“From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.” (John 1:16, NIV)
I’m anti grace. There, I’ve said it. And now I should probably explain it. In the verse above, John is talking about Jesus’ incarnation – how the Lord walked among us and we beheld his glory. And when he came, from the fullness of his grace, we’ve received one blessing after another.
Literally, that verse says we’ve received charin anti charitos…grace against grace.
Anti, as you know, usually means against. But in this particular, repetitive structure it means something along the lines of replacement or accumulation. In other words, from God’s fullness of grace through Jesus, we’ve receive one act of grace, followed by another, by another, by another… That first act of grace was wonderful, but that gets replaced by the next act of grace, only to be followed by the next…
The picture is of God pouring that grace into us. And because his nature is grace (John tells us he is “full” of grace), he never runs out of grace to give. And if you’re like me, that’s a good thing because I never run out of needing God’s grace.
Need grace? Good news. You haven’t reached your limit. You haven’t used yours up. Just ask and receive one blessing after another!
