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| “Grace and Truth Came Through Jesus Christ.” These Words Belong to the Baptist, Not the Evangelist. What the Baptist Testifies by Them.
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3. “Grace
and Truth Came Through Jesus Christ.” These Words Belong to
the Baptist, Not the Evangelist. What the Baptist Testifies by
Them.
We have lingered rather long over these discussions, but
there is a reason for it. There are many who, under the pretence
of glorifying the advent of Christ, declare the Apostles to be wiser
than the fathers or the prophets; and of these teachers some have
invented a greater God for the later period, while some, not venturing
so far, but moved, according to their own account of the matter, by the
difficulty connected with doctrine, cancel the whole of the gift
conferred by God on the fathers and the prophets, through Christ,
through whom all things were made. If all things were made
through Him, clearly so must the splendid revelations have been which
were made to the fathers and prophets, and became to them the symbols
of the sacred mysteries of religion. Now the true soldiers of
Christ must always be prepared to do battle for the truth, and must
never, so far as lies with them, allow false convictions to creep
in. We must not, therefore, neglect this matter. It may be
said that John’s earlier testimony to Christ is to be found in
the words, “He who cometh after me exists before me, for He was
before me,” and that the words, “For of His fulness we all
received, and grace for grace,” are in the mouth of John the
disciple. Now, we must show this exposition to be a forced one,
and one which does violence to the context; it is rather a strong
proceeding to suppose the speech of the Baptist to be so suddenly and,
as it were, inopportunely interrupted by that of the disciple, and it
is quite apparent to any one who can judge, in whatever small degree,
of a context, that the speech goes on continuously after the words,
“This is He of whom I spoke, He that cometh after me exists
before me, for He was before me.” The Baptist brings a
proof that Jesus existed before him because He was before him, since He
is the first-born of all creation; he says, “For of His fulness
all we received.” That is the reason why he says, “He
exists before me, for He was before me.” That is how I know
that He is first and in higher honour with the Father, since of His
fulness both I and the prophets before me received the more divine
prophetic grace instead of the grace we received at His hands before in
respect of our election. That
is why I say, “He exists before me, for He was before me,”
because we know what we have received from His fulness; namely, that
the law was given through Moses, not by Moses, while grace and truth
not only were given but came into existence4824
through Jesus Christ. For His God and Father both gave the law
through Moses, and made grace and truth through Jesus Christ, that
grace and truth which came to man. If we give a reasonable
interpretation to the words, “Grace and truth came through Jesus
Christ,” we shall not be alarmed at the possible discrepancy with
them of that other saying, “I am the way and the truth and the
life.” If it is Jesus who says, “I am the
truth,” then how does the truth come through Jesus Christ, since
no one comes into existence through himself? We must recognize
that this very truth, the essential truth, which is prototypal, so to
speak, of that truth which exists in souls endowed with reason, that
truth from which, as it were, images are impressed on those who care
for truth, was not made through Jesus Christ, nor indeed through any
one, but by God;—just as the Word was not made through any one
which was in the beginning with the Father;—and as wisdom which
God created the beginning of His ways was not made through any one, so
the truth also was not made through any one. That truth, however,
which is with men came through Jesus Christ, as the truth in Paul and
the Apostles came through Jesus Christ. And it is no wonder,
since truth is one, that many truths should flow from that one.
The prophet David certainly knew many truths, as he says,4825
“The Lord searcheth out truths,”
for the Father of truth searches out not the one truth but the many
through which those are saved who possess them. And as with the
one truth and many truths, so also with righteousness and
righteousnesses. For the very essential righteousness is Christ,
“Who was made to us of God wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption.” But from that righteousness
is formed the righteousness which is in each individual, so that there
are in the saved many righteousnesses, whence also it is
written,4826
“For the Lord
is righteous, and He loved righteousnesses.” This is the
reading in the exact copies, and in the other versions besides the
Septuagint, and in the Hebrew. Consider if the other things which
Christ is said to be in a unity admit of being multiplied in the same
way and spoken of in the plural. For example, Christ is our life
as the Saviour Himself says,4827
“I am the way
and the truth and the life.” The Apostle, too,
says,4828
“When Christ our life shall appear,
then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” And in the
Psalms again we find,4829
“Thy mercy is
better than life;” for it is on account of Christ who is life in
every one that there are many lives. This, perhaps, is also the
key to the passage,4830
“If ye seek a
proof of the Christ that speaketh in me.” For Christ is
found in every saint, and so from the one Christ there come to be many
Christs, imitators of Him and formed after Him who is the image of God;
whence God says through the prophet,4831
“Touch
not my Christs.” Thus we have explained in passing the
passage which we appeared to have omitted from our exposition,
viz.: “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ;”
and we have also shown that the words belong to John the Baptist and
form part of his testimony to the Son of God.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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