And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
Parallel translations
- WEB From his fullness we all received grace upon grace.
- KJV And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
- BSB From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.
- NASB For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
- NLT From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
From Christ's fullness believers receive an overflowing succession of grace. God's generosity in Christ is abundant and continual.
Overview
'Grace upon grace' (or grace replacing grace) pictures God's favor given in inexhaustible supply from the fullness that dwells in Christ. Every spiritual blessing believers enjoy flows from Him. This sets up the next verse's contrast: the abundant grace of the gospel surpasses what came before, while fulfilling it.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 23
- Col 1:19For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him;
- Rom 5:2through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
- Eph 2:5–10even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
- Col 2:9–10For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,
- Eph 4:7–13But to each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
- Eph 3:19and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
- Eph 1:23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
- Rom 5:17For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.
- 1 Cor 1:4–5I always thank my God concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;
- Eph 1:6–8to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved,
- John 3:34For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure.
- Col 2:3in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.
- John 15:1–5“I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer.
- Matt 13:12For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.
- Rom 8:9But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.
- Luke 21:15for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to contradict.
- Acts 3:12–16When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk?
- Zech 4:7Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are a plain; and he will bring out the capstone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace, to it!’”
- 1 Pet 1:2according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
- Matt 3:14But John would have hindered him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?”
- Matt 3:11I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.
- 1 Pet 1:11searching for who or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, pointed to, when he predicted the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that would follow them.
- Rom 5:20The law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Pastoral
Henry on the prologue — rich on the Word and the incarnation.
Seminary
- ★ Start hereCommentaryThe Gospel According to John (Pillar NT Commentary)D. A. Carson · ~720 pp · Paid · reformed
The go-to mid-level exegetical commentary on John — rigorous and readable.
Commentaries & study tools
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Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 1:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.