(NIV) From the fulness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.
(NAS95) For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
“fulness” in the Greek is pleroma which means that which fills. We have all received of the blessings of Christ which completely fill us. Barclay says that the significance of this is that “A man can go to Jesus with any need and find that need supplied.”
In verse 14 John had written that they had seen His glory. Now, it is a good thing to see, but it is a much better thing to have “received.” It was just a few who had seen, but all of us who have believed in Him have received. What is it that we have received? His fullness. He gives us everything we need, but it is not just “things” that He gives us – He gives us Himself! That is what he accomplished by His death on the cross. The alabaster jar could only fill the room with its fragrance after it was broken. Jesus had to be broken for us to receive of His fullness.
“grace for grace” (KJV) = “grace over-against grace” (YLT) (charis anti charis) means “grace instead of grace” or “grace in exchange for grace.” The preposition (anti) is used in (Luke 11:11) a serpent for a fish. RWP states, “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.” This is reminiscent of (NAS95 2Cor 3:18) where we are being transformed into His image “from glory to glory.” We need more and more of God’s grace every day. Fortunately, He gives us more grace (James 4:6).
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NAS95) But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
James 4:6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
A missionary came to one of the ancient Pictish kings with the gospel message and the king asked him what he might find if he became a Christian, to which the missionary replied, “You will find wonder upon wonder and every one of them true.” (Barclay)
In Christ we, too, find wonder upon wonder. The more we know him, the more wonderful and beautiful we find that He is.
Grace upon grace gives the sense of continuous supply for our needs. Maclaren writes:
Just as a careful gardener will stand over a plant that needs water, and will pour the water on the surface until the earth has drunk it up, and then add a little more; so He gives step by step, grace for grace, an uninterrupted bestowal, yet regulated according to the absorbing power of the heart that receives it. Underlying that great thought are two things: the continuous communication of grace, and the progressive communication of grace. We have here the continuous communication of grace. God is always pouring Himself out upon us in Christ. There is a perpetual out flow from Him to us: if there is not a perpetual inflow into us from Him it is our fault, and not His. He is always giving, and His intention is that our lives shall be a continual reception. Are they? How many Christian men there are whose Christian lives at the best are like some of those Australian or Siberian rivers; in the dry season, a pond here, a stretch of sand, waterless and barren there, then another place with a drop of muddy water in some hollow, and then another stretch of sand, and so on. Why should not the ponds be linked together by a flashing stream? God is always pouring Himself out; why do we not always take Him in?
There is but one answer, and the answer is, that we do not fulfill the condition, which condition is simple faith. ‘As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God; even to them that believed on His name.’ Faith is the condition of receiving, and wherever there is a continuous trust there will be an unbroken grace; and wherever there are interrupted gifts it is because there has been an intermitted trust in Him. Do not let your lives be like some dimly lighted road, with a lamp here, and a stretch of darkness, and then another twinkling light; let the light run all along the side of your path, because at every moment your heart is turning to Christ with trust. Make your faith continuous, and God will make His grace incessant, and out of His fulness you will draw continual supplies of needed strength.
But not only have we here the notion of continuous, but also, as it seems to me, of progressive gifts. Each measure of Christ received, if we use it aright, makes us capable of possessing more of Christ. And the measure of our capacity is the measure of His gift, and the more we can hold the more we shall get. The walls of our hearts are elastic, the vessel expands by being filled out; it throbs itself wider by desire and faith. The wider we open our mouths the larger will be the gift that God puts into them. Each measure and stage of grace utilised and honestly employed will make us capable and desirous, and, therefore, possessors, of more and more of the grace that He gives. So the ideal of the Christian life, and God’s intention concerning us, is not only that we should have an uninterrupted, but a growing possession, of Christ and of His grace.”
Is that the way it is with you? Can you hold more of God today than you did last year? Is your capacity for Him greater than it has ever been? If that is not true, then the problem is not that you can’t hold more; it is that you don’t want more because you have been unfaithful with what you have already been given. But it is never too late with God. Open your mouth wide and ask God to fill it!