John 1:16

[Reformed Covenanter]

"And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." (John 1:16). Reading one of Matthew Henry's sermons on this verse earlier, he suggested that the latter clause could be translated "grace instead of grace" (the Greek reads "χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος"); and my Greek Interlinear agrees with this translation.

Is anyone here able to comment further on this issue? If so, is the purpose of the text to teach us that there is a greater outpouring of grace in the New Testament? In view of verse 17, that conclusion would seem to make sense. Moreover, Strong's Concordance suggests that the preposition ἀντὶ may denote that the author is making a contrast.

 

[Ask Mr. Religion]

Calvin is instructive on John 1:16:

And, grace for grace. In what manner Augustine explains this passage is well known - that all the blessings which God bestows upon us from time to time, and at length life everlasting, are not granted as the reward due to our merits, but that it proceeds from pure liberality that God thus rewards former grace, and crowns his own gifts in us. This is piously and judiciously said, but has nothing to do with the present passage.

The meaning would be more simple if you were to take the word for (ἀντὶ) comparatively, as meaning, that whatever graces God bestows on us, proceed equally from the same source. It might also be taken as pointing out the final cause, that we now receive grace, that God may one day fulfill the work of our salvation, which will be the fulfillment of grace.

For my own part, I agree with the opinion of those who say that we are watered with the graces which were poured out on Christ; for what we receive from Christ he does not bestow upon us as being God, but the Father communicated to him what would flow to us as through a channel. This is the anointing with which he was anointed, that he might anoint us all along with him. Hence, too, he is called Christ, (the Anointed,) and we are called Christians.​

 

[Cymro]

Drawing from the misty past, I recollect one stating that, grace for grace means ,“the grace lost by Adam is restored in Christ the last Adam.” Which would suit “instead or for.”