Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 1:16-17

"For of his fulness we all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." — John 1:16-17 (ASV)

1. He follows with, and of his fullness we have all received.

These words and those that follow, up to this is the testimony of John (John 1:19), are interpreted in two ways. According to Origen, these are the words of John the Baptist, added by him to support what he had said previously.Commentary on John 6.6.33. It is as though he said: truly, he was before me (John 1:15), because of his fullness—that is, of his grace—not only I but we all, including the prophets and patriarchs, have received, because all had the grace they possessed by faith in the incarnate Word. According to this explanation, John the Baptist began weaving the story of the incarnation at John bore witness to him (John 1:15).

But according to Augustine and Chrysostom, the words from John bore witness to him (John 1:15) are those of John the Evangelist.Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John 3.8. John Chrysostom, Commentary on Saint John 14.1. They are connected with the previous words, full of grace and truth (John 1:14), as though he were saying: above, the Evangelist gave the evidence for the Word which was learned through sight and hearing, but here he explains each. First, how he was made known to the apostles through sight, which was equivalent to receiving the evidence from Christ. Second, how John bore witness to him, at this is the testimony of John (John 1:19).

As to the first, he does two things.

First, he shows that Christ is the origin, like a fountain, of every spiritual grace.

Second, he shows that grace is dispensed to us through him and from him, at grace upon grace.

2. He says first of all: we know from our own experience that we have seen him full of grace and truth (John 1:14), because of his fullness we have all received.

Now, one fullness is that of sufficiency, by which one is able to perform acts that are meritorious and excellent, as in the case of Stephen. Again, there is a fullness of superabundance, by which the Blessed Virgin excels all the saints because of the eminence and abundance of her merits. Furthermore, there is a fullness of efficiency and overflow, which belongs only to the man Christ as the author of grace. For although the Blessed Virgin’s grace superabounds to us, it is never as the author of grace. But grace flowed over from her soul into her body, for through the grace of the Holy Spirit, not only was the mind of the Virgin perfectly united to God by love, but her womb was supernaturally impregnated by the Holy Spirit. And so after Gabriel said, hail, full of grace, he refers at once to the fullness of her womb, adding, the Lord is with you (Luke 1:28).

And so the Evangelist, in order to show this unique fullness of efficiency and overflow in Christ, said, of his fullness we have all received—that is, all the apostles, patriarchs, prophets, and just men who have existed, do now exist, and will exist, and even all the angels.

3. Note that the preposition “from” sometimes signifies efficiency, as in an originative cause, as when it is said that a ray is or proceeds from the sun. In this way, it signifies the efficiency of grace in Christ—that is, authorship—because the fullness of grace in Christ is the cause of all graces that are in intellectual creatures. Come to me, all you who desire me, and be filled with my fruits , which is to say, share in the fullness of those fruits which come from me.

But sometimes this preposition “from” signifies consubstantiality, as when it is said that the Son is from the Father. In this usage, the fullness of Christ is the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from him, consubstantial with him in nature, in power, and in majesty. For although the habitual gifts in the soul of Christ are different from those in us, nevertheless it is one and the same Holy Spirit who is in him and who fills all those to be sanctified. One and the same Spirit produces all these (1 Corinthians 12:11); I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh (Joel 2:28); if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him (Romans 8:9). For the unity of the Holy Spirit produces unity in the Church: the Spirit of the Lord filled the whole world .

In a third way, the preposition “from” can signify a portion, as when we say “take from this bread or wine,” meaning, take a portion and not the whole. Taken in this way, it signifies that those who take a part derive it from the fullness. For Christ received all the gifts of the Holy Spirit without measure, according to a perfect fullness; but we participate, through him, in some portion of his fullness, and this is according to the measure which God grants to each. Grace has been given to each of us according to the degree to which Christ gives it (Ephesians 4:7).

4. Then when he says, grace upon grace, he shows the distribution of graces to us through Christ. Here he does two things.

First, he shows that we receive grace from Christ, as its author.

Second, that we receive wisdom from him, at no man has ever seen God (John 1:18).

As to the first, he does two things.

First, he shows that we have received from his fullness.

Second, our need to receive it: for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

5. First, he says that we have received from the fullness of Christ what is described as grace upon grace.

In light of what is said, we are forced to understand that from his fullness we have received grace, and that upon that grace we have received another. Accordingly, we must see what that first grace is upon which we have received a second one, and also what that second grace is.

According to Chrysostom, the first grace, which was received by the whole human race, was the grace of the Old Testament received in the law.Commentary on Saint John 14.1. And this was indeed a great grace: I will give you a good gift (Proverbs 4:2). For it was a great benefit for idolatrous people to receive precepts from God and a true knowledge of the one true God. What is the advantage of being a Jew, or the benefit of circumcision? It is great in every way. First indeed, because the words of God were entrusted to them (Romans 3:1). Upon that grace, then, which was first, we have received a second, far better one. He will follow grace with grace (Zechariah 4:7).

But was not the first grace sufficient?

I answer that it was not, because the law gives only a knowledge of sin but does not take it away. The law brought nothing to perfection (Hebrews 7:19). Therefore, it was necessary that another grace come that would take away sin and reconcile one with God.

6. And so he says, for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Here the Evangelist ranks Christ above Moses the lawgiver, whom the Baptist ranked above himself. Now Moses was regarded as the greatest of the prophets: there did not arise again in Israel a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 34:10).

But he ranks Christ above Moses in excellence and in dignity of works, for the law was given through Moses; and between these two, the one excels the other as the reality excels the symbol and the truth the shadow: the law had a shadow of the good things to come (Hebrews 10:1). Furthermore, Christ excels him in the way he works, because the law was given by Moses as by one proclaiming it, but not originating it; for the Lord alone is our lawgiver (Isaiah 33:22). But grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, as through the Lord and author of truth and grace, as was explained above.

7. According to Augustine, however, the first grace is justifying and prevenient grace, which is not given to us because of our works:Tractates on the Gospel of John 3.9. if it is by grace, it is not now by works (Romans 11:6). Upon that grace, then, which is imperfect, we have received another grace which is perfect—that is, the grace of eternal life. And although eternal life is in some way acquired by merits, nevertheless, because the principle of meriting in everyone is prevenient grace, eternal life is called a grace: the grace of God is eternal life (Romans 6:23). To be brief, whatever grace is added to prevenient grace, the whole is called grace upon grace.

The need for this second grace arises from the insufficiency of the law, which showed what to do and what to avoid, but it gave no help to fulfill what was commanded. Indeed, what seemed to have been directed to life was the occasion for producing death. Therefore the Apostle says that the law was a minister of death: if the ministry that condemned had glory, the ministry that justifies has much more glory (2 Corinthians 3:9).

Also, it promised the help of grace but did not fulfill that promise, because the law brought nothing to perfection (Hebrews 7:19). Again, it prefigured the truth of the new grace by its sacrifices and ceremonies; indeed, its very rites proclaimed that it was a figure.

Therefore it was necessary that Christ come, who by his own death would destroy other deaths and grant the help of new grace, so that we might both fulfill his precepts with ease and joy, and die to our sins and our old way of life: our old self was crucified with him (Romans 6:6), and so that the truth of the figures contained in the law might be revealed and the promises made to the fathers be fulfilled (2 Corinthians 1).

This can be explained in another way: truth came through Jesus Christ, referring to the wisdom and truth which was hidden for centuries, and which he openly taught when he came into the world: for this I was born, and for this I came into the world, that I should give testimony to the truth (John 18:37).

8. But if Christ is the truth, as it says below, I am . . . the truth (John 14:6; C. 14, L. 2), how did truth come to be made through him, since nothing can make itself?

I answer that by his essence he is the uncreated truth, which is eternal and not made, but is begotten of the Father. But all created truths were made through him, and these are certain participations and reflections of the first truth, which shines out in those souls who are holy.