Walking With Christ

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.(ESV)

“Full of grace and truth”. Here is another small phrase in the bible that doesn’t get enough focus and could lead to confusion. It plainly says that Jesus is full of grace and truth. This might lead some to question what the ratio is there. Is it half grace and half truth or does one outweigh the other?

The confusing answer is that Jesus is 100% full of grace and 100% full of truth. This is confusing in the same way that the trinity concept is often confusing to non-believers or new believers.

That’s also not the part I want to focus on. The word “full” does not mean what we think it means. Our definition is closer to “I can’t get any more in”. The key word there is “I”. From a science perspective, we can use air as a great example. Regular air out in the open has a lot of space in between the individual molecules that make up the air as we know it. We can compress the molecules to a pretty good degree. What we have to realize is that no matter how far we compress the air molecules, there is still space between the molecular components. No matter how far down we compress something, there will still be space between the components of the molecule. I’ll stop before getting to deep into the science parts because it’s here that we find my point.

God exists and fills that spaces in between the things we see and what we know. When this phrase says that Jesus is “full” of grace and truth, it truly means full to the smallest space that even God can make. Yet, if He is full of grace then how can He also be full of truth? To be full of something implies that there is no room for anything else. Thus the paradox of God.

This paradox, in my opinion, comes from not understanding the very nature of God. The answer is in His name. The same one given to Moses in Exodus.

Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”(ESV)

“I am.” “YHWH.” “Yahweh.” “Yahveh.” Hundreds of other names could be thrown into this list. All point back to God being the source of grace and truth rather than simply being full of these two things.