1:1-2 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Through Him all things were made and without Him, nothing was made."
1:14a "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us."
http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/John/Word-Became-Flesh
So here is a picture of honor such as is seen when an only son obeys his father and thus
reflects his father's character. This general human relation is fulfilled par excellence in the
relation of Jesus to the Father….
To say the Son is full of truth is to claim he is the perfect revelation of the divine reality (cf.
15:15; 17:10), and saying he is full of grace expresses the character of that reality, the truth
about God….
The primary focus is on this grace, as is evident in what follows after the parenthetical
reference in verse 15 to the Baptist's witness. The Son is not simply full of grace; he has a
fullness from which he shares with others (v. 16). The verse reads literally, "For from his
fullness we all (have) received even grace upon grace." In part the image may be of an
unending supply of grace similar to the water he will offer the Samaritan woman (4:14; cf.
7:38). But John has something more specific in mind for the next verse says this "grace
upon grace" is somehow explained by the relation Moses has to the law and that which Jesus
Christ has to grace and truth.
So there is a contrast here, but it is one of degree. The grace received in Jesus is added
upon the grace that came through Moses and the law. The association between the two is
basically one of continuity, of the partial contrasted with the full. While there is continuity it
is, nevertheless, a quantum leap that has occurred in Jesus, as verse 18 makes clear. The
references we noted to Wisdom's coming from God and offering knowledge of God's ways
were taken by many Jews as a reference to the law (for example, Sirach 24). John does not
deny the truth of this but says there is a greater fulfillment of this picture, for the law itself
points to Jesus (5:39). The law points to the revelation of the Father, the one who was at
the Father's side, or, better, "close to the Father's heart" (NRSV; eis ton kolpon tou patros,
literally, "in the bosom of the Father," NASB), who has made him known (exegesato).
Here we have the answer to the question in Sirach, "Who has seen him [God] and can
describe [ekdiegesetai] him?" (Sirach 43:31). When God reveals God, it is the ultimate
revelation. "The absolute claim of the Christian revelation could not be put more definitely"
(Schnackenburg 1980a:278).
Patti note: The law offered an attempt to try to be like Jesus, knowing that we can never fully do that, as we can’t fully obey the law. But until Jesus, it was the only way to try to emulate him and draw close to God. Being saved was by works and those works were following the law, which we could NEVER fully do.
God knew this. He knew that the laws protected us and gave us a goal to reach for in our search for Him. Jesus came and now we are saved by grace not works. We need to emulate Jesus but he fulfilled the law’s intent when he gave himself as our sacrifice.
…Many would say, therefore, that John presents Jesus as replacing Judaism. In a sense this
is true. If the glory of the divine presence that filled the tabernacle (and later the temple)
has now come to us in Jesus, then he is the place where we now seek God's presence.
Accordingly, we will see John presenting Jesus as the fulfillment of Judaism, since he is the
archetype behind Jacob, the temple and its feasts and many other persons and institutions.
But this replacement comes through fulfillment, not rejection. Replacement does not mean
there is no longer any role for the Old Testament, but it does mean any attempt to know
God that is not centered in Jesus is defective, since in him is the fullness. No one has seen
God, but now the one who was with the Father reveals the glory of God that he shared
with him "before the world began" (Jn 17:5, 24; cf. 6:46; 14:8-9). The revelation of God in
Jesus is not contradictory to Judaism, but rather the very thing for which Judaism had been
preparing. So when the Jewish opponents reject Jesus later in the story they do so despite
their Judaism, not because of it.
Patti notes: Jesus is the fulfillment of Judaism.
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