John 1:16

For (oti). Correct text (Aleph B C D L) and not kai (and) of the Textus Receptus. Explanatory reason for verse 14 . Of his fulness (ek tou plhrwmato). The only instance of plhrwma in John's writings, though five times of Christ in Paul's Epistles ( Colossians 1:19 ; Colossians 2:9 ; Ephesians 1:23 ; Ephesians 3:19 ; Ephesians 4:13 ). See Colossians 1:19 for discussion of these terms of the Gnostics that Paul employs for all the attributes of God summed up in Christ ( Colossians 2:9 ) and so used here by John of the Incarnate Logos. We all (hmei pante). John is facing the same Gnostic depreciation of Christ of which Paul writes in Colossians. So here John appeals to all his own contemporaries as participants with him in the fulness of the Logos. Received (elabomen). Second aorist active indicative of lambanw, a wider experience than beholding (eqeasameqa, verse Colossians 14 ) and one that all believers may have. Grace for grace (carin anti carito). The point is in anti, a preposition disappearing in the Koin and here only in John. It is in the locative case of anta (end), "at the end," and was used of exchange in sale. See Luke 11:11 , anti icquo opin, "a serpent for a fish," Hebrews 12:2 where "joy" and "cross" are balanced against each other. Here the picture is "grace" taking the place of "grace" like the manna fresh each morning, new grace for the new day and the new service.