John 1:15 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, the evangelist returns to John the Baptist’s testimony about Christ, in John 1:15. He had already said that John came as a witness (John 1:8), and now he shows that John truly gave that witness. John cried out, just as the prophets had foretold that he would be the voice of one crying. The Old Testament prophets cried out to expose sin, and this New Testament prophet cried out to reveal the Savior.

This shows that his witness was open and public. He announced it so that everyone could hear, because everyone needed it. False teachers work in secret, but wisdom speaks openly where people gather. It also shows that he spoke freely and with full conviction. He cried out like a man who was sure of the truth and glad to tell it. The child who had leaped in his mother’s womb at Christ’s approach now welcomed Christ’s public coming with the same joy.

John’s message pointed back to what he had said at the start of his ministry. He had told the people to expect One who would come after him, and that he was only the forerunner, the one who prepared the way. He had made this clear from the beginning. It is a comfort to a minister to know that he started his work with honest motives and a sincere aim to honor Christ alone.

Now John applies that earlier message to Jesus, the one he had recently baptized and whom heaven had so clearly approved. “This was he of whom I spoke.” John did more than leave people looking for some future figure, as many Old Testament prophets had done. He named the person. “This was the very one I meant, and all I said belongs to him.” He had given Jesus the higher place: “He who comes after me, in time and public appearance, is ranked above me; the One who follows me in preaching and making disciples is greater in every way.” As a prince may be preferred above the herald who prepares the way for him, so Christ is preferred above John.

Jesus was to be called the Son of the Highest (Luke 1:32), while John was only the prophet of the Highest (Luke 1:76). John was a servant of the New Testament, but Christ is the Mediator of the New Testament, the one who brings God and people together. Though John was great and well known, he gladly gave Jesus the place that belonged to him. All Christ’s ministers must do the same, preferring Christ and his interests above their own. Those who seek their own interests instead of Christ’s do a poor work (Philippians 2:21).

John adds the reason Christ was above him: “He was before me.” The Greek phrase can mean, “He was my first,” or “He was my source.” The First is one of God’s names (Isaiah 44:6). Christ was before John in seniority, because he existed before Abraham (John 8:58), indeed before all things (Colossians 1:17). John came only recently, but Christ’s goings forth were from of old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2). This shows Christ’s two natures. As man, he appeared after John. As God, he was before John, and his eternal existence explains that.

Christ was also before John in rank and authority. He was John’s Prince, the One for whose sake John was sent. Christ was John’s Master, and John was his servant and messenger.

The evangelist then turns again to Christ himself and does not return to John’s testimony until John 1:19. The next verse clearly connects with John 1:14, where the Word made flesh was said to be full of grace and truth. Here that truth becomes a reason for praise and thankfulness, because from Christ’s fullness we all have received. He received gifts for people (Psalm 68:18), so that he might give gifts to people (Ephesians 4:8). He was filled so that he might fill all things with his presence and blessing (Ephesians 1:23), and fill our empty hands and hearts (Proverbs 8:21).

This fullness overflows, and all believers receive from it. Some take “we all” to mean the apostles, who received grace for their office and truth for their work. More likely, it means all believers, as in John 1:16, “as many as received him.” Every true believer receives from Christ’s fullness. The strongest saint cannot live without him, and the weakest may live by him. This keeps us from pride, because everything we have has been received. It also quiets our fears, because whatever we lack, we may receive from him.

What we receive is summed up in one word, grace. We have received grace, rich and priceless grace. The phrase is repeated: grace for grace. For every stone in the building, even the top stone, we must cry, “Grace, grace.”

This means, first, the blessing itself is grace, the good will of God toward us and the good work of God within us. God’s good will brings about the good work, and then the good work prepares us for more signs of his favor. As a fountain fills a cistern, a root sends sap into the branches, and the sun fills the air with light, so we receive grace from Christ’s fullness.

It also points to the manner of that gift. Grace for grace can mean grace given because of grace, as an act of free favor, not because of any merit in us. We receive grace for Christ’s sake, since God is well pleased with him and therefore well pleased with us in him (Ephesians 1:6). It can also mean grace upon grace, one blessing added to another, as if grace were piled on grace.

It is a rich blessing, poured out in such abundance that there is not room to receive it. One grace leads to more grace, as Joseph’s name means, “he will add.” This is the kind of fullness called “the fullness of God,” with which believers are filled. We are not short of Christ’s grace unless we are short in our own hearts.

This grace is also useful and active. “Grace for grace” means grace that helps produce more grace. It gives gracious habits for gracious actions, and it gives believers what they need to serve others. Grace is a gift to be used well, like money entrusted to a steward. The apostles received grace (Romans 1:5; Ephesians 3:8) so they could pass it on (1 Peter 4:10).

Some understand this phrase as the replacement of Old Testament grace with New Testament grace, as Beza suggested. That fits what comes next, because (John 1:17) shows that the old covenant had grace in shadow, while the new covenant has grace in truth. There was real grace under the Old Testament, and the gospel was preached then too (Galatians 3:8). Still, that earlier grace is now surpassed, and we have gospel grace in its place, a glory that is far greater (2 Corinthians 3:10). The signs of grace are now clearer, and its gifts are far more plentiful. In that sense, it is grace instead of grace.

It also points to the growth and continuing work of grace. “Grace for grace” can mean one grace helping another grace grow, strengthen, and come to maturity. We are being changed into God’s image, from one stage of glory to another, from one degree of gracious life to a higher one (2 Corinthians 3:18). Those who have true grace have it as a door to more grace, because God gives more grace to the humble (James 4:6). When God gives grace, he gives enough for the next step, because he who promised will surely keep his word.

It also shows how the grace in believers matches the grace in Jesus Christ, as Clark said. Grace in us answers to grace in him, like a seal leaves its exact mark in wax. The grace we receive from Christ changes us into the same likeness (2 Corinthians 3:18), the likeness of the Son (Romans 8:29), and the likeness of the heavenly man (1 Corinthians 15:49).

We have received grace and truth (John 1:17). He had just said that Christ was full of grace and truth (John 1:14), and now he says that grace and truth came to us through him. John keeps returning to this theme because he delights in it. From Christ, we receive grace, and he never moves far from that thought.

This grace is greater than the law of Moses. The law came through Moses, and it was a glorious revelation of God’s will for people and his kindness toward them. Even so, the gospel of Christ gives a much clearer view of both duty and blessing. What came through Moses was mainly fear and warning, with penalties attached. It was a law that could not give life and was delivered with great terror (Hebrews 12:18). What comes through Jesus Christ is different in kind, because it is grace. It teaches us (Titus 2:11), and it reigns over us in mercy (Romans 5:21). It is still a law, but it is a healing law. Love is the main character of the gospel, not terror and curse.

Grace and truth also belong together. In the gospel, we learn the greatest truths for the mind, and the richest grace for the will and heart. It is a trustworthy message, worthy of full acceptance, and that is why it is grace and truth. The offers of grace are sincere, so we may safely trust our souls to them. They are made in earnest, because they come with both grace and truth.

This is also grace and truth in relation to the law given through Moses. It is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises. Scripture often joins mercy and truth, meaning mercy according to promise. In the same way, grace and truth here mean grace according to promise (Luke 1:72; 1 Kings 8:56). It is also the substance of all the Old Testament signs and shadows. There was some grace in the ceremonies given to Israel and in God’s dealings with Israel, but those were only shadows of the good things to come, the grace revealed through Jesus Christ. He is the true Passover lamb, the true scapegoat, and the true manna. They had grace in the picture; we have grace in the person, and that is grace and truth.

The words “came” or “was made” show that grace and truth were brought into history through Christ, using the same verb used in (John 1:3) about the creation of all things. Moses only made the law known, but the very being of this grace and truth, as well as their revelation, is from Jesus Christ. He made them known, as he made the world in the beginning. By him, this grace and truth stand firm.

Another gift we receive from Christ is a clear revelation of God himself (John 1:18). He has made God known to us, though no one has ever seen God at any time. This is part of the grace and truth that came by Christ, the knowledge of God and friendship with him.

This also shows the limits of every other revelation. No one has seen God at any time. Since God’s nature is spiritual, he cannot be seen with bodily eyes. He is the one whom no man has seen or can see (1 Timothy 6:16). That is why we must live by faith, by which we see the one who is invisible (Hebrews 11:27). It also means that the Old Testament revelation was brief and incomplete compared with what came through Christ. Whatever was known before Christ’s coming was far less than what is now made clear. Life and immortality are now brought to much brighter light than they were then.

It also means that none of the Old Testament prophets were as fully able to make God known to people as the Lord Jesus was, because none of them had seen God at any time. Moses saw the Lord’s likeness (Numbers 12:8), but he was told he could not see God’s face (Exodus 33:20). Christ’s holy religion is especially recommended to us because it was founded by one who had seen God and knew his mind more fully than anyone else ever did.

The gospel revelation is fully sufficient because of its author. The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him. He alone was fit to make this known and fully able to do it. He was worthy to take the book and open its seals (Revelation 5:9). As the only-begotten Son, who better to know the Father, or to make the Father known, than the Son himself (Matthew 11:27)? He shares the same nature as the Father, so whoever has seen him has seen the Father (John 14:9). The servant does not know his master’s business as the Son does (John 15:15). Moses was faithful as a servant, but Christ is faithful as a Son.

He is also in the bosom of the Father. He was in the Father’s heart from eternity. Even when he was on earth, he remained, as God, in the Father’s bosom, and he returned there when he ascended. In the bosom of the Father, that is, he is in the closest and most perfect nearness to the Father.

He was in the bosom of God’s special love, dear to him and always his delight. All God’s saints are in his hand, but the Son was in his bosom, one with the Father in nature and being, and so one with him in the highest way in love. He was also in the bosom of God’s secret counsel. As the Father and the Son had perfect delight in each other, so they also fully knew each other (Matthew 11:27). No one was better fitted to make God known, because no one knew the Father’s mind as he did.

We often say our deepest plans are kept in our bosom, meaning hidden in our heart. Christ was privy to the Father’s secret plans. The prophets sat at his feet as learners, but Christ lay in the Father’s bosom as a friend. See Ephesians 3:11. He then made this known freely. The word “him” is not in the original. He declared what no one had ever seen or known about God, not only what had been hidden from God’s people, but what had been hidden in God himself (Ephesians 3:9). The word used means a plain, clear, full explanation, not vague hints. Now anyone who runs may read the will of God and the way of salvation. This is the grace and the truth that came through Jesus Christ.