‘For of his fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace, for the Law (the Torah) was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.'
The author now stresses the overflowing wonder of what Jesus, the Word, has come to do, and stresses His superiority over Moses. The instruction (the Torah) has been replaced by the Word. The book has been replaced by a Person. Moses had given God's instruction (Hebrew torah = instruction, law) as a guide to men, and as providing through the sacrifices a way of forgiveness, but the instruction had been made harsh and unreasonable by its interpreters. Jesus has come as God's direct Word to man, active in men's lives, and has brought undeserved love and favour, together with the fullness of truth. There is nothing harsh and unreasonable about what He declares. Indeed His fullness has overflowed into them in unbounded measure, far exceeding anything offered by Moses.
‘Of His fullness.' Out of the abounding fullness of what He is His people receive blessing, strength and power, and guidance in their lives.
‘Grace upon grace.' ‘Charis' means favour, gracious care and assistance, goodwill, undeserved love. And it will be continually self-producing, a continual flow, never ceasing. This fullness abounds towards them. It flows like a river, grace (God's unmerited love in action) following after grace in an unceasing flow. The writer speaks from personal knowledge of how, when Jesus was among them, He so patiently bore with their failures and weaknesses and supplied them with strength and guidance in their daily lives. And he stresses that this is now true for all His people today.
Alternately we may translate ‘grace instead of (anti) grace'. The idea being that God revealed His grace through Moses, but now God's greater grace is revealed in Jesus Christ. But in the next verse there is a contrast between the giving of the Law and the grace that came through Jesus Christ, so that the first interpretation seems the most likely.
‘The Law was given by Moses.' It is impossible for us today to appreciate how much stress the Jews laid on ‘the Torah' (the Law of Moses). They saw themselves as the people of the Law, a God-given Law, brought to them by the great Moses, binding them within God's covenant. And they were excessively proud of the fact. And the writer does not deny this. But he then points out that something better and far superior has come.
‘Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.' The Law condemned. It pointed the finger. It guided but it left men spiritually exhausted. For they could not meet its terms (see Galatians 3:10). It was weak because of man's weakness (Romans 8:3). What had been intended to be a help had become a condemner. But Jesus Christ has brought God's word, indeed has come as God's Word, bringing an offer of unmerited love and favour and the fullness of truth that far surpasses the Law. He not only brings enlightenment, but the power to enable men to fulfil the Law. Thus Jesus Christ is greater far than Moses.
This contrasting of the Torah with Jesus Christ in the context of Jesus Christ as the Logos underlines the fact that whilst Greek ideas behind the Logos were almost certainly in John's mind in this passage, it was the Hebrew background to the term which was dominant. In context it is the Torah which is being contrasted with the Word, not Greek philosophy.