John 1:17 (LSB)

Passage

For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Nearby Context

John 1:15 John bore witness about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has been ahead of me, for He existed before me.’”

John 1:16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

John 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

John 1:19 And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "grace", "given", "through", "moses", "truth", "came", and "jesus". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "grace" and "given", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 16's "For of His fullness we have all..." into verse 18's "No one has seen God at any...", so "grace" and "given" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "grace" and "given" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.