THE UNFATHOMABLE WELL

John 1:16 – And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.

What exactly is John talking about in this passage? He says that we have partaken of His fullness; this fullness is the fountain of grace that Jesus spoke about in John 4 when speaking to the woman at the well. He told her if you knew who He was and if you knew the gift of God you would ask me for living water. John said that he had been drinking of this well of grace, He referred to it as the fullness of God, in other words – infinite upon infinite. There is no end to this fountain of grace that Jesus has come to offer us, we can drink and drink until our cup literally overflows. Here is how Martin Luther described this phrase found in today’s verse.

“Christ’s grace is the unfathomable well and chief fountain of all grace; he called this “Christ’s fullness.” And ours is that grace that we draw from Christ, which he distributes among us and gives for his mercy’s sake to render us pleasing and agreeable to God. Thus Saint John diverts us from any reliance on self and from any confidence in our own work and merit, and he directs us to the mercy of Christ and to the love of God.”

This fountain of grace describes the gospel of John. We see this from the very first miracle that Jesus performed. In that first miracle we see water turned to wine and we also see a wedding. It doesn’t take much to see the implication of that first miracle. In the marriage we see the intimacy of Christ and the church, out of that intimacy we see the joy of the Holy Spirit pictured by the wine. This miracle is speaking of this fullness of grace that we have received. Shortly after the miracle of turning water to wine Jesus returned to Cana and healed the son of a royal official who was burning with fever on the edge of death. Jesus just spoke the word, “Go home, your son is alive.” The official returned to his house to find the son in perfect health. This miracle was also a display of the fullness of God’s grace. Things haven’t changed even today, this fullness of grace, yes grace upon grace, is available to all that come to Him.