John 1:17

Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, &c.— The word εγενετο, rendered came, here implies, that grace and truth were exhibited, or appeared. This verse is delivered in opposition to the Ebionites, who preferred Moses to the Lord Jesus. The gospel is here, as in other places, called grace. The word grace, in its most obvious meaning, signifies favour; favour flowing from mercy and beneficence, to which the person who receives it can make no claim as of right. In this sense, the gospel is most particularly and emphatically grace; in all and every part of it, it was the gift of God, which we could not in any manner be said to deserve. The gospel is grace, as it promises the faithful saints, not only an exemption from punishment, but a resurrection to eternal life. The gospel is grace, as it promises us the divine assistance to comfort us in afflictions, and enable us to work out our salvation. The gospel may be called grace, with respect to the manner in which it was revealed. The law was delivered with a pomp and majesty that struck terror; but the gospel made its appearance with mildness and condescension, and was introduced bythe Son of God, conversing familiarly with men, teaching them by his doctrine and example. Whatsoever was burdensome in the law of Moses, was abolished in the gospel. The gospel is grace, as it contains righteous and equitable laws; the duty that it teaches towards God is a reasonable service, which we are bound in gratitude to perform; and that duty which we owe to our neighbour promotes the happiness of mankind, while that which is enjoined by it to ourselves tends to moderate and subdue every unruly passion. The gospel is grace, as it is a gift offered to all, an invitation from which none are excluded. Again, grace in some places of the New Testament means those extraordinary powers which the Holy Ghost conferred upon the apostles and first believers, as well as the ordinary influences of the Spirit; and in thissense the gospel emphatically is grace. Lastly, grace means holiness, goodness, and moral virtue; in which sense the gospel is grace, as it sets pure morality in a clear light, and enforces the practice of it by the best and most effectual motives. The gospel is called truth, in opposition to the falsehood of paganism, which had over-run the world—truth, as it is the accomplishment of the prophesies of future favours made under the law, and because an image and representation of good things to come was contained in the law; whereas in the gospel these good things are brought to light. The gospel therefore is truth, in opposition to the Jewish dispensation, as it is the substance and reality of all those things which are figured by the law; or as they were mere shadows compared to that solid and substantial truth which Christ has discovered to us.