What does the law of God have to do with us, we who live after the incarnation, birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus? Are we free from the law? John’s Gospel, while not describing the birth of the Savior, takes you back to eternity and makes sure you understand that he is the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. He is the Word. He is the true light, in contrast with those who witness to the light. What does John mean in John 1:17 when he contrasts Moses with Jesus Christ?
The law was given through Moses. Understand how the Bible uses the word law. God’s law has been good — from the beginning in the Garden of Eden. It reflects his character. But, after the fall, too often mankind has used the law to try to earn favor with God, to earn a place of blessing in heaven. By its nature, the law can only condemn a sinner, it cannot declare him just. In Romans, and especially Galatians, Paul contrasts law and grace. The law he opposes is not God’s prefect law, but rather the term he uses to describe the position of false teachers who argue that in addition to the work of Christ one needs to add his own obedience to the law. There the contrast is absolute. But John has a different meaning.
“In the giving of the law God revealed himself to Moses, when ‘Yahweh passed before him’ (Ex. 34:6) as the God of grace and truth, steadfast love, and faithfulness. But in that event Moses was not to see God’s glory, even though he had prayed for it (33:20). Only after God had passed by would he remove from Moses the hand that covered him (33:18f.).”
Herman Ridderbos, The Gospel of John, p. 57
God revealed to Moses his glory, grace, and mercy. The law, even as God gave it through Moses, was good. The preface sets the tone for the 10 Commandments. Nehemiah 9:13 describes the law as just, right, and good. Compare God’s law with the practices of the pagans, and it is good. Read Psalm 19 and 119. Paul (Galatians 3:19), Stephen (Acts 7:38), and the author of Hebrews (2:2) mention the activity of angels in God giving the law through Moses. Exodus 33:18–23 records the request of Moses to see God’s glory and the response of the Lord. Exodus 34:5–7 describes God proclaiming his name, revealing the attributes of compassion, grace, being slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness — as well as being perfectly just. The final verses of the chapter show the reflected glory of God on the face of Moses, as he came down the mountain with the tablets of the law. The additional laws that Moses relayed to the people included the sacrificial system, pointing to the mercy forgiveness to be available in the coming Redeemer.
The law was a burden. Yet the details of the ceremonial and civil laws were a burden for the Israelites to keep. And because the ceremonies pointed forward, they had to be repeated again and again. Moses did not originate the law, he was simply a mediator who brought God’s law to the people — as well as interceding for the people when they sinned. But he could never remove their guilt. The law does show you your sin and your need of a Savior. But it cannot deliver you from sin.
Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ brought grace and truth. Moses was the one through whom God gave the law to his people. In Christ, grace and truth didn’t simply come in the sense of arriving, but they came into being, as one translation puts it. Jesus is truly God and the source and giver of God’s mercy. He did not do away with the law, but, as he pointed out in the Sermon on the Mount, he came to fulfill it. He is the one in whom the grace and forgiveness foreshadowed in the ceremonies come to reality. Soon John the Baptizer will point to Jesus and cry, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” As the Word he is truth.
“Law and gospel do not differ in the sense that the former only demands and the latter only promises, for both contain commandments, threats, and promises; mysteries, promises, and precepts; things to be believe, things to be hoped for, and things to be done. Not just Moses but also Christ was a legislator.
“But in all this the gospel of the New Testament, the new law, far surpasses the law of the Old Testament, the old law. The mysteries (Trinity, incarnation, atonement, and so forth) are much richer in content and embrace especially spiritual and eternal goods; the laws are much more glorious and lighter since the ceremonial and civil laws have been abolished and replaced by only a handful of ceremonies. Furthermore, ‘the law… was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ’ [John 1:17].”
Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 4, pages 451–452
John uses the full name, “Jesus Christ.” This is the first use of the name in the Gospel. John will use the name “Jesus” frequently. The only other use of both names together in this Gospel is in John 17:3, bracketing the book. Jesus, the NT expression of Joshua, “Jehovah saves,” identifies him as the Savior. Christ, from the Hebrew Messiah, refers to him as the anointed one, st apart for his office. Between the paired names, John expands on what Jesus says about himself and the works that not only authenticate his power, but are also visible manifestations of the kingdom he is establishing.
Come to the Messiah! Here at the beginning of his Gospel, John is preparing you for the whole book. He will make his purpose explicit in the last verses of John 20, but right here at the beginning, he introduces Jesus so that you can come to the Messiah. This first chapter will go on to describe Andrew and Peter, then Philip and Nathaniel, all following Jesus. He will draw Nicodemus to himself, and the woman of Sychar. But, ultimately, he will be lifted up to draw all men to himself.
As you end one year and begin another, ask yourself if you have experienced God’s grace and truth in Jesus Christ? Have you come to him? He invites you!