John 1:16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

All of my standard versions of the bible leave this verse literally unchanged. Some swap the wording in order to emphasis that “we all have received” which doesn’t change the meaning of the KJV.

Is the truest meaning John 1:16 understood or do we glaze over it as some acceptable emotional concept that is more felt than understood with any great depth? I say this because for most of my Christian walk it has been exactly that, accepted without any real depth of meaning. I don’t blame you if you were as I was in this. How could I? I did it.

Let us begin with the receiving. We have received the fullness of Christ. Christ in me and Christ in you is no less than the God that sits on the right hand throne of God. All that He is in power and majesty has not diminished just because He has taken up residency within our hearts and souls. Our, not mine, our hearts and souls.

Do you entreat your brothers and sisters in Christ with the same honor and respect as the God inside you? Is your speech as gracious to them as His speech is to you? Do you recognize and accept the grace coming from your brothers and sisters in Christ as coming from God Himself? Is honor given where honor is due or do we see them as something less?

Psalm 36:8-9 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

The fountain of life is the outpouring of grace from God through each of us. It is not external but rather internal. We have received all of Christ.

Genesis 19:17-22 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

Note here that Lot believed he had found grace in God’s sight and yet begged not to obey God’s gracious gift. When told to go to the mountain Lot said no. He offered up an alternative, as if he, Lot, was holding God captive in the moment and could extract a bit more grace beyond what was spoken.

Lot’s asking was based on a false assumption, that he, Lot, had found favor in God’s eye.

Genesis 19:29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

God saved Lot because of the love that He had for Abraham. In like kind we should keep in mind that the grace extended to us is much the same. We are the bride of Christ and that which the Son loves, the Father loves and treats graciously.