives where He finds empty hands"-Augustine [cp
Mt 5:3-note]) is a word which defies a simple definition but at its core conveys
the sense offavor while the specific nuances of charis depend on the context in
which it is used. Someone has written that the word grace is probably the
greatestwordin the Scriptures, even greatereven than “love,” becausegrace
is love in action, and therefore includes it. It is hardly too much to say that
God has in no word uttered Himself and all that was in His heart more
distinctly than in this word grace (charis)!
Truth (225)(aletheia from a = indicates following word has the opposite
meaning ~ without + lanthano= to be hidden or concealed, to escapenotice, cp
our English "latent" from Latin = to lie hidden) has the literal sense of that
which contains nothing hidden. Aletheia is that which is not concealed.
Aletheia is that which that is seenor expressedas it really is. The basic
understanding of aletheia is that it is the manifestationof a hidden reality (eg,
click discussionof Jesus as "the Truth"). Truth then is the correspondence
betweena reality and a declarationwhich professesto set forth or describe the
reality.
Jesus (2424)(Iesous is transliteration of the Greek Iesous, whichin turn is the
transliteration of the Hebrew name Jehoshua (Yehoshua)or Jeshua (Yeshua)
which mean Jehovahis help or Jehovahis salvation. Stated another waythe

Greek Iesous corresponds to the OT Jehoshua (Yehoshua)which is contracted
as Jeshua (Yeshua)
NET Note on Jesus - The Greek form of the name Iēsous, whichwas
translated into Latin as Jesus, is the same as the Hebrew Yeshua (Joshua),
which means “Yahwehsaves” (Yahwehis typically rendered as “LORD” in
the OT).
Christ (5547)(Christosfrom chrio = to rub or anoint, consecrate to an office)
means one who has been anointed, symbolizing appointment to a task. The
majority of the NT uses referto Jesus (exceptions = "false Christs" - Mt
24:24, Mk 13:22).
Jesus Christ - The first use of His Name by John. John's only other use of this
full Name is John 17:3 (cp Jn 20:31 where Jesus and Christ are separately
used). John used the Name Jesus almostas many times as all the other Gospel
writers combined (there are a total of 979 uses of Jesus in the NT, and John
has 242 of these uses in his Gospel. RecallJohn's purpose...
(John 20:31-note)but these have been written SO THAT (PURPOSE)you
may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you
may have life in His name.
Jesus - Used by John 242xin 233v(Matthew used Jesus 150x, Mark 81x, Lk
89x) - John 1:17, 29, 36ff, 42f, 45, 47f, 50; 2:1ff, 7, 11, 13, 19, 22, 24; 3:2f, 5, 10,
22; 4:1f, 6f, 10, 13, 17, 21, 26, 34, 40, 44, 47f, 50, 53f; 5:1, 6, 8, 13ff, 19; 6:1, 3,
5, 10f, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26, 29, 32, 35, 42f, 53, 61, 64, 67, 70; 7:1, 6, 14, 16, 21,
28, 33, 37, 39; 8:1, 6, 10ff, 14, 19, 25, 28, 31, 34, 39, 42, 49, 54, 58f; 9:3, 11, 14,
35, 37, 39, 41; 10:6f, 23, 25, 32, 34; 11:4f, 9, 13f, 17, 20f, 23, 25, 30, 32f, 35, 38ff,
44, 46, 51, 54, 56; 12:1, 3, 7, 11f, 14, 16, 21ff, 30, 35f, 44; 13:1, 3, 7f, 10, 21, 23,
26f, 29, 31, 36, 38; 14:6, 9, 23; 16:19, 31;17:1, 3; 18:1f, 4f, 7f, 11f, 15, 19f, 22f,
28, 32ff, 36f; 19:1, 5, 9, 11, 13, 17ff, 23, 25f, 28, 30, 33, 38, 40, 42; 20:2, 12, 14ff,
19, 21, 24, 26, 29ff; 21:1, 4f, 7, 10, 12ff, 17, 20ff, 25;
Tenney - The contrastbetweenlaw and grace as methods of God’s dealing
with men is expressedhere as plainly as in the Pauline writings (see Ro 5:20–
21; Eph 2:8). The law representedGod’s standard of righteousness;grace

exhibited his attitude to human beings who found that they could not keepthe
law. This attitude was depicted in the person and life of Jesus. (The
Expositor's Bible Commentary)
Grace and truth - While these attributes were present in the Torah, they are
consummated and reachedtheir pinnacle in the incarnate Son of God. These
divine gifts/attributes are fully realized in the SonWho gives grace (2Cor
12:9, 2Ti2:1), something neither Moses northe Torahcould provide. In
addition, the Son declaredHimself to be the personificationof truth (Jn 14:6).
While grace and truth that come to man through Jesus Christis clearlythe
"better way," the Law has not been discarded but in the New Covenant is
written on our hearts (Jer 31:33). In factin the Sermon on the Mount Jesus
repeatedly alludes to the internal aspectof the law when He says “You have
heard that it was said.…ButI tell you” (Mt 5:21–22,27–28, 22:33–34,38–39,
43–44). As Jesus Himself declared“Do not think that I came to abolish the
Law or the Prophets;I did not come to abolish but to fulfill." (Mt 5:17) Paul
amplifies Jesus'declarationexplaining that "Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone who believes." (Ro 10:4) As Paul says in Romans 6
believers "are not under law, but under grace."(Ro 6:14)
Boice - The contrastis betweenthe law with all its regulations and the new era
of salvationby grace through faith apart from the works of the law that has
come with Jesus Christ. It is a greatcontrast. Under the law, God demands
righteousness from people;under grace, He gives it to people. Under law,
righteousness is basedon Moses and goodworks;under grace, it is basedon
Christ and Christ’s character. Under law, blessings accompanyobedience;
under grace, Godbestows his blessings as a free gift. The law is powerless to
secure righteousnessand life for a sinful race. Grace came in its fullness with
Christ’s death and resurrectionto make sinners righteous before God. (The
Gospelof John : An expositional commentary)
Keep in mind that grace and truth were presentin the OT, but just not as
fully developed as they were in Jesus Christ. And so in the midst of great
spiritual darkness and sin on earth we read that "Noahfound favor (Heb =
chen/hen; Lxx = charis = grace)in the eyes of the LORD." (Ge 6:6, cp Lxx
uses of charis in Ge 18:3 of Abraham to God, God gift of grace to Josephin

Ge 39:21, cp Ps 86:11),In a similar waywe see the mention of truth (aletheia)
in Ge 24:27 (God "has not forsake His lovingkindness and His truth
[aletheia]). As alluded to earlier(comments on Jn 1:14), the OT "analogue"of
grace and truth is lovingkindness and truth and is found 19 times in the OT,
especiallyin the Psalms -
Gen 24:27 And he said, "Blessedbe the LORD, the God of my master
Abraham, who has not forsakenHis lovingkindness and His truth towardmy
master; as for me, the LORD has guided me in the wayto the house of my
master's brothers."
Ex 34:6 Then the LORD passedby in front of him and proclaimed, "The
LORD, the LORD God, compassionateand gracious, slow to anger, and
abounding in lovingkindness and truth;
2Sa 2:6 "And now may the LORD show lovingkindness and truth to you; and
I also will show this goodness to you, because you have done this thing.
Ps 25:10 All the paths of the LORD are lovingkindness and truth To those
who keepHis covenantand His testimonies.
Ps 26:3 For Thy lovingkindness is before my eyes, And I have walkedin Thy
truth.
Ps 40:10 I have not hidden Thy righteousness within my heart; I have spoken
of Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation;I have not concealedThy
lovingkindness and Thy truth from the great congregation.

Ps 40:11 Thou, O LORD, wilt not withhold Thy compassionfrom me; Thy
lovingkindness and Thy truth will continually preserve me.
Ps 57:3 He will send from heavenand save me; He reproaches him who
tramples upon me. Selah. Godwill send forth His lovingkindness and His
truth.
Ps 57:10 ForThy lovingkindness is greatto the heavens, And Thy truth to the
clouds.
Ps 61:7 He will abide before God forever; Appoint lovingkindness and truth,
that they may preserve him.
Ps 69:13 But as for me, my prayer is to Thee, O LORD, at an acceptable time;
O God, in the greatnessofThy lovingkindness, Answer me with Thy saving
truth.
Ps 85:10 Lovingkindness and truth have met together;Righteousnessand
peace have kissedeachother.
Ps 86:15 But Thou, O Lord, art a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger
and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.
Ps 89:14 Righteousness andjustice are the foundation of Thy throne;
Lovingkindness and truth go before Thee.

Ps 108:4 ForThy lovingkindness is greatabove the heavens; And Thy truth
reaches to the skies.
Ps 115:1 Notto us, O LORD, not to us, But to Thy name give glory Becauseof
Thy lovingkindness, because ofThy truth.
Ps 117:2 ForHis lovingkindness is greattoward us, And the truth of the
LORD is everlasting. Praise the LORD!
Ps 138:2 I will bow down toward Thy holy temple, And give thanks to Thy
name for Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth; ForThou hastmagnified Thy
word according to all Thy name.
Pr 16:6 By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atonedfor, And by the fear of
the LORD one keeps awayfrom evil.
Kostenbergerrefers to this grace as "True grace, i.e., final eschatological
grace, came through Jesus Christ. Rather than offend the Gospel's Jewish
audience, this verse is designedto draw it in: "If you want an even more
gracious demonstrationof God's covenantlove and faithfulness," the
evangelisttells his readers, "it is found in Jesus Christ." Jesus'ministry is
superior to Moses, justas He is superior to Jacob(Jn 4:12) and Abraham (Jn
8:53).
Bible Knowledge Commentary - The greatness ofthe old dispensationwas the
giving of the Law by God through His servant Moses.No other nation has had
such a privilege. But the glory of the church is the revelation of God’s grace
and truth . . . through Jesus Christ (cf. Jn 1:14).
A T Robertson- It is grace in contrastwith law as Paulsets forth in Galatians
and Romans. Paulhad made grace “a Christiancommonplace” (Bernard)
before John wrote. It is truth as opposedto Gnostic and all other heresyas

Paul shows in Colossians andEphesians. The two words aptly describe two
aspects ofthe Logos and John drops the use of Logos and charis, but clings to
alētheia (see Jn 8:32 for the freedom brought by truth), though the ideas in
these three words run all through his Gospel.
Hughes - Much could be said about truth. Suffice it to say, however, that when
grace comes, so does God’s revelationof spiritual truth, and we begin to see
things as they are. A little girl had a terrific fight with her brother. When her
mother came in, the mother asked, “Why did you let the devil put it in your
heart to pull your brother’s hair and kick him in the shins?” The little girl
thought for a moment and said, “Well, maybe the devil put it into my head to
pull my brother’s hair, but kicking his shins was my own idea.” She had
better theologythan her mother. We begin to see things as they are when we
through grace beginto understand ourselves, life, God, and salvation. The
overflowing fountain of grace is a marvelous gift. (Preaching the Word).
Through Moses...throughJesus Christ - "Through" indicates they were the
intermediate agents of God, the former the agent of law, the latter the agentof
grace and truth.
Steven Cole - Why does John introduce the law and Moses here? Forone
thing, in Exodus 34, when God calledMoses back to Mount Sinai to reveal His
glory, He instructed him to cut out two stone tablets like the former ones that
he had broken in angerwhen he went down the mountain and found the
people worshiping the golden calf(Ex 34:1). God reissuedthe law on that
occasionofshowing Moses His glory. The law, as summarized in the Ten
Commandments, manifested God’s grace (“lovingkindness”)andtruth (Ex
34:6). If that passageis the backdrop for these verses in John, then he is
showing that as greatas the law and Moseswere, someonewho embodies
grace and truth had now “tabernacled” among us.
Andreas Kostenberger(ibid., p. 47)points out, “Ratherthan offend the
Gospel’s Jewishaudience, this verse is designedto draw it in: ‘If you want an
even more gracious demonstrationof God’s covenantlove and faithfulness,’
the evangelisttells his readers, ‘it is found in Jesus Christ.’” So John is saying,

“If you thought that God’s gift of the law through Moseswas a greatthing
(and it was), He has given us a greatergift now through Jesus Christ.”
But it seems to me that John is at the same time drawing a contrastbetween
the inferiority of the law and the superiority of Jesus Christ. Leon Morris
(The GospelAccording to John[Eerdmans], p. 112)points out, “The contrast
of the Christian way with the Jewishand the function of Moses as subordinate
to and pointing forward to the Christ is a recurring theme in the Gospel(see
5:39, 46;6:32; 8:32ff.; 9:28ff.).” J. C. Ryle (Ibid., 3:40) puts it this way:
By Moses was giventhe law-the moral law, full of high and holy demands, and
of stern threatenings againstdisobedience;-the ceremoniallaw, full of
burdensome sacrifices, ordinances, andceremonies, whichnever healedthe
worshipper’s conscience, and at best were only shadows ofgoodthings to
come.
By Christ, on the other hand, came grace and truth-grace by the full
manifestation of God’s plan of salvation, and the offer of complete pardon to
every soul that believes on Jesus,-andtruth, by the unveiled exhibition of
Christ Himself, as the true sacrifice, the true Priest, and the true atonement
for sin.
Augustine, on this verse, says:“The law threatened, not helped; commanded,
not healed;showed, not took away, our feebleness.But it made ready for the
Physicianwho was to come with grace and truth.”
Also, note that this is the first time that John has used the human name, Jesus,
or His designationas Christ, or Messiah. He uses “Jesus”237 times, more
than any other gospeland more than a quarter of all New Testamentuses
(Morris, p. 112). He also uses “Christ” more often than any other gospel,
although he only uses “JesusChrist” togetherone other time (17:3; but see
20:31). In 1:17, John is making it clearthat the Word who was in the
beginning with God, the Word who was God, and the Word who became flesh
and dwelt among us, is none other than Jesus the MessiahofIsrael.
As I pointed out in our laststudy, God’s grace and truth reachtheir apex at
the cross. His truth demanded that the penalty for sin be fully paid. His grace

provided Jesus, the eternalSon of God, as that payment for sin for all who
believe in Him. So make sure that you have receivedGod’s gift of eternal life
by trusting in Jesus Christas your sin-bearer.
Thus John says that you should believe in Jesus because He is greaterthan all
the prophets, including John the Baptist; you should believe in Him because
He provides abundant grace for all who believe; you should believe in Him
because He is greaterthan Moses andthe law.
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James Hastings - THE LAWGIVER - The law was given by Moses.—John
1:17.
1. That “the law was given by Moses” is the universal tradition of the Jewish
Church. To what extent does modern scholarshipconfirm the truth of the
tradition?
(1) It may fairly be questioned, says Ottley, whether the Decalogue in its
present form can be ascribedto Moses. In the first place, what appears to be
an older and widely different version of the “tenwords” is found in the Book
of Exodus (34:14–26);secondly, the Decaloguein its presentform seems to be
influenced by the teaching of the eighth-century prophets. It is also urged that
an exclusively moral code is not consistentwith the predominantly ritualistic
characterof early religions. Other arguments have been adduced which it is
needless to considerin detail. The facts as they stand are perplexing, and
justify a suspensionof judgment. It is reasonable to suppose that the
Decalogue in its present form bears traces of expansionin prophetic times; at
the same time it lays down principles of morality which are so elementary as
to be strictly consistentwith what we know of the condition of Israelin Mosaic
times. It is difficult to see what other precepts could have been better adapted
to lift the Hebrews above the degraded nature-religion of their heathen
neighbours, to teachthem the true characteroftheir Divine Deliverer, and to
educate them in the rudiments of socialjustice and humanity. In short, the
“ten words” as we have them in the Pentateuchmay be a later prophetic
summary of the greatmoral ideas containedin the religion of Moses;but
there is every reasonto suppose that in a brief and easilyremembered form

the primary moral precepts of the Decalogue constitutedfrom the first the
foundation of Israel’s national development. It is indeed impossible otherwise
to accountfor the vitality and vigour which gave to the Hebrews their physical
and moral superiority over the inhabitants of Canaan. The Decalogue has in
fact intrinsic credibility as a Mosaic utterance, andwe may reasonablyaccept
it as an authentic monument—at leastin its main substance—ofthe period to
which Hebrew tradition assigns it.
¶ While many of the enactments of the Book ofthe Covenantserved but a
temporary purpose, and passedawaywith the religion of Judaism, the
Decalogue has beenretained unchanged in the Christian Church. The Divinity
of its origin and the excellencyof its contents still give it a foremostplace in
the theologyof every Christian community. There is nothing in it that is not
valid for mankind. It is a universal code of morals. No compend of morality
among ethnic religions can be compared with it. The ethical systems of
Confucius, of Zoroaster, ofBuddha, of the Greek moralists, are far behind it
as a summary of human duty. All will admit that the Decalogueis castin an
archaic mould; and the negative form in which its commandments are
addressedis in keeping with its primitive character. In the infantile life of a
nation, as in child life, the early part of its moral training must always consist
of concrete precepts, expressedin a prohibitory form. In the first portion of a
child’s life it has to be kept from harm by continual prohibitions; and the
formation at that early stage ofthe habit of obedience to these simple
prohibitory commands is essentialto moral well-being. Thus it is thoroughly
consistentwith the youthful stage of the Beni-Israel, a horde of slaves newly
enfranchisedand little better than children, that this fundamental code of
moral and religious duty should be one not of principles but of plain precepts.
Children do not understand principles: they must at first receive simple,
concrete directions as to what they shall do and not do. Truth must be
accommodatedto the measure of their mind; and while they cannot
comprehend the principles that lie at the basis of property, they understand
the command “Do not steal.” The first stage of moral educationwill be full of
restrictions. And the form of the Decalogue is in keeping with the stage of
Israel’s progress in morality.

(2) Again, some forms of worship were doubtless observedin the wilderness,
though it is impossible to point to any details of cultus prescribed by Moses
himself. Some traditional usages seemto have been retained or regulatedby
the lawgiver. There certainly existed a primitive sanctuary, or “tent of
meeting,” designedto serve as the seatof the sacredoracle and as a shelter for
the ark. In form this structure would resemble the ordinary shepherd’s tent,
having its outer and inner compartment, and standing in an enclosedcourt.
The tent of meeting seems in Mosaic times to have been pitched outside the
camp (Exod. 33:7; Num. 11:26, 12:4), and not, as was assumedin post-exilic
times, at its centre. Sacrificesofsome kind must have been offered during the
wanderings, but we canonly conjecture what their exactsignificance may
have been. According to the primitive Semitic idea, sacrifice was the means of
renewing or maintaining the bond which united the people to their god; and a
ceremonylike that described in connexionwith the ratification of the
covenant(Exod. 24) would probably be repeatedon specialoccasions, e.g.,
before the tribes engagedin battle with their enemies. If Mosesinstituted a
regular priesthood, possibly recruited from members of his own tribe (Levi),
it is unlikely that its main function was that of sacrifice. The “holy” persons of
Semitic antiquity were attachedto the sanctuary and were its recognized
guardians, but they were employed chiefly in consulting the oracle touching
matters of difficulty. To the priesthood would naturally fall the task of
continuing the work of Moses,i.e., imparting torah to those who askedfor
guidance, and giving judicial sentences (toroth)in matters of dispute. Thus a
traditional and authoritative torah would gradually be formed, and there
would be a tendency for the priesthood to become hereditary in certain
families. The means by which Jehovah’s will was ascertainedwas usuallythe
casting of the sacredlot, and it is easyto understand how rapidly the
priesthood would acquire a powerful influence over the mass of the people.
The original torah given by Moses, andafter his time by the priesthood, was
oral; and the name “En-mishpat” (“well of judgment”) at Kadesh, which was
for a long period the religious centre of the tribes, indicates that the sanctuary
was invariably the seatof justice, as well as the place of worship.
¶ Even on Wellhausen’s own admissions, it may be urged that the Levitical
Law, as we have it now, is but the codified form of the Torahs given by Moses.

For that critic makes the Jews go from Egypt to Kadesh, as “the original
objectof their wanderings,” andthere spend “the forty years of their
wanderings in the wilderness.” “The legislationat the seatof judgment at
Kadesh,” he proceeds to say, “goeson for forty years, and consists in the
dispensationof justice at the sanctuary, which he begins, and the priests and
judges carry on after him according to the pattern he set. And in this way the
Torahhas its place in the historical narrative, not in virtue of its matter as the
contents of a code, but from its form as constituting the professionalactivity
of Moses. It is in history not as a result, as the sum of the laws and usages
binding on Israel, but as a process.”Fromthis point of view Moses was the
author of the Customary Law of Israel, which assumes a codified form in the
Pentateuch, and the Law thus codified may not improperly be calledthe Law
of Moses, as tradition has taught us to callit.
2. If we seek to know to what extent the Mosaic legislationis original, we need
go no further than the Code of Hammurabi. Dr. C. H. W. Johns, in a very full
examination of the Code of Hammurabi and its relation to the Mosaic
legislation, in Hastings’Dictionary of the Bible, v. 611, sums up in these
words: “We may saythat the Israelite legislationshows strong traces of
Babylonian influence, and yet not destroy the independence of its origin. We
cannot suppose that the author of any code setto work to draw up a
comprehensive scheme of law. Eachbuilt upon the already prevailing custom.
His attention would be directed chiefly to what was not matter of uniform
treatment. The most characteristicallyBabylonian things in the current
custom of the day in Israel may be just those which are not legislatedfor. The
new legislationdid not require to touch what was so firmly established. Other
things of Babylonian origin may have been abrogatedby the new laws—it
would not be necessaryto say what they had been, but merely by stating the
new law to saythey should be no longer. That any Israelite code shows
marked differences from the Code of Hammurabi is enough to show an
independent origin. The absence ofany difference would show complete
dependence. The co-existing likenessesand differences argue for an
independent recensionof ancient customdeeply influenced by Babylonian
law. The actual Code of Hammurabi is a witness to what influence might
accomplish. It cannotbe held to be a creative source. The Code may only be

itself a proof of the same influences. These may be calledSemitic in preference
to Babylonian. But that view calls for overwhelming proof that there was any
source of civilization powerful enough to have this influence on both Israel
and Babylonia. The presumption that Babylonia had a prominent influence on
Palestine long before Israelite codes were drawnup is one that grows stronger
as time goes on.”
What does John 1:17 mean? [⇑ See verse text ⇑]
Verse 17 explains an important difference betweenthe ministries of Moses
and Jesus. Moses'ministry brought knowledge ofthe law. But the law could
only show us how sinful and broken we were (Romans 3:20). Ratherthan just
bringing us truth, Jesus also brought us grace. Insteadof simply telling us that
we were broken, Christ gave us a way to fix what was wrong. This is an
important, common theme of the Bible. Human efforts will always fall short,
and everyone is corrupted with sin (Romans 3:23). Instead of leaving us to
face that uncomfortable truth alone, Jesus provided a way for us to experience
forgiveness. Merelydoing gooddeeds can never save us, only God's grace,
through faith, cando that. This is further symbolized in miracles. Moses'first
miracle was turning water into blood, which is symbolic of judgment (Exodus
7:20). Later, only those homes which had the blood of a lamb on their doors
were "passedover" by God's wrath (Exodus 12:26–28). Jesus'first miracle
was turning waterinto wine—symbolic of blood—as a gracious gift (John 2:7–
11). Only those who acceptChrist's sacrifice ofblood are spared from the
judgment we all deserve (1 John 1:7).
https://www.bibleref.com/John/1/John-1-17.html
Can you explain John 1:17?
Postedon 06/30/2018| Leave a comment

CAN YOU EXPLAIN JOHN 1:17?
by Shawn Brasseaux
“Forthe law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”
(John 1:17). Yes, I can. In short, one is distant and the other is near!
The Jews were cruelly enslaved—inbondage to Egypt, sin, and Satan. God
heard their cries for help, and He brought to mind the covenantHe had made
with their fathers Abraham, Isaac, andJacob. After destroying Egypt with 10
plagues, defeating Pharaohand his idols, the Godof the Hebrews brought His
people acrossthe RedSea with a mighty hand. Those miracles should have
causedIsraelto see they would have to rely on God rather than their religious
works. It would be His works, nottheirs.
In His grace, JEHOVAH God gave Israeleverything she needed. They desired
deliverance from Egypt; He gave it (Exodus 14:1–15:22). Theywanted potable
water; He provided it (15:23-26). They wanted food; He furnished them with
manna and quail (16:1-36). They desireddrinkable water;He offered it to
them (17:1-7). He gave them military victory over their enemies, the
Amalekites (17:8-16). After seeing God’s faithfulness to them, amazingly, the
Jews overlookedit and pompously declaredthey could now be faithful to God.
After all of their complaining and doubt in the previous chapters, they
claimed they would now obey God!
We read the LORD’S words to Moses in Exodus 19:4-6: “[4]Ye have seen
what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’wings, and
brought you unto myself. [5] Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed,
and keepmy covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all
people: for all the earth is mine: [6] And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of
priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto
the children of Israel.” After emphasizing what He did for them (verse 4),
highlighting their weaknesses anddeficiencies, He testedthem (verses 5,6).
“Do you want to be My people basedon what you do?” Verse 8 says: “And all
the people answeredtogether, and said, All that the LORD hath spokenwe
will do.”

How will the LORD respond? How will this affectHis relationship with
Israel?
In Exodus 19:1-8, Israel acceptedGod’sCovenantof Law. They will be His
people only if they obey His Law. How does God react? How is His
relationship with Israelchanged? Their wish is granted via an extremely
frightening encounterwith Him!
“[9]And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud,
that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever.
And Moses toldthe words of the people unto the LORD. [10] And the LORD
said unto Moses,Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow,
and let them washtheir clothes, [11] And be ready againstthe third day: for
the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon
mount Sinai. [12] And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about,
saying, Take heedto yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the
border of it: whosoevertoucheththe mount shall be surely put to death: [13]
There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot
through; whether it be beastor man, it shall not live: when the trumpet
soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.”
“[16]And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were
thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of
the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp
trembled. [17] And Mosesbrought forth the people out of the camp to meet
with God; and they stoodat the nether part of the mount. [18] And mount
Sinai was altogetheron a smoke, becausethe LORD descendedupon it in fire:
and the smoke thereof ascendedas the smoke ofa furnace, and the whole
mount quakedgreatly. [19] And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long,
and waxedlouder and louder, Moses spake, andGod answeredhim by a
voice.”
The dreadful Law of God will be implemented!
Hebrews chapter 12 summarizes the drastic change in how Goddealt the
Israelites whenthey rejectedHis grace and preferred a performance-based
acceptancesystem: “[18]… the mount that might be touched, and that burned

with fire, … blackness,and darkness, andtempest, [19] And the sound of a
trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that
the word should not be spokento them any more: [20] (For they could not
endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the
mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: [21]And so
terrible was the sight, that Mosessaid, I exceedinglyfearand quake: )….”
With the institution of the Mosaic Law (delineated in Exodus chapter 20),
JEHOVAH God became distant and severe. If there was so much as an
animal that touched Mount Sinai, God demanded it be killed! A man was to
be put to death if he touched Sinai! Israel, up to this point, had not been
fearful of God. They had seenGod deal harshly with Egypt, but not with
them. Now, they literally tremble as the Old Covenantis ratified!
Friend, the Law is not the sinner’s friend. No, the Law is not flawed: God’s
Law is “holy, just, and good” (Romans 7:12). However, it is “weakthrough
[our] flesh” (Romans 8:3). The Law “workethwrath” (Romans 4:15). We
cannot measure up to God’s righteous standards. Not only are our deeds evil;
we, by nature, in heart, are evil (Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 7:11). The Law
exposes our sinful nature and deeds: “Forby the law is the knowledge ofsin”
(Romans 3:20). “The strength of sin is the law” (1 Corinthians 15:56b). The
Law only highlights our failures. It was intended to teachIsraelthey could not
be God’s people basedon their efforts! As long as they had a performance-
basedacceptancesystem, their religious works being the issue, God would
always be distant, displeased, offended, and angry. They would need
JEHOVAH God to institute a more advantageous, andpersonal, system.
John 1:17 highlights how the Law was dispensedfrom a distance. God did not
speak directly to Israel on Mount Sinai when He issuedand defined the Law.
No, He instructed Moses to come up and meet with Him. Moses then
descendedand delivered the Law to the Israelites. The Jews were kept at a
distance. We have neither time nor space to detail that with quotations, but
you canrefer to Exodus chapters 19-32.
In opening his GospelRecordofChrist’s earthly ministry, John the Apostle
moved from the Law—a distant, cold, strict system—to something called

“graceand truth.” Notice the contrasting conjunction “but:” “Forthe law was
given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” The Holy Spirit is
actually highlighting the advantageous andnew system that God will institute
in Israel one day. To wit, John 1:17 is really demarcating two covenants—the
“Old Covenant” (Law of Moses)and the “New Covenant” (Law of Messiah).
We remind ourselves of the Mosaic Law’strue purpose, Romans 3:19-20:
“[19]Now we know that what things soeverthe law saith, it saith to them
[Israel] who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the
world [Jews and Gentiles] may become guilty before God. [20] Therefore by
the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law
is the knowledge ofsin.” The Old Covenant was never meant to be permanent:
it was to serve one purpose. It was to show the whole world—everyJew, every
Gentile—thatthey were sinners. There would be no argument or doubt, as
God made it very clear. Religionand man’s efforts are not the answer!Grace
and God’s efforts are the answer!
The Law was “given” by Moses,yes. But, grace and truth “came” by Jesus
Christ. Unlike with the Old Covenant, God did not send something to Israel
from afar. No, with the New Covenant, God came to Israelliterally,
physically, visibly, and personally.
Notice Isaiah7:14: “Therefore the LORD himself shall give you a sign;
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, andbear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel.” When Jesus Christcame to Earth, specificallyto Israel, He was
their greatestsign. The JEHOVAH God who had dealt so frighteningly with
Moses onSinai when delivering the Law, had now revealedHimself by taking
on a human body! Jesus, living among other Jews, was indeed “Emmanuel,
God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
John 1:11 says, “He came unto his own, and his own receivedhim not.”
JEHOVAH God came to His own people, Israel, but they rejectedHim.
Moreover, they conspired with the Gentiles to kill Him (Psalm 2:1-3; Acts
4:23-28). Still, it was in God’s designto use man’s free will to accomplishHis
end. With man crucifying Christ, there would be shed blood, allowing the
implementation of a new covenant for Israel. Please seeHebrews 8:8-13:“For

finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saiththe Lord, when
I will make a new covenantwith the house of Israeland with the house of
Judah….” “Forthis is my covenantunto them, when I shall take awaytheir
sins” (Romans 11:27—verse26 identifies this as Christ’s SecondComing, yet
future from our day).
Israelaccumulated much wrath under the Old Covenant, but grace would
coverit. Jeremiah31:2 speaks ofIsrael’s redemption and restoration: “The
people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness;even Israel,
when I went to cause him to rest.” Zechariah12:10 describes this Second
Coming: “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace andof supplications….” As does Acts 3:19-20:
“[Israel]Repentye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted
out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence ofthe Lord.
And he shall send Jesus Christ….”
With Jesus Christ coming once to Israelto shed His blood, He will return to
ratify the covenantthat typifies for them “grace andtruth.”
While we have merely scratchedthe surface, we conclude this Bible study by
reading the context of John 1:17: “[1]In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] The same was in the
beginning with God…. [14]And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among
us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begottenof the Father,)
full of grace and truth. [15]John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This
was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for
he was before me. [16] And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for
grace. [17]Forthe law was given by Moses,but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ.” Israeldid not need Law—hundreds of rules and regulations she could
never keep. She neededgrace, “grace forgrace,” abounding grace—whatGod
would do to make her His people (see verses 12,13).
Long before Israeldemanded the Mosaic Law, Godhad promised her father
Abraham that He would make of Abraham’s seeda nation of people for His
name (see Genesis 12:1-3). The New Covenantqualifies Israelto receive the
blessings ofthat Abrahamic Covenant. Moreover, that New Covenant cancels

the sin debt accumulatedunder the Old. In the New Covenant, God puts His
Spirit in the Jews and causes them to keepHis laws. “I will put my law in their
inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall
be my people” (Jeremiah31:33;Hebrews 8:10). “And I will put my spirit
within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keepmy
judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel36:27).
We see here a glimpse of Israelfunctioning as God’s “kingdomofpriests” in
the Millennium, Christ’s SecondComing onward. Messiah’sLaw is much
stricter than the Mosaic Law (see Matthew chapters 5-7). However, the New
Covenant, unlike the Old, provides Israelwith forgiveness forher past
transgressions and the ability (indwelling Holy Spirit) to never, ever to repeat
them!
GRACE UPON GRACE:
THE TRUE MEANING OF JOHN 1:17
by Doug Ward
In Christiandiscussions ofthe relationships betweenthe Hebrew Scriptures
and the New Testament, the SinaiCovenantand the New Covenant, or
Christianity and Judaism, one biblical passagethatis often citedis John1:17:
``For the law was giventhrough Moses; graceandtruth came throughJesus
Christ'' (NIV).
This verse is routinely usedas a proof text by those who wishto claimthat law
and grace standin essential oppositionto eachother, orthat``the law''has
beensupersededor``done away''by the coming of Jesus Christ. The view that

Jesus was the source of grace and truth

Jesus was the source of grace and truth

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