John 1:17

For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
For	ὅτι hoti	G3754	demonstrative · conjunction
law	νόμος nomos	G3551	law (through the idea of prescriptive usage) · noun — nominative singular masculine
given	ἐδόθη, edothē	G1325	to give (used in a very wide application · verb — aorist passive indicative, 3rd person singular
by	διὰ dia	G1223	through (in very wide applications · preposition
Moses	Μωϋσέως Mōuseōs	G3475	Moseus · noun — genitive singular masculine, a proper name
grace	χάρις charis	G5485	graciousness (as gratifying) · noun — nominative singular feminine
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
truth	ἀλήθεια alētheia	G225	truth · noun — nominative singular feminine
came	ἐγένετο.¶ egeneto	G1096	to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — second aorist middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
by	διὰ dia	G1223	through (in very wide applications · preposition
Jesus	Ἰησοῦ Iēsou	G2424	Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua) · noun — genitive singular masculine, a proper name
Christ	Χριστοῦ Christou	G5547	anointed · noun — genitive singular masculine, a title

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Romans 3:19-26 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the worl…
Romans 5:20-21 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace a…
Hebrews 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 7:19 Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 1:15-18

In these verses, I. The evangelist begins again to give us John Baptist's testimony concerning Christ, Joh 1:15. He had said (Joh 1:8) that he came for a witness; now here he tells us that he did accordingly bear witness. Here, Observe, 1. How he expressed his testimony: He cried, according to the prediction that he should be the voice of one crying. The Old Testament prophets cried aloud, to show people their sins; this New Testament prophet cried aloud, to show people their Saviour. This intimates, (1.) That it was an open public testimony, proclaimed, that all manner of persons might take notice of it, for all are concerned in it. False teachers entice secretly, but wisdom publishes her d…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 1:17

For, &c.--The Law elicits the consciousness of sin and the need of redemption; it only typifies the reality. The Gospel, on the contrary, actually communicates reality and power from above (compare Rom 6:14). Hence Paul terms the Old Testament "shadow," while he calls the New Testament "substance" (Col 2:17) [OLSHAUSEN].

Adam Clarke on John 1:17

The law was given by Moses - Moses received the law from God, and through him it was given to the Jews, Act 7:38. But grace and truth - Which he had already mentioned, and which were to be the subject of the book which he was now writing, came to all mankind through Jesus Christ, who is the mediator of the new covenant, as Moses was of the old: Heb 8:6; Heb 9:15; Gal 3:19. See a fine discourse on this text by Mr. Claude, "Essay on the Composition of a Sermon," vol. i. p. 119, etc. edit. Lond. 1788. The law of Moses, however excellent in itself, was little in comparison of the Gospel: as it proceeded from the justice and holiness of God, and was intended to convict men of sin, that the way of…

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John Gill on John 1:17

For the law was given by Moses,.... Both moral and ceremonial. The moral law was given to Adam, in innocence, which having 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 of it, convicts of it, and condemns for it; nor could it give strength to perform its demands; nor does it give the least hint of forgiveness; nor will it admit of repentance: and hence is opposed to grace; though it was a benefit to men, being in its own nature good and useful in its effects. The ceremonial law pointed out the pollution of human nature, the guilt and punis…

The Church Fathers

For [in place of] the grace of the law, which has passed away, we have received the abiding grace of the gospel, and, instead of the shadows and figures of the ancient covenant, truth has come by Jesus Christ.
— Jerome, LETTER 75

So faith, illumined by patience, when it was becoming propagated among the nations through" Abraham's seed, which is Christ," and was superinducing grace over the law, made patience her pre-eminent coadjutrix for amplifying and fulfilling the law, because that alone had been lacking unto the doctrine of righteousness.
— Tertullian, Of Patience

For he, too, says that the world was originated by those angels; and sets forth Christ as born of the seed of Joseph, contending that He was merely human, without divinity; affirming also that the Law was given by angels; representing the God of the Jews as not the Lord, but an angel.
— Tertullian, Pseudo-Tertullian Against All Heresies

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Grace — (1.) Of form or person (Prov. 1:9; 3:22; Ps. 45:2). (2.) Favour, kindness, friendship (Gen. 6:8; 18:3; 19:19; 2 Tim. 1:9). (3.) God’s forgiving mercy (Rom. 11:6; Eph. 2:5). (4.) The gospel as…
John, Gospel of — The genuineness of this Gospel, i.e., the fact that the apostle John was its author, is beyond all reasonable doubt. In recent times, from about 1820, many attempts have been made to impugn its…
Moses — Drawn (or Egypt. mesu, “son;” hence Rameses, royal son). On the invitation of Pharaoh (Gen. 45:17-25), Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. This immigration took place probably about 350 years…
Grace · Came by Christ — Came by Christ
Jesus, The Christ · . — .
Law Of Moses, The · Given: Through Moses as mediator — Given: Through Moses as mediator
Truth · The gospel as, — The gospel as,
Urim And Thummin · Illustrative of the light and perfection of Christ, the true high priest — Illustrative of the light and perfection of Christ, the true high priest

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

John 1:17

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 1:15-18

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 1:17

Adam Clarke on John 1:17

John Gill on John 1:17

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John 1:17

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 1:15-18

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 1:17

Adam Clarke on John 1:17

John Gill on John 1:17

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on John 1:15-18

Tyndale Open Study Notes on John 1:17