Ἰωάννην 1:16

Greek Modern Translation

Και παντες ημεις ελαβομεν εκ του πληρωματος αυτου και χαριν αντι χαριτος·

Parallel Translations

SBL Greek New Testament (2010)
⸀ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐλάβομεν, καὶ χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος·

Tischendorf 8th Edition
ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐλάβομεν, καὶ χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος·

Textus Receptus (1550/1894)
και εκ του πληρωματος αυτου ημεις παντες ελαβομεν και χαριν αντι χαριτος

Westcott/Hort UBS4 (1881)
οτι εκ του πληρωματος αυτου ημεις παντες ελαβομεν και χαριν αντι χαριτος

Byzantine/Majority Text
και εκ του πληρωματος αυτου ημεις παντες ελαβομεν και χαριν αντι χαριτος

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

of his: John 3:34, John 15:1-5, Matthew 3:11, Matthew 3:14, Luke 21:15, Acts 3:12-16, Romans 8:9, 1 Corinthians 1:4, 1 Corinthians 1:5, Ephesians 4:7-12, Colossians 1:19, Colossians 2:3, Colossians 2:9, Colossians 2:10, 1 Peter 1:11

and grace: Zechariah 4:7, Matthew 13:12, Romans 5:2, Romans 5:17, Romans 5:20, Ephesians 1:6-8, Ephesians 2:5-10, Ephesians 4:7, 1 Peter 1:2

Reciprocal: Genesis 28:20 - vowed Exodus 37:10 - General Exodus 40:14 - General Leviticus 14:17 - General Psalms 45:7 - above Psalms 84:11 - the Lord Psalms 87:7 - all my Psalms 119:17 - Deal Isaiah 9:6 - Counsellor Isaiah 12:3 - with joy Ezekiel 45:17 - the prince's Hosea 14:8 - From me Matthew 25:4 - oil John 1:14 - full John 17:22 - the glory Acts 1:2 - through Acts 4:33 - grace Romans 1:5 - we have Romans 3:3 - faith Romans 5:21 - grace 1 Corinthians 4:7 - and what 1 Corinthians 12:13 - by 2 Corinthians 9:15 - his 2 Corinthians 13:14 - The grace Ephesians 1:23 - fulness Ephesians 3:8 - unsearchable Ephesians 3:19 - that ye Ephesians 4:10 - that he Colossians 1:18 - in all Titus 2:11 - the grace Titus 3:6 - he shed Revelation 3:1 - he that

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And of his fulness have all we received,.... These are the words not of John the Baptist; but of the evangelist carrying on his account of Christ, after he had inserted the testimony of the Baptist, in connection with John 1:14 where he is said to be full of grace and truth; and which fulness is here intended; for the fulness of the Godhead in trim is incommunicable; and the fulness of his fitness, and ability for his office, as Mediator, was for himself; but his fulness of grace and truth is dispensatory, and is in him, on purpose to be communicated unto others: and "of it", the evangelist says, "have all we received"; not all mankind, though they all receive natural light and life from trim; nor merely all the prophets of the Old Testament, though they had their gifts and grace from him, who then was, as now, the head of the church; nor only all the apostles of Christ, though these may be principally intended; but all believers, who, though they have not all the same measure of grace, nor the same gifts, yet all have received something: nor is there any reason for discouragement, envy, or reproach. Faith is the hand which receives Christ, and grace from him; and the act of receiving, being expressed in the past tense, seems to regard first conversion, when faith is first wrought, and along with it abundance of grace is received; for a believer has nothing but what is given him, and what he has, is in a way of receiving; so that there is no room for boasting, but great reason for thankfulness, and much encouragement to apply to Christ for more grace, which is the thing received, as follows:

and grace for grace: according to the different senses of the preposition αντι, different interpretations are given of this passage; as that signifies a substitution of a person, or thing, in the room of another, the sense is thought to be, the Gospel, instead of the law; or the grace of the present dispensation, instead of the grace of the former dispensation; grace, different from the former grace, as Nonnus expresses it. If it designs the original, and moving cause, the meaning is, grace is for the sake of grace; for there is no other cause of electing, justifying, pardoning, adopting, and regenerating grace, and even eternal life, but the grace, or free favour of God; and the one is the reason why the other is received: if it signifies the end, or final cause, then it is explained in this way; the disciples received the grace of apostleship, or gift, of grace, in order to preach the Gospel of the grace of God, and for the implanting and increasing grace in men; and grace also, in this life, is received, in order to the perfection of grace, or glory, in the other: if it denotes the measure and proportion of a thing, as one thing is answerable to another, then if may be interpreted after this manner; the saints receive grace from the fulness of Christ, according, or answerable to the grace that is in him; or according to the measure of the gift of Christ, and in proportion to the place, station, and office they bear in the church. Some think the phrase only designs the freeness of grace, and the free and liberal manner in which it is distributed, and received; along with which, I also think, the abundance of it, at first conversion, with all after supplies, is intended; and that grace for grace, is the same with grace upon grace, heaps of grace; and that the phraseology is the same with this Jewish one k, טיבו על ההוא טיבו, "goodness upon that goodness", an additional goodness; so here, grace upon grace, an abundance of it, an addition to it, and an increase of it: so חדו על חדו l, joy upon joy, is an abundance of joy, a large measure of it; and "holiness upon holiness" m, abundance of it.

k Zohar in Exod. fol. 45. 1. l lb. in Lev. fol. 28. 1. & in Num. fol. 69. 2. & 71. 2. m lb. fol. 40. 3. & in Num. fol. 61. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Of his fulness - In John 1:14 the evangelist has said that Christ was “full of grace and truth.” Of that “fullness” he now says that all the disciples had received; that is, they derived from his abundant truth and mercy grace to understand the plan of salvation, to preach the gospel, to live lives of holiness; they “partook” of the numerous blessings which he came to impart by his instructions and his death. These are undoubtedly not the words of John the Baptist, but of the evangelist John, the writer of this gospel. They are a continuation of what he was saying in John 1:14, John 1:15 being evidently thrown in as a parenthesis. The declaration had not exclusive reference, probably, to the apostles, but it is extended to all Christians, for all believers have received of the “fulness of grace and truth” that is in Christ. Compare Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 3:19; Colossians 1:19; Colossians 2:9. In all these places our Saviour is represented as the fulness of God - as “abounding” in mercy, as exhibiting the divine attributes, and as possessing in himself all that is necessary to fill his people with truth, and grace, and love.

Grace for grace - Many interpretations of this phrase have been proposed. The chief are briefly the following:

1. “We have received under the gospel, grace or favor, ‘instead of’ those granted under the law; and God has added by the gospel important favors to those which he gave under the law.” This was first proposed by Chrysostom.
2. “We, Christians, have received grace ‘answering to,’ or corresponding to that which is in Jesus Christ. We are ‘like’ him in meekness, humility,” etc.
3. “We have received grace ‘as grace’ - that is, freely. We have not purchased it nor deserved it, but God has conferred it on us ‘freely’” (Grotius).
4. The meaning is, probably, simply that we have received through him “abundance” of grace or favor. The Hebrews, in expressing the superlative degree of comparison, used simply to repeat the word - thus, “pits, pits,” meaning many pits (Hebrew in Genesis 14:10). So here grace for grace may mean “much” grace; superlative favors bestowed on man; favors superior to all that had been under the law - superior to all other things that God can confer on men. These favors consist in pardon, redemption, protection, sanctification, peace here, and heaven hereafter.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse John 1:16. This verse should be put in place of the fifteenth, and the 15th inserted between the 18th and 19th, which appears to be its proper place: thus John's testimony is properly connected. John 1:15-19

And of his fulness — Of the plenitude of his grace and mercy, by which he made an atonement for sin; and of the plenitude of his wisdom and truth, by which the mysteries of heaven have been revealed, and the science of eternal truth taught, we have all received: all we apostles have received grace or mercy to pardon our sins, and truth to enable us so to write and speak, concerning these things, that those who attend to our testimony shall be unerringly directed in the way of salvation, and with us continue to receive grace upon grace, one blessing after another, till they are filled with all the fulness of God. I believe the above to be the meaning of the evangelist, and think it improper to distract the mind of the reader with the various translations and definitions which have been given of the phrase, grace for grace. It is only necessary to add, that John seems here to refer to the Gospel as succeeding the law: the law was certainly a dispensation both of grace and truth; for it pointed out the gracious design of God to save men by Christ Jesus; and it was at least a most expressive and well-defined shadow of good things to come: but the Gospel, which had now taken place, introduced that plenitude of grace and truth to the whole world, which the law had only shadowed forth to the Jewish people, and which they imagined should have been restrained to themselves alone. In the most gracious economy of God, one dispensation of mercy and truth is designed to make way for, and to be followed by, another and a greater: thus the law succeeded the patriarchal dispensation, and the Gospel the law; more and more of the plenitude of the grace of the Gospel becomes daily manifest to the genuine followers of Christ; and, to those who are faithful unto death, a heaven full of eternal glory will soon succeed to the grace of the Gospel. To illustrate this point more fully, the following passage in Philo the Jew has been adduced: "God is always sparing of his first blessings or graces, (πρωτας χαριτας,) and afterwards gives other graces upon them, (αντ εκεινων,) and a third sort upon the second, and always new ones upon old ones, sometimes of a different kind, and at other times of the same sort." Vol. i. p. 254, ed. Mang. In the above passage the preposition αντι for, is used thrice in the sense of επι, upon. To confirm the above interpretation Bp. Pearce produces the following quotations. Ecclus xxvi. 15: Χαρις επι χαριτι γυνη αισχυντηρα - A modest woman is a grace upon a grace, i.e. a double grace or blessing. Euripides uses the very same phrase with John, where he makes Theoclymenus say to Helena. Χαρις αντι χαριτος ελθετω, May grace upon grace come to you! Helen v. 1250. ed. Barn.