Bible Questions Answered: Grace For Grace

Bible Questions Answered:
I see this verse in John and often wonder just what this is saying, that is grace for grace?
Herman / Jefferson City, Missouri

Bible Answers:
The scripture to which you refer is:

John 1:16 KJV
And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.

John 1:16 NLT
From His abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.

John 1:16 NIV
From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.

John 1:14 KJV
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of Grace and Truth.

John 1:15,16 AMP
15 John testified about Him and cried out, This was He of Whom I said, He Who comes after me has priority over me, for He was before me. [He takes rank above me, for He existed before I did. He has advanced before me, because He is my Chief.]
16 For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift.

And the next verse....

John 1:17 KJV
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Some one has long ago said, that the explanation of Grace is found in the acronym for Grace.
G. God's
R. Riches
A. At
C. Christ's
E. Expense

Mankind under fallen Adam, has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and no good comes of sin.

Romans 3:23 KJV
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Fallen mankind has only earned the wages of death.

Romans 6:23 KJV
For the wages of sin is death; but the Gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:8,9;20
[8] But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
[9] Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
[20] Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

Grace, God's Riches At Christ's Expense, comes only to man through the Lord Jesus Christ.
And all the grace of God (Gift of God), is heaped up on the one who has received, and who is living for God's Son.

Acts 4:12 KJV
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Acts 4:11,12 NLT
11 For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’
12 There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

John 14:6 KJV
Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.

God's grace cannot be earned.

Romans 11:6 NLT
And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved.

Romans 3:24 KJV
Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Ephesians 1:7
In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace;

Ephesians 2:8,9 KJV
[8] For by Grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
[9] Not of works, lest any man should boast.


Where would we be without the Mercy of God, His salvation (through the shed blood of His Son), His love, His direction, and blessings without number?

Psalm 68:19 KJV
Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

Psalm 84:11 KJV
For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.

Philippians 4:19 KJV
But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

As Christian people, we have the love, mercy, salvation, and grace of the Lord, but we are not yet complete, not yet sanctified, and won't be until we come into His presence.

Colossians 2:9,10 KJV
[9] For in Him (Jesus Christ) dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
[10] And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power:

I John 3:1-3 NAS
1. See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God ; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
2. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
3. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Jude 24
Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

II Timothy 2:1 KJV
Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.