John 1:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The Evangelist says much more than the Baptist, yet still less than the dignity of the Only-begotten Son. He compares Him not with John, but with the one held in greater honor among the Jews, I mean Moses.

"For the Law," he says, "was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

But observe his prudence. He compares not the persons, but the works. Once the superiority of one work over the other has been shown, even the ungrateful are compelled to accept this teaching and understanding concerning Christ.

When the works themselves bear witness, and such works as cannot be suspected of favor or hostility toward anyone, the proof is irrefutable even for ill-disposed people. These works appear exactly as their authors arranged them. Therefore the testimony of such works is most certain.

See also how the Evangelist makes a comparison accessible even to weak people. He does not verbally describe the superiority of grace over the Law, but shows their difference in the very names. He sets grace and truth against the Law, and the word "came" against the word "given."

There is a great difference between the two. "Given" is an expression that belongs to a servant who received the Law from another and handed it on to those to whom he was commanded to give it. But that grace and truth "came" portrays the King, who by His own authority forgives all sins and distributes His gifts.

Therefore the Lord said, "Your sins are forgiven you." Again: "But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins," He says to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house" (Mk 2:10-11).

Do you see how grace came through Him? Notice the same also concerning truth. Grace is shown by that event, by what happened with the thief, by the gift of baptism, by the grace of the Spirit given through Him, and by many other things.

We shall understand truth more clearly if we study the types. The types, as prefigurations, beforehand sketched the divine economy that was to be accomplished in the New Testament. Christ, by His coming, accomplished it.

Let us therefore briefly consider some types. To follow all the types at present is impossible. But when you have studied some of those I set before you, you will understand the rest from them.

Would you like us to begin with the sufferings themselves? What does the type say? "Take for yourselves lambs according to your households and sacrifice them, as the Lord commanded and ordained" (Ex 12:21). But Christ did not do this in that way. He does not command it, but Himself becomes like a sheep, offering Himself to the Father as sacrifice and oblation.

See again how the type was given through Moses, while the truth was accomplished through Jesus Christ. When the Amalekites attacked the Hebrews at Mount Sinai, the hands of Moses were stretched out and were supported by Aaron and Hur, who stood on either side. But Christ by Himself held His hands stretched out upon the Cross.

Do you see how the type was given and how the truth was accomplished? Again, the Law said, "Cursed is he who does not fulfill the words of this Law" (Deut 27:26). And what does grace say? "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Mt 11:28).

And Paul says, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us" (Gal 3:13).

Therefore, having received so great grace and truth, let us not become careless because of the greatness of the gift itself. The greater the honor of which we have been deemed worthy, the more virtuous we must be.

A man who has received a small benefit and shows little zeal does not deserve so great a condemnation. But a man raised to the highest degree of honor, who displays base qualities and shameful deeds, will deserve a much greater punishment.

But may God never allow us to suppose this of you. We trust in the Lord that you have soared in soul to heaven, have been released from the earth, and though you are in the world, are not given over to the passions of the world.

Yet even with such confidence, we do not cease often to impress the same thing upon you. In bodily wrestling, all the spectators likewise urge the fighters not to fall, not to lie stretched face down, but to be watchful and stand on their feet.

Those who, despite the exhortations, cannot rise are deprived of victory once for all. As men unfit for contests, they are contemptuously left in that condition.

But here one may expect something good not only from you who are watchful, but also from those who have fallen, if only they wish to amend themselves. For this reason we do everything. We entreat, press, rebuke, and praise, in order to order your salvation.

Therefore do not be annoyed by our frequent exhortations to an orderly life. We speak not as condemning your negligence, but as having the best hopes for you.

Moreover, what has been said until now, and what will be said hereafter, concerns not only you but also us who speak. We ourselves need the same edification. Although we speak, nothing prevents the same words from being directed also to us.

The word, when it meets one guilty of sins, corrects him. The one not involved in sin, and free from it, it leads still farther away from sin. For we too are not clean from transgressions.

Thus the healing is one for all, and the remedies are offered to all. But the cure is not the same in all. It is proportioned to the will of those who use it.

Therefore the one who uses the medicine as he should receives relief from the treatment. But the one who does not apply the medicine to the wound increases the evil within himself and turns it toward the most grievous consequences.

Let us therefore not be annoyed when we are healed. Rather, let us rejoice, even if the manner of instruction causes us bitter griefs, because afterward it will bring the sweetest fruit.

Let us do everything so that, clean from wounds and ulcers inflicted on the soul by the stroke of sin, we may pass into the age to come. May we be counted worthy to behold the face of Christ.

May we be entrusted not to harsh and avenging powers, but to those who can lead us into the heavenly inheritance prepared for those who love Him. May we all obtain this by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.

But of the New he did not say "was given," but "came to be." This shows that it came from our Lord Jesus Christ as from the Master, not from a slave, and that it attained its end in grace and truth. The Law was "given" by God through the mediation of Moses. Grace "came to be," and was not given, through Jesus Christ. "Came to be" is a sign of sovereign authority; "was given" is a sign of servitude.

If John's glory is lower and yields to the Only-begotten, must we not necessarily think that none of the other saints can equal Christ the Savior in glory and greatness of works?

Therefore the saints who lived at the time of Christ's coming, not surpassing John's excellence or reaching the glory proper to him, must surely appear with him as lower than Christ. For the blessed Baptist himself, who reached the summit of good things and possessed every kind of superiority, receives the judgment that he is lower than Christ.

He receives this not through the voice of another, but himself sealed his own matter by speaking truly, as a saint.

Since Emmanuel had to appear greater and higher than the most ancient saints, the blessed Evangelist considers it necessary to turn to the first hierarch, Moses. To him God said, "I know you above all, and you have grace with Me" (Ex 33:12).

That he was known by God more than all, we may also learn from what follows: "If there is a prophet of yours to the Lord, I will make Myself known to him in a vision, and I will speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses, who is faithful in all My house. I will speak to him mouth to mouth, openly and not in riddles" (Num 12:6-8).

Although the all-wise Moses had so great a superiority over the ancient saints, the Evangelist presents the Only-begotten as higher and more glorious in every respect, that "in all things He might have the preeminence" (Col 1:18), as Paul says.

Therefore he says, "And grace for grace, because the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

I think the blessed Evangelist wishes to express something like this. The great Baptist made a true confession concerning the Only-begotten, clearly proclaiming: "He who comes after me has become before me, because He was before me. For from His fullness we have all received."

Let no one think that the Only-begotten surpasses only John, or the other saints who lived at the time of Christ's coming. He also surpassed in glory the ancients who shone in holiness before the coming.

Thus, he says, one will see Him far surpassing the dignity of Moses, even though Moses, in comparison with them, had gained the highest degree of holiness. For the Lawgiver clearly declared that He knew him "above all" (Ex 33:12).

John, then, was shown by his own voice to come after the glory of Christ. Christ comes "after" his praise, and in this there is no doubt or contradiction of the truth.

But from what can we know that Moses himself, the hierarch, was lower than the glory of the Lord? Let the lover of inquiry, he says, examine the evangelical "grace in place of grace" given to us through the Savior, in place of the legal grace given through Moses.

Then he will see the Son as far more excellent, insofar as He legislates what is better than the ordinances of the Law, and introduces everything in general as more perfect than what belongs to Moses.

For "the Law," he says, "was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." The lover of inquiry and friend of good labors must also learn the closer difference between the Law and grace through the Savior.

We shall say a little instead of much, since the number of arguments on this matter is infinitely great. The Law condemned the world, for through it God "shut up all under sin" (Gal 3:22), as Paul says, and showed us liable to punishments.

By contrast, the Savior frees the world, for He "came not to judge the world, but to save the world" (Jn 12:47).

The Law also gave grace to men by calling them to the knowledge of God, drawing the erring away from the service of idols, showing evil, and teaching good. Yet it did this not perfectly, but pedagogically and fruitfully.

But truth and grace through the Only-begotten introduce the good to us not in types, nor do they sketch what is useful as in shadow. They do so in the clearest and purest ordinances, and guide us to the perfect knowledge of faith.

The Law gave a spirit of slavery unto fear, but Christ gave the Spirit of adoption in freedom (Rom 8:15). In the same way, the Law introduces circumcision according to the flesh, which means nothing. For "circumcision is nothing" (1 Cor 7:19), as Paul writes to certain people.

But our Lord Jesus Christ provides circumcision in spirit and heart through faith (Rom 2:29). The Law baptizes the defiled with water alone. The Savior baptizes "with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Mt 3:11).

The Law brings one into the tabernacle as a type of the truth. The Savior raises one into heaven itself and brings one into the truest tabernacle (Heb 9:24), "which the Lord pitched, and not man" (Heb 8:2).

It would not be difficult to add many other proofs to those set forth, but measure must be valued. Still, we consider it useful and necessary also to point out that blessed Paul resolved the question in a few words.

Speaking of the Law and the grace of the Savior, he said: "For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory" (2 Cor 3:9).

He calls the commandment of Moses the ministry of condemnation, and names the grace from the Savior the ministry of righteousness. As one bearing the Spirit, he excellently defines the nature of the matters and assigns to grace this further superiority, that it is acquired in glory.

Since the condemning "Law was given" through Moses, and justifying "grace came" through the Only-begotten, how, he says, can He through whom the better thing was legislated not surpass in glory?

So too the Psalmist will speak the truth in the Spirit, crying out that our Lord Jesus Christ surpasses the whole glorious multitude of saints together. For he says, "Who in the clouds shall be compared to the Lord? Or who among the sons of God shall be likened to the Lord?" (Ps 88:7).

Thus the spiritual clouds, that is, the holy prophets, must yield superiority to Christ. They must in no way think that they can contend with Him in equal glory, since even the one known by God above all, namely Moses, is assigned a lower place (Ex 33:12).

Those to whom the name sons of God is applied, who lived at the time of Christ's coming, must not be unconditionally likened to the Son by nature. They must know their measure, since even the holy Baptist said expressly of himself that he came after Him.

This was the Baptist of whom the Knower of hearts says, "Among those born of women there has not arisen one greater than John the Baptist" (Mt 11:11).

Therefore the blessed Evangelist speaks the truth when he says that he saw "His glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father." That means such glory as can befit the Son who is Only-begotten from God the Father, and by no means those called into brotherhood with Him, whose firstborn He is.

If the Son is not God by nature, then He is adopted and false, διεψευσμένος. But if He is the Truth and the worker of truth, τής αλήθειας εργάτης, how can He at the same time be false? Therefore He is God by nature. And being such, how can He be created?

Therefore, if a great difference is seen between the ministry of Moses and the Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ, then the Law of Moses must necessarily be acknowledged as imperfect. For "the Law made nothing perfect" (Heb 7:19), as Paul says.

But the grace given through our Savior, as we believe, is true and perfect. What then is this grace, if not the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into our hearts (2 Cor 1:22), according to Paul's word?

How then will the grace within us appear true, if sanctification was given to us through a creature, as was the Law given through angels? For if the Holy Spirit does not act in us by Himself, and is not by nature what we hear concerning Him, but is Himself filled by participation with sanctification from the divine essence, then He sends to us the grace given to Him.

It would then be clear that the grace of the Holy Spirit was given to us through a creature. But this is not true. For the Law came through Moses, that is, through angels (Gal 3:19), while through our Savior came grace and truth.

Therefore the Spirit in us is self-working, αύτουργόν. He truly sanctifies, unites us to Himself through our contact with Him, and makes us partakers of the divine nature.

The Law was sent to him and bound him. He understood that he was guilty, and he cried out while bound. The Lord came and healed him with medicines rather bitter and unpleasant.

He said to the sick man: "Endure and bear it. Do not love the world. Keep patience. Let the fire of continence heal you. Let your wounds endure the iron of persecutions. Though you were bound, you were afraid. He, willingly and unbound, drank what He gave you. He suffered first, to comfort you, as if saying: What you fear to suffer for your own sake, I first suffer for your sake."

This is grace, and great grace. Who will praise it worthily?

"For the Law was given through Moses" (Jn 1:17). This Law held the guilty fast. For what does the Apostle say? "The Law came in that the trespass might abound" (cf. Rom 5:20).

That the trespass abounded was useful for the proud. They took much upon themselves and attributed much to their own powers. Yet they could not follow righteousness unless He who commanded them also sustained them.

God, wishing to restrain their pride, gave them the Law, as if saying, "Behold, fulfill it."

And do not think that there is no one who commands you. There is One who commanded, but there is no one who fulfills.

If there is no one who fulfills, why is that? Why does man not fulfill the Law? Because he was born with the stock of sin and death. Born of Adam, he bears what was then determined (cf. Gen 2:16-17; 3:16-19).

The first man fell, and all who were born from him received from him the desire of the flesh. Another Man had to be born who would carry no such desire within Himself.

Man and Man: a man for death and a Man for life. The Apostle says this: "For as death came through a man, so through a Man came also the resurrection of the dead" (1 Cor 15:21).

Through which man came death, and through which Man the resurrection of the dead? Do not hurry. He continues and says, "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Cor 15:22).

Who belongs to Adam? All who are born of Adam. Who belongs to Christ? All who are born through Christ. Why were all found in sin? Because no one is born otherwise than from Adam.

That they were born from Adam belonged to necessity and was the consequence of condemnation. But to be born through Christ belongs to will and grace. Men are not forced to be born through Christ. From Adam, however, they were born not because they wished it.

Yet all who are born from Adam are sinners, burdened with sin. All who are born through Christ are justified and have become righteous, though not in themselves, but in Him.

For in themselves, if you ask, they belong to Adam. In Him, if you ask, they belong to Christ. Why? Because He, the Head, our Lord Jesus Christ, came not with the stock of sin, but nevertheless came with mortal flesh.

Death was the punishment for sins. In the case of the Lord, however, it became a gift of mercy, not punishment for sin. For the Lord had nothing for which He might justly accept death.

He says, "Behold, the prince of this world is coming, and he finds nothing in Me" (cf. Jn 14:30). Why then did You accept death? "But that all may know that I do the will of My Father, arise, let us go from here" (cf. Jn 14:31).

He had nothing for which He ought to accept death, yet He accepted death. You have reason to accept death, and do you refuse to die? Do not refuse with a calm soul to endure according to your deserts what He did not refuse to endure in order to free you from eternal death.

Man and Man. That Adam was nothing but man. This One is the God-man. That one is the man of sin, but This One is the Man of righteousness.

You died in Adam. Therefore come to life in Christ, for you are bound by debt to both. You have already believed in Christ, yet you still pay what you owe because of Adam.

But you will not always be bound by the chains of sin, because the temporal death of your Lord has trampled down your eternal death. This is grace, my brethren. This is truth: promised and manifested.

It was not in the Old Testament, for there the Law threatened but did not support. It prescribed but did not heal. It laid weakness bare but did not free from it.

Yet it prepared that Physician who afterward had to come with grace and truth. So a physician who wants to heal a certain man first sends his servant, that he may discover the sick man already bound.

He was not healthy. He did not want to be treated. Instead of being treated, he boasted that he was healthy. The Law was sent. It bound the sick man, and now he acknowledges himself guilty and already groans over his bonds.

The Lord comes. He heals with rather bitter and unpleasant medicines, and says to the sufferer, "Endure." He says, "Be steadfast." He says, "Cease loving the world. Show patience. Let the fire of continence heal you. Let your wounds endure the sword of persecutions."

You, though bound, are full of fear. He is free and unbound, and He drinks what He gave you to drink. He suffered first in order to encourage you, as if saying, "What you fear to suffer for your sake, I first suffered for your sake."

This is grace, and indeed great grace. Who will worthily glorify it?

I speak of the humility of Christ, my brethren. Who will speak of the power of Christ and the Godhead of Christ? We do not have sufficient strength to unfold and explain the humility of Christ.

To express it even somehow, we are too weak. Unable to satisfy your hearing, we leave everything to your understanding. Meditate on the humility of Christ.

But who, you ask, will unfold it for us if you do not explain it? He Himself will plant the explanation within you. The One who dwells within speaks better than the one who cries out outside.

He who has settled in your hearts will Himself show you the grace of His humility. But if we are not yet strong enough to unfold and express His humility, who will explain His power?

If "the Word became flesh" (cf. Jn 1:14) troubles us, who will interpret, "In the beginning was the Word" (Jn 1:1)? Therefore, brethren, understand this fullness of Christ.

"The Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (Jn 1:17). The Law was given through a servant and made men guilty. Through the King forgiveness was given: He freed the guilty.

"The Law was given through Moses." The servant does not attribute to himself more than what was done through him. Chosen as trustworthy for an important ministry in the house, he remains a servant. He can act according to the law, but cannot free from the accusation of the law.

For this reason, "the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (Jn 1:17).

Having said "grace," the Evangelist added "and truth," thereby testifying to the unfailing truth or perfection of the New Covenant. The Old Covenant was imperfect grace, for the Apostle says, "the Law made nothing perfect" (Heb 7:19). The New is perfect grace, because it makes perfect. Therefore, the greater the grace of which we have been deemed worthy, the greater the virtue to which we are obliged. Otherwise, by living unworthily of so great a benefaction, we shall suffer punishment worthy of such great negligence.

Therefore, as far as the Master surpasses the servant and God surpasses man, so far does the evangelical law surpass that of Moses. Thus, instead of typological grace, unable to save and given by a servant, we received true, most perfect, saving grace. It was granted to us through the very Master and God of all, our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Mosaic Law prescribed commandments difficult to fulfill in all their fullness and struck the transgressor with a curse. Yet it did not give him sufficient strength to attain lawful righteousness (Gal 3:10). Christ's grace removes the curse of the Law from man, justifies him before God, and reconciles him with Him (Gal 3:13; Rom 3:9-10). It forgives and cleanses sins and gives strength to fulfill the New Covenant law, so that it appears a good yoke and a light burden (1 Jn 1:9; Mt 11:30). It communicates manifold spiritual gifts according to the measure of faith (1 Cor 12:4 and following). The Law was given through Moses as through a servant (Heb 3:5), who had to transmit to others only what he himself had received. But grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, Who is Himself the King, acting with full authority. "Notice also that of the Old Law he said, 'was given' through Moses, because Moses was subordinate and a servant. But of the New he did not say 'was given,' but 'was,' to show that it came from our Lord Jesus Christ as from the Master, not from a slave, and that it attained its end in grace and truth. 'Was' is a sign of sovereign authority; 'was given' is a sign of servitude" (Theophylact; cf. Chrysostom). For all these reasons, only from Christ's fullness can one receive grace for grace. One draws, according to the measure of faith and as much as each can, from this inexhaustible source of grace.

And in Ephesians 1 he says of the Church that she "is His body," the body of the Son of God, "the fullness of Him Who fills all in all." From studying all these and other places of Holy Scripture, we see that the Christian world exists by grace. Grace is given to believers through the mediation of the Church, which is the Body of Christ. The source of grace is the Lord, from Whom "we have all received, and grace for grace." Grace took the place of the Law: mercy instead of judgment, freedom in Christ instead of bonds, and infinite love instead of recompense. This is the thought expressed in verse 17, which sets the Law of Moses beside the grace proceeding from the Lord Jesus. The first covenant of mercy was concluded by God with Abraham, who is the father of all who believe (Gen 15; 17:7; Rom 4:11; Gal 3:7). But after Abraham, the people who came from his loins and from the first patriarchs did not inherit Abraham's burning faith and love for God. Then the Law was given to this people through God's servant Moses, and God concluded with the people a covenant of fulfillment of the Law. Yet this Law "was only a tutor unto Christ" (Gal 3:24), until the time of grace came. "The same God Who gave the Law also gave grace. But He sent the Law through the mediation of His servant. Grace He brought Himself, clothing Himself in flesh" (Augustine). The Law was given as a temporary institution. But grace and truth were always, eternally, from the creation of the world. Grace and truth came into the world through Jesus Christ, Who came in the flesh and poured out upon us God's gifts, grace and truth, making us partakers of the eternal life of the Godhead. When God came to earth, then only were peace on earth and goodwill among men established (Lk 2:14). It should be noted that here, in verse 17, the name sacred to us, Jesus Christ, appears for the first time in John's Gospel. It is repeated in the same form in Jn 17:3 and Jn 20:31.