THE PROLOGUE
OUTLINE
61
IN
`I am the true Vine' (of which the Old Testament references were
types) (15:1).
It will have been seen that John has frequently used this word with
the meaning `antitypical, or real'. There is one reference which
actually places the word `true' over against `type' and it is in Hebrews:
`For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands,
which are the figures (antitypes) of the true; but into heaven itself'
(Heb. 9:24).
We can now return to John 1:17 and bring the expressions `law'
and `grace and truth' under a common denominator, for both may be
called `grace', but in the law the grace was `typical', and the offerings
`shadows', while in the gospel grace was `real', and the work of Christ
the fulfilment of the shadows and types of the law.
We have already indicated the difference between the law that was
`given' by Moses, and real grace that `came' by Jesus Christ. In the
structure of the prologue (on p. 25) this is found in correspondence
with the statement in verse 3 that `all things were made by Him'.
Here, Christ is seen as Creator in both realms.
We can now return to 1:16 and understand the expression `grace
for grace'. The word translated `for' is anti, which means `over
against'; `grace over against grace' means, in the light of verse 17, `the
grace of gospel realities in place of the grace of types and shadows'.
This `real grace', we learn, is `out of His fulness'.
`For of His fulness have all we received, and (or even) grace over
against grace; for the law by Moses was given, but true grace came
into being by Jesus Christ' (John 1:16,17 Author's translation).
The `fulness' which is the source of this rich supply is that which
we have already noted in verse 14, and arises only from the fact that
`the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us'. In the epistle to the
Colossians we note that the `fulness', pleroma, links the testimony of
John to that of Paul and that apart from the one passage of John 1:16,
the word pleroma is used, in reference to Christ, exclusively by Paul.
We now give an analysis of the distribution of the word.
The Fulness
A John 1:1-18. HIS TITLE. - In the beginning. The Word.