Full of Grace

Full of Grace

The ancient world had gods of truth who were distant and impersonal, and gods of love who were local but capricious. John 1:14 announces something that had never been said before: the One who is the eternal Word, through whom all things were made (verse 3), has become flesh — taken on the very material of creation — and He is simultaneously full of grace and full of truth. Neither watered down by the other. Not truth without grace (which would be harsh), nor grace without truth (which would be sentimental). Both, fully, in one person. The Incarnation is the revelation of what God has always been: the union of grace and truth.

John 1:14's phrase 'full of grace and truth' (pleres charitos kai aletheias) echoes Exodus 34:6 — God's self-description to Moses: 'abounding in love and faithfulness.' The Hebrew chesed ve-emet (loyal love and steadfast truth) is the Old Testament's most complete description of divine character, now made visible in the human life of Jesus. He is what God is, walking among us. Every encounter with Jesus in the Gospels demonstrates this fullness: He speaks truth to the woman at the well, and He does it with the grace that invites rather than condemns. He tells the rich young ruler the hard truth, and He looks at him with love (Mark 10:21). Full of grace and truth — simultaneously.