Homily 14 — John 1, verses 16 and 17

“And from his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.” [a]

The other day I said that John added the words “for he was before me” to settle the doubts of those who would ask themselves how the Lord, though he came after John in preaching, had come to be ahead of him and more glorious than he. And that is indeed one reason. But John is not content with it; he adds a second as well, which he now declares. What is it? “And from his fullness,” he says, “we have all received, and grace for grace.” Alongside these words he mentions yet another. What is this one? It is verse 17: “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

And what does this mean: “From his fullness we have all received”? For this is where we must turn our discussion for a while. John is saying: “He does not have the gift by sharing in it from someone else. He himself is the very fountain and the very root of all good things — life itself, light itself, truth itself. He does not keep the riches of his good things shut up inside himself, but pours them out on everyone else, and after pouring them out he is still full. He is in no way lessened by supplying others. He keeps streaming out and giving others a share in these blessings, and he remains the same, in the same perfection. But what I possess, I have by sharing, for I received it from another; and it is a small portion of the whole, like one poor raindrop compared with the untold deep or the boundless sea.” Or rather, not even this example can fully express what we are trying to say. If you take a drop from the sea, you have made the sea itself smaller, even if the loss cannot be seen. But of that fountain we cannot say this: however much anyone draws from it, it stays undiminished. So we must go on to another example. It too is weak and cannot establish what we are looking for, but it guides us better than the first to the thought now before us.

Let us suppose there is a fountain of fire, and that from it ten thousand lamps are lit — twice as many, three times as many, many times as many. Does not the fire stay just as full, even after it has shared its power with so many? Everyone can see that it does. Now if, among bodies that are made up of parts and grow smaller when something is taken away, one has been found of such a kind that it loses nothing when it gives from itself, how much more will this be true of that bodiless and uncompounded Power! In our example, what is shared is a substance and a body, and it is divided and yet does not suffer division. Then when our discussion is about an activity — and the activity of a bodiless being at that — it is far more likely that it will suffer nothing of the sort.

That is why John said, “From his fullness we have all received,” and joined his own testimony to the Baptist’s. For the words “From his fullness we have all received” belong not to the forerunner but to the disciple. Their meaning is something like this: “Do not think that we, who spent a long time with him and shared his food and his table, are bearing witness out of partiality. For even John — who did not know him before, who had never been with him, but only saw him among the others when he was baptizing — cried out, ‘He was before me,’ having received everything from that source. And all of us — the twelve, the three hundred, the three thousand, the five thousand, the many tens of thousands of Jews, the whole fullness of the faithful who were then, who are now, and who will be hereafter — have ‘received from his fullness.’”

What have we received? “Grace for grace,” he says. What grace, in place of what? The new in place of the old. For there was a righteousness, and there is again a righteousness: “As to the righteousness that is in the law,” Paul says, “blameless” (Philippians 3, verse 6). There was a faith, and there is a faith: “From faith to faith” (Romans 1, verse 17). There was an adoption, and there is an adoption: “To whom belongs the adoption” (Romans 9, verse 4). There was a glory, and there is a glory: “For if what was passing away was glorious, much more is what remains glorious” (Second Corinthians 3, verse 11). There was a law, and there is a law: “For the law of the Spirit of life has set me free” (Romans 8, verse 2). There was a service of worship, and there is a service of worship: “To whom belongs the service” (Romans 9, verse 4), and again, “Serving God in the Spirit” (Philippians 3, verse 3). There was a covenant, and there is a covenant: “I will make a new covenant with you, not like the covenant I made with your fathers” (Jeremiah 31, verse 31). There was a holiness, and there is a holiness; there was a baptism, and there is a baptism; there was a sacrifice, and there is a sacrifice; there was a temple, and there is a temple; there was a circumcision, and there is a circumcision. And in the same way there was a “grace,” and there is a “grace.”

But in the first case the words are used as types, and in the second as realities. The sound is the same, but not the sense. So it is with sketches and outlines: the figure of a man scratched in white lines on a black background is called a man, just as the one that has received its true colors is. And with statues, a figure is called a statue whether it is made of gold or of plaster, though in the one case it is a model and in the other the real thing.

So do not suppose, because the same words are used, that the things are identical — nor yet that they are wholly different. Insofar as they were models, they did not differ from the truth; but insofar as they kept only the outline, they fell short of the truth. What, then, is the difference in all these cases? Would you like us to take up one or two of the ones mentioned and examine them? Then the rest will be plain to you, and we will see that the first were lessons for children, and the second for high-minded, full-grown men; that the first laws were made as if for mortals, and the second as if for angels. [f]

Where, then, shall we begin? With sonship itself? What is the difference between the first and the second? The first is the honor of a name; in the second, the reality goes with the name. Of the first the prophet says, “I said, You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High” (Psalm 82, verse 6). But of the second it is said that they “were born of God.” How, and in what way? By “the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.” For they, even after receiving the title of sons, kept the spirit of slavery: they were honored with this name while they remained slaves. But we have been made free, and we received the honor not in name but in fact. Paul made this clear when he said, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery again, to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, Abba, Father” (Romans 8, verse 15). For we have been born again and, so to speak, entirely remade, and so we are called “sons.”

And if you consider the nature of holiness — what the first was, and what the second is — you will find a great difference there too. They were called holy then when they did not worship idols or commit sexual immorality or adultery. But we become holy not merely by keeping away from these vices, but by gaining greater things. We obtain this gift first through the coming of the Holy Spirit upon us, and next through a rule of life far broader than that of the Jews. To show that these words are no empty boast, listen to what he says to them: “You shall not practice divination, nor make…” — for with them holiness lay in being free from the customs of idolatry. But it is not so with us. “That she may be holy,” says Paul, “in body and in spirit” (First Corinthians 7, verse 34). And, “Pursue peace, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12, verse 14). And, “Perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (Second Corinthians 7, verse 1).

For the word “holy” does not carry the same meaning in every case where it is used. God is called “Holy,” but not as we are. What, for example, does the prophet say when he heard that cry raised by the flying seraphim? “Woe is me! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6, verse 5) — and yet he was holy and clean. But if we are compared with the holiness that is above, we are unclean. Angels are holy, archangels are holy, the cherubim and seraphim themselves are holy; yet in this holiness too there is a double difference: in relation to us, and in relation to the higher powers.

We could go on to all the other points, but then the discussion would grow too long and too large. So we will stop here and leave the rest to you to take up. It is in your power, at home, to put these things side by side, examine the difference, and go through what remains in the same way. “Give the wise a starting point,” someone says, “and he will become wiser” (Proverbs 9, verse 9, as the Greek Old Testament reads it). The beginning comes from us; the finish will come from you. Now we must pick up the thread again.

After saying, “From his fullness we have all received,” he adds, “and grace for grace.” For the Jews too were saved by grace. “I chose you,” God says, “not because you were many in number, but because of your fathers” (Deuteronomy 7, verse 7, as the Greek Old Testament reads it). Now if they were chosen by God not for their own good deeds, it is plain that they gained this honor by grace. And we too are all saved by grace — but not in the same way; not for the same ends, but for ends far greater and higher. So the grace that is ours is not like theirs. For we were given not only forgiveness of sins — this we have in common with them, since all have sinned — but also righteousness, and holiness, and sonship, and the gift of the Spirit, far more glorious and more abundant. By this grace we have become God’s beloved, no longer as servants but as sons and friends. That is why he says, “grace for grace.”

For even the things of the law were of grace. So was the very fact that man was created out of nothing; for we did not receive this as a reward for good deeds done beforehand — how could we, when we did not even exist? — but from God, who is always the first to give his benefits. And not only that we were created out of nothing, but that once created we learned at once what we must do and what we must not do; that we received this law in our very nature; and that our Creator entrusted to us the impartial rule of conscience — these, I say, are proofs of the greatest grace and of a love for humankind beyond words. And when this law had been corrupted, its restoring through the written Law was the work of grace too. For what might have been expected to follow was that those who had falsified the law once given would be corrected and punished. But what actually happened was not that. On the contrary, it was a setting right of our nature, and a pardon — not paid as a debt, but given out of mercy and grace. To see that it was of grace and mercy, listen to what David says: “The Lord carries out righteousness and judgment for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the children of Israel” (Psalm 103, verses 6 and 7). And again: “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he will give laws to those who are in the way” (Psalm 25, verse 8).

So it was out of pity, mercy, and grace that people received the law, and that is why he says, “grace for grace.” But striving still harder to express the greatness of the gifts, he goes on in verse 17: “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” [j]

Do you see how gently, one word at a time and little by little, both John the Baptist and John the disciple lead their hearers up to the highest knowledge, after first training them in lowlier things? The first compared with himself the one who is beyond all comparison greater than everyone, and only afterward showed his superiority, saying that he “has come to be ahead of me,” and then adding the words, “was before me.” The second has done much more than the Baptist — though still too little for the worth of the only Son — for he makes the comparison not with John, but with one the Jews revered more than John: with Moses. “For the law,” he says, “was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

Notice his wisdom. He examines not the persons but the things. For once these were proved, even the foolish would very likely be bound to form from them a much higher judgment and idea of Christ. When facts bear witness — facts that cannot be suspected of doing so out of favor to anyone or out of malice — they give a basis for judgment that even the foolish cannot doubt. They stay in plain view, just as those who did them arranged them, and so their evidence is the least open to suspicion of any.

And see how he makes the comparison easy even for the weaker ones. He does not prove the superiority by argument; he points out the difference by the bare words, setting “grace and truth” against “law,” and “came” against “was given.” There is a great difference in each pair. “Was given” belongs to something handed on by a servant, who received it from another and gave it to those he was commanded to give it to. But “grace and truth came” befits a king, who forgives all offenses with authority and supplies the gift himself. That is why he said, “Your sins are forgiven you” (Matthew 9, verse 2); and again, “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” — he says to the paralyzed man — “Get up, pick up your bed, and go to your house” (Matthew 9, verse 6).

Do you see how grace “came” through him? Look also at truth. His grace is declared by the case just mentioned, by what happened with the thief, by the gift of baptism, by the grace of the Spirit that he gives, and by many other things. But his truth we will know more clearly if we understand the types. For the types, like sketches, anticipated and outlined in advance the arrangements that were to be carried out under the new covenant, and Christ came and fulfilled them. Let us now look at the types briefly, since at present we cannot go through everything that concerns them; but when you have learned some points from the examples I set before you, you will know the others too.

Would you like us to begin with his suffering itself? What, then, does the type say? “Take a lamb for each household, and kill it, and do as he commanded and ordained” (Exodus 12, verse 3). But it is not so with Christ. He does not command this to be done; he himself becomes the lamb, offering himself to his Father as a sacrifice and an offering.

See how the type “was given by Moses,” but the truth “came by Jesus Christ.” [l]

Again, when the Amalekites made war at Mount Sinai, Moses’ hands were held up, propped by Aaron and Hur standing on either side of him (Exodus 17, verse 12). But when Christ came, he stretched out his hands on the cross by himself. Have you noticed how the type “was given,” but the truth “came”?

Again, the law said, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things written in this book” (Deuteronomy 27, verse 26, as the Greek Old Testament reads it). But what does grace say? “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11, verse 28). And Paul says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Galatians 3, verse 13).

Since, then, we have enjoyed such grace and truth, I urge you: let us not grow lazier because the gift is so great. The greater the honor we have been counted worthy of, the greater the goodness we owe. Someone who has received only small benefits does not deserve the same condemnation, even if he makes only small returns. But the man who has been raised to the highest peak of honor and still shows a groveling, mean spirit will deserve a much greater punishment. May I never have to suspect this of you! For we trust in the Lord that you have given your souls wings for heaven, that you have moved away from the earth, and that though you are in the world you do not handle the things of the world. Yet even though we are convinced of this, we do not stop urging you continually in this way.

In the games of the pagans, the ones all the spectators cheer on are not those who have fallen and lie flat on their backs, but those who are still straining and running. The others they stop noticing at all, since cheering them would do no good and could not raise up men cut off from victory once and for all. But here some good can be hoped for, not only from you who stay watchful, but even from those who have fallen, if only they would turn back. That is why we use every means — urging, rebuking, encouraging, praising — so that we may bring about your salvation.

So do not be annoyed by our constant warnings about the Christian way of life. These are not the words of someone accusing you of laziness, but of someone who has the very best hopes for you. And these words are spoken not only to you but also to us who speak them — yes, and they will go on being spoken — for we too need the same teaching. So though they are spoken by us, nothing prevents their being spoken to us as well. (For when the word finds a person at fault, it corrects him; when it finds him clear and free, it keeps him as far from fault as possible.) And we ourselves are not clean of wrongdoing.

The course of healing is the same for everyone, and the medicines are set out for everyone; only the application is not the same, but depends on the choice of those who use the medicines. The one who handles the remedy as he should gains some benefit from applying it. But the one who does not put it on the wound makes the harm greater and brings it to a most painful end. So let us not chafe while we are being healed, but much rather rejoice, even if the treatment brings bitter pains; for afterward it will show us fruit sweeter than any.

Let us, then, do everything toward this end: that we may depart to that world cleared of the wounds and bruises that the teeth of sin make in the soul, so that, having become worthy to see the face of Christ, we may be handed over on that day not to the avenging and cruel powers, but to those who are able to bring us into that inheritance of the heavens which is prepared for those who love him. May we all attain it, through the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.