And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
Christ in His fullness of grace and truth holds an infinite and inexhaustible treasure of divine life sufficient for every need, and all who receive Him by faith share in that fullness. Grace for grace means grace continually and abundantly supplied without limit, grace upon grace answering to each need and carrying the receiver forward. Receiving comes through daily surrender, beholding Christ with unswerving faith, feeding upon His word with prayer and watchfulness, and emptying the heart of pride and selfishness so He abides within, made possible because He paid the ransom, broke Satan's power as the Sin-bearer, and joined humanity to divinity. What is received gives power to become sons and daughters of God by the new birth, bringing pardon, righteousness, strength to overcome, transformation into Christ's likeness, and growth from faith to greater faith and glory to greater glory. Grace received is to flow out to others in thought, word, and deed, and as it is imparted it is received still more abundantly with growing capacity, while withholding it leaves a person incomplete.
Words of the Verse
Of His fullness all receive grace, because He is the incarnate Word full of grace and truth, and His fullness supplies grace through Him to believers. Those who receive from Him are given grace in abundance, grace upon grace, as the source of grace, power, knowledge and growth for all who receive Him and faithfully do His will. Seeing Christ rightly as the incarnate Word leads to exalting Him and revealing His character, and His teachings are the essential guidance by which people are taught of God.
That fullness is His divine life, the life-giving power from which disciples receive grace, and the infinite treasure richly and freely bestowed in wealth of grace and power for service. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, so that believers are complete in Him who is Head of all principality and power, and students who study with eye single to God's glory succeed by receiving from that fullness instead of being spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit after human tradition. His infinite fullness and sufficiency and merits are the source of spiritual life that makes believers complete in Him and one under Christ as head, and the life-giving power that blesses the world flows from His divine life to all who come into close contact with Him. It is an inexhaustible source from which grace is received without limit, sufficient and multiplied, calling for self-denying loyalty and discipleship rather than being unappreciated and turned from without relish or appetite.
Grace for grace means abundant grace received from Him, who imparts the virtue of His righteousness and power to save and supplies what human effort cannot provide. From His abundance grace is continually given, grace answering to grace and grace following grace, grace continually supplied in place of grace. This grace is the source of grace, peace and redeeming love, supplying what is needed for life and godliness, with God's sufficient grace making His strength effective in human weakness. It provides the pardon and power given to repentant believers through Christ, for Christ existed from eternity with the Father and was before John, though John was a burning and shining light, and John was not the Light who enlightens the whole world.
All means all who receive Christ, who receive from the fullness found in Him grace upon grace. As many as received Him and believe on His name are given power to become sons of God, born not of blood nor of fleshly or human will but of God, and this fullness received is pure truth in doctrine and practice, believed and practiced, forming character that prepares for the great work of this life and gives fitness for eternal service. It enables believers to work out salvation with fear and trembling as God works in them to will and to do, to be blameless and harmless sons of God shining as lights in a crooked and perverse nation holding forth the word of life. The church on earth receives from His fullness, for Christ is ready to impart the fullness of His power to those who come with wholehearted purpose and believers need His grace daily, and all followers receive of His fullness and grace for grace, which gives them their privileges as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people called out of darkness into marvelous light who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy and are now the people of God, including all who long for God.
Witness of John
John's testimony is a verbal presentation of Christ to be held before the mind instead of any artistic representation of God or heaven or Christ, who is the image of the Father and cannot be truly represented by human art. That presentation declares Christ as the eternal Word who was with God and was God in the beginning, by whom all things were made, in whom was life that was the light of men shining in darkness. He is the true Light lighting every person, who was in the world made by Him yet was not known, who came to His own who did not receive Him, yet who gives power to become sons of God to all who receive Him and believe on His name and are born of God, not of blood nor of human will. It declares the Word made flesh dwelling among men with the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, from whose completeness all receive grace added to grace. The grace so received flows out from the soul to others, and as it flows out more grace flows in to be given back to God in willing offerings.
The disciples received from that fullness after His ascension, receiving grace for grace from the fullness of grace and truth of the Word made flesh dwelling among men. Receiving Christ as the Word of God gives the new birth, and when the Holy Spirit impresses divine truth on the heart new conceptions are awakened and dormant energies are aroused to cooperate with God. When the Holy Spirit brought Christ's teachings to their remembrance their slumbering senses awoke and the meaning flashed upon their minds as a new revelation, so the experience of His life became theirs. The loveliness of His character had been seen in His words and deeds and pure, holy life in daily companionship with them, and enlightened to remember and understand Him they declared what they had seen and heard so others could have fellowship with them. As men of His appointment through whom the Word bore testimony, they proclaimed that all receive from His fullness, and in witnessing to the name of Christ they bore witness of the Father also, because all that is comprehended in Deity was represented in the human life of Christ.
John especially yielded himself to Christ's divine life and life-giving power, and through closeness to Jesus he was changed until his character reflected his Master's. Believers likewise receive from Christ's fullness, His grace given to them abundantly and continually, and the apostles' experience of receiving and proclaiming Christ's words made the truth of His life vivid to them.
Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, in contrast with the law given through Moses. From Christ's fullness believers receive an abundant supply of grace, grace upon grace. This grace provides righteousness and keeps the believing soul free from sin.
Receiving From Fullness
All who receive Christ by faith as personal Saviour receive of His fullness, grace continually and abundantly supplied. This is possible because He gave Himself to ransom humanity from the power of the destroyer, bearing the punishment belonging to sinners as the world's Sin-bearer and breaking Satan's power, and He became the center of the redeemed world. The divine Son became human, the Word made flesh full of grace and truth, joining humanity to divinity so that people may share the divine nature and escape the corruption of the world. Having taken human nature He was exposed to sharp temptation and bitter sorrow, made like men in all things yet without sin, and as High Priest He is touched with the feeling of infirmities, sympathizes with all who are tempted, and knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation. He owns every person by creation and by redemption, and is the only hope, to be received by laying open the inmost soul to Him and trusting His pardoning love, with power to become sons of God given to all who receive Him and believe on His name.
Receiving comes by daily surrender to God, looking constantly to Jesus with the eye of faith, beholding Him with supreme love and unswerving faith and trust, and keeping the eyes fixed on His perfection as the light of the world. It comes by studying His words attentively, feeding upon His word which is spirit and life, fixing the eye on Him in prayer and watchfulness, and opening mind and heart to truth. Cherished unbelief withholds the richest manifestations of grace and hinders the work of the Holy Spirit, while faith brings a rich experience of goodness and love, and as His power dwells within believers they receive more of that power. The heart must be emptied of pride, vanity and selfishness so Christ supplies the vacuum and abides within, killing the natural earthly nature and creating new life, with the Holy Spirit coming as Comforter, love taking the place of hatred, and the image of Christ and the mold of the divine likeness reproduced until the person becomes a new creature born of God. With that receiving comes yearning after entire conformity to the will of God, His holiness and peace, pardon, peace and assurance, light shed into the mind and soul-temple with the knowledge of the glory shining in the face of Jesus Christ and spiritual discernment, opened eyes to see the doctrines of the Word, and strength to be steadfast, unmovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord; turning the face away leaves a person walking in spiritual darkness.
The invitation is open to all who will come, and no one is so complete as not to need His teaching, while no one is too poor, lost or degraded to receive His cleansing and help. All who confess their sins and accept Christ as Saviour receive of His fullness, grace for grace, including repentant sinners needing pardon and new life. The law has no power to save the transgressor and speaks condemnation with no human plea accepted for acquittal, but Christ who gave Himself as the world's sin bearer becomes Mediator and Sin-pardoner for all who come to Him, justifying those who believe through His atonement, renewing them by writing His holy law in their hearts and diffusing His life through them, and giving them His strength, sufficiency and fullness to meet the claims of God's holy law. His fullness is to be presented to the sick as Christ alone the Restorer of mind and body who heals the diseased, will not leave them comfortless but will come to them, and gives His life so that because He lives they shall live also, as they have faith in Him as Restorer and cooperate by obeying the laws of health in eating, drinking and dressing, abstaining from self-gratification and indulgence of perverted appetite, and striving to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord.
Believers are to look to Christ for guidance and healing rather than putting ministers or any human mind in the place of God. Christ is the Word made flesh dwelling among men full of grace and truth, giving from His fullness grace for grace and grace upon grace to all, and to as many as receive Him giving power to become sons of God. New converts may ask counsel from those more experienced, but ministers are only human beings compassed with infirmities, not gods, and must never be put in the place of God. That power of the gospel comes upon companies raised up to fit them for service, so that new converts filled with the power of God at once enter the work imparting what they have received and carrying truth to regions beyond.
What Grace Accomplishes
Of His fullness all may receive, and the grace so received, made possible by the ransom paid for man, enables man by his own choice and obedience to accomplish God's design in making him a son of God. Through that given grace man can bear again the image of God first impressed upon him and lost through the fall, while Christ's own righteousness supplies what is lacking in man and works in him to fulfill his original destiny. Jesus Christ, the eternal Word who is God and Creator of the world made flesh full of grace and truth, gives out of His fullness grace to all, and all who receive Him and believe on His name are given power to become sons of God, and in accepting Christ are raised to a high position. To be called a child of God is the greatest honor, and learning this from Christ corrects pride, display, self-aggrandizement, and men taking to themselves great power, titles, and dignity because they do not see or believe in Him. All who receive Christ by faith share in the fullness of His grace, and receiving that grace brings a marked change of character called being born of God; as the believer opens mind and heart to truth in Jesus, grace leads to a glimpse of Christ's righteousness in the law and makes the believer a partaker of the divine nature.
This receiving gives added grace that is power to become sons of God by birth of God and not of blood or human will, enabling perfect keeping of the commandments of God, fearing the Lord, walking in all His ways, loving Him and serving Him with all heart and soul for good. All who receive Christ as a personal Saviour receive of His fullness, grace for grace, and that receiving gives power to become the sons of God, possessed of His nature, objects of His love and special affection, dwelling in Christ as Christ dwells in God. Knowing the power of His grace, they are commissioned and qualified to bear the message of salvation to a sinful world and to make known His grace and truth, and as they consecrate themselves wholly to God the grace they impart is continually renewed in increased measure. Converted to the truth and imbued with the Holy Spirit, they are under the transforming influence of divine grace, changed from a life of self-indulgence to a life of service as spiritual children adopted into the Lord's family, and by receiving Christ and doing the Word they behold His glory and receive the attributes of a character that makes them sons and daughters of God.
Grace works a transformation of character, making the receiver a child of God, filling those who give themselves to Him with love and concern for the souls He purchased through suffering, and fitting that person for fellowship with angels and for eternal service. Christ's love is the source of a disciple's love for Him, and His grace leads the disciple toward meekness, humility, and likeness to His character, transcribing purity, forbearance, mercy and righteousness in the heart. Receiving that grace is reflected in bringing the best qualities of Christ from the heart, rather than faultfinding, evil thoughts, tale-bearing, self-importance, or self-sufficiency, for grace is the treasure to bring into life and fellowship. When people behold His glory as the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth and are united to Him, His abiding presence becomes their light and He saves them wholly — soul, body, and spirit — turning supreme love for self into self-denial and supreme love for God. Christ is the all-perfect pattern, and those who look to Him are changed by the Spirit into His image, pressing the obedient forward from grace to grace until complete in Him.
By beholding His character, believers receive grace upon grace from the fullness of the One who is full of grace and truth and are lifted into a higher life with God, with continual gifts of grace supplying pardon, righteousness, strength to overcome temptation, and completeness in Christ. That fullness is the grace and truth of the Word made flesh, the Lord of glory who stepped down from His throne, laid aside His kingly crown and royal robe, and clothed divinity with humanity so that humanity could touch humanity and lay hold of divinity. He became poor so that through His poverty fallen people might be made rich, redeeming them and restoring the moral image of God in man and leaving an example of self-denial and self-sacrifice. The meaning is understood by all who have a deep and living experience as sons of God, and it calls those who receive to deny self, take up the cross daily and follow Him, meeting temptation in His name and doing faithful duties and acts of charity that add to eternal glory. Through Christ every gift of heaven is granted to those who cooperate with Him, enabling them to grow toward completeness and overcome temptation and to become more than conquerors, whereas by themselves they cannot attain that completeness and human effort alone avails nothing against darkness.
Believers receive from Christ's fullness the rich fullness of God's love and the gracious outpouring of the Holy Spirit in abundance for service, bringing joy and strength, though its glory can overwhelm physical strength, and as strength returns they praise God. Those who work together with God receive grace from Christ in abundance, and that grace enlarges their hearts for wholehearted service to God, which is holiness, giving special strength for teachers to win souls. God pours out His love without limit, like showers that refresh the earth, to fill all who hunger and thirst for righteousness, so that from the fullness of Christ all receive continual grace, with righteousness poured down from the skies, salvation brought forth with it, and rivers opened in high places, fountains in valleys, and springs in dry land for the poor and needy whose tongue fails for thirst. Through God's freely given Spirit believers can drink in that rich fullness and feast upon His love as they strive for it, live for it, and believe for it, with fresh gifts each day increasing capacity to enjoy God. The people who came to Him for healing and teaching rejoiced as they received the grace of a merciful Saviour, sustaining diligent service while time lasts and comforting the afflicted as they rely on Jesus without anxiety. Receiving grace from Christ means progressing from grace to grace, from faith to greater faith and glory to greater glory, as Christians and churches move onward and upward, growing in spiritual strength and glory, and this progress is the privilege of all, contrasted with backsliding into weakness and division.
Sharing Grace Received
Grace received from Christ's fullness is to flow out to others like living water, revealing Jesus as experimental inward and outward life. What is received by fully accepting Him by faith is to be acknowledged and shown in speech and influence, exerting a saving influence that helps win souls to safe paths and works together with Christ. It is to be freely given, for those who receive Christ receive grace in order to give grace, drawing substance from Him as the root sustaining every branch to bear much fruit. In this way grace in the soul flows out and, as it is shared, more flows in, to be returned to God through willing offerings and purest service. His fullness so received is His glory as altogether lovely and chiefest among ten thousand, His mercy, forbearance, long-suffering and matchless love, seen when His image as the Word made flesh full of grace and truth is beheld by spiritually anointed eyes. Receiving from that fullness calls for departing from all iniquity, lifting up Jesus, talking of His love, telling of His power, losing self behind the glory of His person and the mighty power of the cross, rejoicing when His gospel is preached by whomsoever it is preached, laboring together with God, and drawing souls to Jesus so they in turn draw others to Him.
As grace is passed on to others an increase of grace is received, and if it is not imparted the supply is not continued. Every revealing of Christ's grace is given to be revealed in life in thought, word, and deed, representing His mercy, love, and power without losing the opportunity to speak and act Christ Jesus. Those who truly receive Christ appropriate God's gifts including grace upon grace for themselves and seek them so they can give to others. Giving to others leads to further receiving and increases the power to receive, for receiving and imparting are closely joined and both are blessings, and God's blessings are not to be hoarded for self but used to help others find eternal truth. As grace is exercised more grace is given, filling the heart with God's grace and Christ's righteousness so that Christ's tenderness, compassion, and love shape the life and His image is reflected in character. Failing to use His blessings to bless others forfeits the freedom and inheritance of grace, while blessings freely received are to be freely imparted.
What is received must be imparted, for grace is given and continually renewed in increased measure as believers consecrate themselves to God and share it, transforming them from self-indulgent lives into lives of service. Receiving Christ therefore brings a call to echo the invitation to come and work for the salvation of others. That commission to bid others come belongs to the entire church and to every receiver, not to ministers alone, and from the moment of conversion those who receive Christ are to become the light of the world, echoing the divine invitation from hill and valley to all with whom they come in contact. With grace in the heart they do Christ's works, placing soul, body, and spirit on His side as His human hand to impart His love to those outside the fold, living together in Christian fellowship as brothers and sisters loving one another as Christ loves them, and shining as lights in the church and in the world. God is the inexhaustible fountain of blessing, and each person receives His rich grace and lets it flow on to others rather than accumulating unused knowledge. Even when surrounding circumstances are adverse and there is little soil about their roots, church members who stand in their lot and place are trees of righteousness planted by the Lord who constantly reach heavenward and draw hidden nourishment from above, then impart grace because they have received grace, returning what comes from God to Him in purest service like fragrant boughs.
Constant receiving while imparting keeps believers in spiritual nearness to God and causes them to reflect the image of Christ. As people impart to others what they have received, they receive grace more richly and in continuing measure. Sharing the light and knowledge received leads to clearer light as God works with them, and those who work in the Lord's vineyard receive further grace as they labor. Their work itself teaches them how to work, and close connection with the Life-giver gives spiritual strength to share the unselfish love received from Him. So equipped, they bear the message of salvation and make His grace and truth known.
Christ in His fullness of grace and truth holds an infinite and inexhaustible treasure of divine life sufficient for every need, and all who receive Him by faith share in that fullness. Grace for grace means grace continually and abundantly supplied without limit, grace upon grace answering to each need and carrying the receiver forward. Receiving comes through daily surrender, beholding Christ with unswerving faith, feeding upon His word with prayer and watchfulness, and emptying the heart of pride and selfishness so He abides within, made possible because He paid the ransom, broke Satan's power as the Sin-bearer, and joined humanity to divinity. What is received gives power to become sons and daughters of God by the new birth, bringing pardon, righteousness, strength to overcome, transformation into Christ's likeness, and growth from faith to greater faith and glory to greater glory. Grace received is to flow out to others in thought, word, and deed, and as it is imparted it is received still more abundantly with growing capacity, while withholding it leaves a person incomplete.
Words of the Verse
Of His fullness all receive grace, because He is the incarnate Word full of grace and truth, and His fullness supplies grace through Him to believers. Those who receive from Him are given grace in abundance, grace upon grace, as the source of grace, power, knowledge and growth for all who receive Him and faithfully do His will. Seeing Christ rightly as the incarnate Word leads to exalting Him and revealing His character, and His teachings are the essential guidance by which people are taught of God.
That fullness is His divine life, the life-giving power from which disciples receive grace, and the infinite treasure richly and freely bestowed in wealth of grace and power for service. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, so that believers are complete in Him who is Head of all principality and power, and students who study with eye single to God's glory succeed by receiving from that fullness instead of being spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit after human tradition. His infinite fullness and sufficiency and merits are the source of spiritual life that makes believers complete in Him and one under Christ as head, and the life-giving power that blesses the world flows from His divine life to all who come into close contact with Him. It is an inexhaustible source from which grace is received without limit, sufficient and multiplied, calling for self-denying loyalty and discipleship rather than being unappreciated and turned from without relish or appetite.
Grace for grace means abundant grace received from Him, who imparts the virtue of His righteousness and power to save and supplies what human effort cannot provide. From His abundance grace is continually given, grace answering to grace and grace following grace, grace continually supplied in place of grace. This grace is the source of grace, peace and redeeming love, supplying what is needed for life and godliness, with God's sufficient grace making His strength effective in human weakness. It provides the pardon and power given to repentant believers through Christ, for Christ existed from eternity with the Father and was before John, though John was a burning and shining light, and John was not the Light who enlightens the whole world.
All means all who receive Christ, who receive from the fullness found in Him grace upon grace. As many as received Him and believe on His name are given power to become sons of God, born not of blood nor of fleshly or human will but of God, and this fullness received is pure truth in doctrine and practice, believed and practiced, forming character that prepares for the great work of this life and gives fitness for eternal service. It enables believers to work out salvation with fear and trembling as God works in them to will and to do, to be blameless and harmless sons of God shining as lights in a crooked and perverse nation holding forth the word of life. The church on earth receives from His fullness, for Christ is ready to impart the fullness of His power to those who come with wholehearted purpose and believers need His grace daily, and all followers receive of His fullness and grace for grace, which gives them their privileges as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people called out of darkness into marvelous light who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy and are now the people of God, including all who long for God.
Witness of John
John's testimony is a verbal presentation of Christ to be held before the mind instead of any artistic representation of God or heaven or Christ, who is the image of the Father and cannot be truly represented by human art. That presentation declares Christ as the eternal Word who was with God and was God in the beginning, by whom all things were made, in whom was life that was the light of men shining in darkness. He is the true Light lighting every person, who was in the world made by Him yet was not known, who came to His own who did not receive Him, yet who gives power to become sons of God to all who receive Him and believe on His name and are born of God, not of blood nor of human will. It declares the Word made flesh dwelling among men with the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, from whose completeness all receive grace added to grace. The grace so received flows out from the soul to others, and as it flows out more grace flows in to be given back to God in willing offerings.
The disciples received from that fullness after His ascension, receiving grace for grace from the fullness of grace and truth of the Word made flesh dwelling among men. Receiving Christ as the Word of God gives the new birth, and when the Holy Spirit impresses divine truth on the heart new conceptions are awakened and dormant energies are aroused to cooperate with God. When the Holy Spirit brought Christ's teachings to their remembrance their slumbering senses awoke and the meaning flashed upon their minds as a new revelation, so the experience of His life became theirs. The loveliness of His character had been seen in His words and deeds and pure, holy life in daily companionship with them, and enlightened to remember and understand Him they declared what they had seen and heard so others could have fellowship with them. As men of His appointment through whom the Word bore testimony, they proclaimed that all receive from His fullness, and in witnessing to the name of Christ they bore witness of the Father also, because all that is comprehended in Deity was represented in the human life of Christ.
John especially yielded himself to Christ's divine life and life-giving power, and through closeness to Jesus he was changed until his character reflected his Master's. Believers likewise receive from Christ's fullness, His grace given to them abundantly and continually, and the apostles' experience of receiving and proclaiming Christ's words made the truth of His life vivid to them.
Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, in contrast with the law given through Moses. From Christ's fullness believers receive an abundant supply of grace, grace upon grace. This grace provides righteousness and keeps the believing soul free from sin.
Receiving From Fullness
All who receive Christ by faith as personal Saviour receive of His fullness, grace continually and abundantly supplied. This is possible because He gave Himself to ransom humanity from the power of the destroyer, bearing the punishment belonging to sinners as the world's Sin-bearer and breaking Satan's power, and He became the center of the redeemed world. The divine Son became human, the Word made flesh full of grace and truth, joining humanity to divinity so that people may share the divine nature and escape the corruption of the world. Having taken human nature He was exposed to sharp temptation and bitter sorrow, made like men in all things yet without sin, and as High Priest He is touched with the feeling of infirmities, sympathizes with all who are tempted, and knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation. He owns every person by creation and by redemption, and is the only hope, to be received by laying open the inmost soul to Him and trusting His pardoning love, with power to become sons of God given to all who receive Him and believe on His name.
Receiving comes by daily surrender to God, looking constantly to Jesus with the eye of faith, beholding Him with supreme love and unswerving faith and trust, and keeping the eyes fixed on His perfection as the light of the world. It comes by studying His words attentively, feeding upon His word which is spirit and life, fixing the eye on Him in prayer and watchfulness, and opening mind and heart to truth. Cherished unbelief withholds the richest manifestations of grace and hinders the work of the Holy Spirit, while faith brings a rich experience of goodness and love, and as His power dwells within believers they receive more of that power. The heart must be emptied of pride, vanity and selfishness so Christ supplies the vacuum and abides within, killing the natural earthly nature and creating new life, with the Holy Spirit coming as Comforter, love taking the place of hatred, and the image of Christ and the mold of the divine likeness reproduced until the person becomes a new creature born of God. With that receiving comes yearning after entire conformity to the will of God, His holiness and peace, pardon, peace and assurance, light shed into the mind and soul-temple with the knowledge of the glory shining in the face of Jesus Christ and spiritual discernment, opened eyes to see the doctrines of the Word, and strength to be steadfast, unmovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord; turning the face away leaves a person walking in spiritual darkness.
The invitation is open to all who will come, and no one is so complete as not to need His teaching, while no one is too poor, lost or degraded to receive His cleansing and help. All who confess their sins and accept Christ as Saviour receive of His fullness, grace for grace, including repentant sinners needing pardon and new life. The law has no power to save the transgressor and speaks condemnation with no human plea accepted for acquittal, but Christ who gave Himself as the world's sin bearer becomes Mediator and Sin-pardoner for all who come to Him, justifying those who believe through His atonement, renewing them by writing His holy law in their hearts and diffusing His life through them, and giving them His strength, sufficiency and fullness to meet the claims of God's holy law. His fullness is to be presented to the sick as Christ alone the Restorer of mind and body who heals the diseased, will not leave them comfortless but will come to them, and gives His life so that because He lives they shall live also, as they have faith in Him as Restorer and cooperate by obeying the laws of health in eating, drinking and dressing, abstaining from self-gratification and indulgence of perverted appetite, and striving to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord.
Believers are to look to Christ for guidance and healing rather than putting ministers or any human mind in the place of God. Christ is the Word made flesh dwelling among men full of grace and truth, giving from His fullness grace for grace and grace upon grace to all, and to as many as receive Him giving power to become sons of God. New converts may ask counsel from those more experienced, but ministers are only human beings compassed with infirmities, not gods, and must never be put in the place of God. That power of the gospel comes upon companies raised up to fit them for service, so that new converts filled with the power of God at once enter the work imparting what they have received and carrying truth to regions beyond.
What Grace Accomplishes
Of His fullness all may receive, and the grace so received, made possible by the ransom paid for man, enables man by his own choice and obedience to accomplish God's design in making him a son of God. Through that given grace man can bear again the image of God first impressed upon him and lost through the fall, while Christ's own righteousness supplies what is lacking in man and works in him to fulfill his original destiny. Jesus Christ, the eternal Word who is God and Creator of the world made flesh full of grace and truth, gives out of His fullness grace to all, and all who receive Him and believe on His name are given power to become sons of God, and in accepting Christ are raised to a high position. To be called a child of God is the greatest honor, and learning this from Christ corrects pride, display, self-aggrandizement, and men taking to themselves great power, titles, and dignity because they do not see or believe in Him. All who receive Christ by faith share in the fullness of His grace, and receiving that grace brings a marked change of character called being born of God; as the believer opens mind and heart to truth in Jesus, grace leads to a glimpse of Christ's righteousness in the law and makes the believer a partaker of the divine nature.
This receiving gives added grace that is power to become sons of God by birth of God and not of blood or human will, enabling perfect keeping of the commandments of God, fearing the Lord, walking in all His ways, loving Him and serving Him with all heart and soul for good. All who receive Christ as a personal Saviour receive of His fullness, grace for grace, and that receiving gives power to become the sons of God, possessed of His nature, objects of His love and special affection, dwelling in Christ as Christ dwells in God. Knowing the power of His grace, they are commissioned and qualified to bear the message of salvation to a sinful world and to make known His grace and truth, and as they consecrate themselves wholly to God the grace they impart is continually renewed in increased measure. Converted to the truth and imbued with the Holy Spirit, they are under the transforming influence of divine grace, changed from a life of self-indulgence to a life of service as spiritual children adopted into the Lord's family, and by receiving Christ and doing the Word they behold His glory and receive the attributes of a character that makes them sons and daughters of God.
Grace works a transformation of character, making the receiver a child of God, filling those who give themselves to Him with love and concern for the souls He purchased through suffering, and fitting that person for fellowship with angels and for eternal service. Christ's love is the source of a disciple's love for Him, and His grace leads the disciple toward meekness, humility, and likeness to His character, transcribing purity, forbearance, mercy and righteousness in the heart. Receiving that grace is reflected in bringing the best qualities of Christ from the heart, rather than faultfinding, evil thoughts, tale-bearing, self-importance, or self-sufficiency, for grace is the treasure to bring into life and fellowship. When people behold His glory as the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth and are united to Him, His abiding presence becomes their light and He saves them wholly — soul, body, and spirit — turning supreme love for self into self-denial and supreme love for God. Christ is the all-perfect pattern, and those who look to Him are changed by the Spirit into His image, pressing the obedient forward from grace to grace until complete in Him.
By beholding His character, believers receive grace upon grace from the fullness of the One who is full of grace and truth and are lifted into a higher life with God, with continual gifts of grace supplying pardon, righteousness, strength to overcome temptation, and completeness in Christ. That fullness is the grace and truth of the Word made flesh, the Lord of glory who stepped down from His throne, laid aside His kingly crown and royal robe, and clothed divinity with humanity so that humanity could touch humanity and lay hold of divinity. He became poor so that through His poverty fallen people might be made rich, redeeming them and restoring the moral image of God in man and leaving an example of self-denial and self-sacrifice. The meaning is understood by all who have a deep and living experience as sons of God, and it calls those who receive to deny self, take up the cross daily and follow Him, meeting temptation in His name and doing faithful duties and acts of charity that add to eternal glory. Through Christ every gift of heaven is granted to those who cooperate with Him, enabling them to grow toward completeness and overcome temptation and to become more than conquerors, whereas by themselves they cannot attain that completeness and human effort alone avails nothing against darkness.
Believers receive from Christ's fullness the rich fullness of God's love and the gracious outpouring of the Holy Spirit in abundance for service, bringing joy and strength, though its glory can overwhelm physical strength, and as strength returns they praise God. Those who work together with God receive grace from Christ in abundance, and that grace enlarges their hearts for wholehearted service to God, which is holiness, giving special strength for teachers to win souls. God pours out His love without limit, like showers that refresh the earth, to fill all who hunger and thirst for righteousness, so that from the fullness of Christ all receive continual grace, with righteousness poured down from the skies, salvation brought forth with it, and rivers opened in high places, fountains in valleys, and springs in dry land for the poor and needy whose tongue fails for thirst. Through God's freely given Spirit believers can drink in that rich fullness and feast upon His love as they strive for it, live for it, and believe for it, with fresh gifts each day increasing capacity to enjoy God. The people who came to Him for healing and teaching rejoiced as they received the grace of a merciful Saviour, sustaining diligent service while time lasts and comforting the afflicted as they rely on Jesus without anxiety. Receiving grace from Christ means progressing from grace to grace, from faith to greater faith and glory to greater glory, as Christians and churches move onward and upward, growing in spiritual strength and glory, and this progress is the privilege of all, contrasted with backsliding into weakness and division.
Sharing Grace Received
Grace received from Christ's fullness is to flow out to others like living water, revealing Jesus as experimental inward and outward life. What is received by fully accepting Him by faith is to be acknowledged and shown in speech and influence, exerting a saving influence that helps win souls to safe paths and works together with Christ. It is to be freely given, for those who receive Christ receive grace in order to give grace, drawing substance from Him as the root sustaining every branch to bear much fruit. In this way grace in the soul flows out and, as it is shared, more flows in, to be returned to God through willing offerings and purest service. His fullness so received is His glory as altogether lovely and chiefest among ten thousand, His mercy, forbearance, long-suffering and matchless love, seen when His image as the Word made flesh full of grace and truth is beheld by spiritually anointed eyes. Receiving from that fullness calls for departing from all iniquity, lifting up Jesus, talking of His love, telling of His power, losing self behind the glory of His person and the mighty power of the cross, rejoicing when His gospel is preached by whomsoever it is preached, laboring together with God, and drawing souls to Jesus so they in turn draw others to Him.
As grace is passed on to others an increase of grace is received, and if it is not imparted the supply is not continued. Every revealing of Christ's grace is given to be revealed in life in thought, word, and deed, representing His mercy, love, and power without losing the opportunity to speak and act Christ Jesus. Those who truly receive Christ appropriate God's gifts including grace upon grace for themselves and seek them so they can give to others. Giving to others leads to further receiving and increases the power to receive, for receiving and imparting are closely joined and both are blessings, and God's blessings are not to be hoarded for self but used to help others find eternal truth. As grace is exercised more grace is given, filling the heart with God's grace and Christ's righteousness so that Christ's tenderness, compassion, and love shape the life and His image is reflected in character. Failing to use His blessings to bless others forfeits the freedom and inheritance of grace, while blessings freely received are to be freely imparted.
What is received must be imparted, for grace is given and continually renewed in increased measure as believers consecrate themselves to God and share it, transforming them from self-indulgent lives into lives of service. Receiving Christ therefore brings a call to echo the invitation to come and work for the salvation of others. That commission to bid others come belongs to the entire church and to every receiver, not to ministers alone, and from the moment of conversion those who receive Christ are to become the light of the world, echoing the divine invitation from hill and valley to all with whom they come in contact. With grace in the heart they do Christ's works, placing soul, body, and spirit on His side as His human hand to impart His love to those outside the fold, living together in Christian fellowship as brothers and sisters loving one another as Christ loves them, and shining as lights in the church and in the world. God is the inexhaustible fountain of blessing, and each person receives His rich grace and lets it flow on to others rather than accumulating unused knowledge. Even when surrounding circumstances are adverse and there is little soil about their roots, church members who stand in their lot and place are trees of righteousness planted by the Lord who constantly reach heavenward and draw hidden nourishment from above, then impart grace because they have received grace, returning what comes from God to Him in purest service like fragrant boughs.
Constant receiving while imparting keeps believers in spiritual nearness to God and causes them to reflect the image of Christ. As people impart to others what they have received, they receive grace more richly and in continuing measure. Sharing the light and knowledge received leads to clearer light as God works with them, and those who work in the Lord's vineyard receive further grace as they labor. Their work itself teaches them how to work, and close connection with the Life-giver gives spiritual strength to share the unselfish love received from Him. So equipped, they bear the message of salvation and make His grace and truth known.