Making Christ Known

INTRODUCTION

We are returning to our study of the Gospel of John, looking today at John 1:15–18.

Last time, we looked at verse 14 and saw that God became man, taking on full humanity while remaining fully God, and the apostle John said, “we saw His glory.”

As we continue through this opening section (vv. 1–18), we now hear again the testimony of John the Baptist and the testimony of believers.

Read John 1:15–18.

You and I have been given the privilege of testifying about Jesus Christ.

To testify is simply to say what the Bible says about Him.

This is exactly what John the Baptist did.

He came as the forerunner of Christ to prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry.

John has already introduced us to this ministry in verse 6, where he briefly shifts from the eternal Word to “a man sent from God, whose name was John.”

John was a true man and also a prophet—the first to break the 400 years of silence between Malachi and Matthew.

The last words before John the Baptist came is from Malachi 4:4–6, which ends with a warning of a curse.

Then, after that long silence, we hear “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight’” (Matthew 3:3).

That voice is John the Baptist.

He came “in those days…preaching…saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 3:1–2).

John the apostle notices this in his prologue: “He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light” (John 1:7–8).

Now, in verse 15, we hear a brief summary of John the Baptist’s testimony.

The fuller details appear in John 1:19–36.

I. The Testimony of John the Baptist (v.15)

Notice…

A. What He Said (v.15a)

“John testified (“bore witness” LSB) about Him and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, “He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.”’” (John 1:15)

Notice the boldness of his testimony.

John “cried out”—a technical rabbinic term used for a prophet’s loud, public proclamation, showing how strong and clear his ministry was.

Matthew 3:3 identifies him as the one of whom Isaiah spoke: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight!’”

In Matthew 3:7–12, John cries out against the Pharisees and Sadducees, calling them to repent and warning of coming wrath, a winnowing fork, and unquenchable fire.

Later, Matthew 14:1–12 records John’s confrontation with Herod and his death, again showing the boldness of his witness.

So when John 1:15 says, “John bore witness about Him and cried out…,” it points to that same courageous prophetic preaching.

Before we move on, let me draw your attention to the phrase “bore witness” or “testify”…

The words “bore witness” or “testify” (martyreo) means “to give evidence or testimony, often in a legal context.

That’s how it is used in Classical Greek.

It’s also used in the present tense to indicate ongoing action.

We find this word also used in other places…

Acts 1:8 “8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the end of the earth.””

1 John 1:2 “2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—”

Revelation 1:2 “2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the witness of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.”

Martin Luther said, “I am bound to the Scriptures, and I will bear witness to them.”

This is exactly what John did.

So he “bore witness”, now let’s examine closely…

B. What He Meant (v.15b)

The apostle John shows John the Baptist’s humility and Christ’s superiority with two statements in verse 15:

The first is…

“He who comes after me has a higher rank than I.”

The phrase “Comes after me” refers to Jesus’ physical birth.

He was born six months after John (Luke 1:26).

John next says, He “has a higher rank than I.”

“higher rank” (emprosthen) literally means “in front” or “ahead,” indicating that Jesus stands before John in importance and status.

He is the preeminent one.

Paul shows us that in Colossians 1:15 when he says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

“Firstborn” is the word prototokos and it refers to preeminence not creation.

Paul is not saying Jesus was created.

He is saying that He is preeminent over all creation

Christ holds a position of supremacy over all creation.

He holds the highest rank.

John is only the voice preparing the way.

In Matthew 3:11 John says, “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

James Freeman explains that carrying a master’s sandals was the lowliest servant’s duty, and John felt unworthy to do even that for Christ, showing Christ’s greatness over him.

In John 3:25–36, John repeats that Jesus must increase and he must decrease, again confessing Jesus as greater and “in front” of him.

John was a prophet (Matthew 14:5), but Jesus is the God-Man who has always existed (John 1:1, 14).

Not only does John emphasize Christ’s superiority and preeminence, but in the second statement, he also points to Christ’s eternal nature…

2. “For He existed before me.”

Here John the Baptist testifies to Christ’s identity.

John is telling us who Jesus is by saying “He existed before me.”

That’s pointing to His eternal preexistence.

John began his gospel with that very truth in verse 1 when he said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John is saying, “In the beginning” the Word always was.

The word “beginning” (arche) connects the Gospel of John to the opening of Genesis 1:1, emphasizing that the Word existed before all of creation.

John is establishing the idea that the Word is timeless and preexistent.

Jesus is the preexistent One, the Messiah, God who has always existed and now has become man.

John the Baptist testified to this truth.

Jesus later said to the Jews, “You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth” (John 5:33).

This is the truth that he testified to.

John moves from the testimony of John to Baptist to…

II. The Testimony of Believers (vv.16–18)

John continues: “16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 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.”

The phrase in verse 16 is better translated, “Because out of His fullness we have all received,” connecting back to verse 14, where Jesus, the Word, is said to be “full of grace and truth.”

Our receiving comes from His fullness.

The word “fullness” (pleroma) appears often in Paul’s writings (especially Ephesians and Colossians) and refers to what is complete in itself—a full measure of all divine powers and graces concentrated in Christ.

Colossians 1:19 says, “For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,” and Colossians 2:9–10 adds, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete.”

Paul shows us what that “fullness” is in verse 16…

He says…

A. We All Have Received Out of His Fullness (v.16a)

John Calvin says Christ’s office contains “an abundance of all blessings, so that no part of salvation must be sought anywhere else,” since in Christ the hidden fountain of life, righteousness, and wisdom is made accessible to us.

J. C. Ryle says there is “an infinite fullness in Jesus Christ,” a treasury of all a sinner can need for time and eternity—wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption—and that out of this fullness all believers in every age have been supplied.

What have we received from His fullness?

In context, we have received “grace and truth” (vv. 14, 16), but also wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).

B. We All Have Received Truth and Grace (vv.16–18)

Let’s break this down further…

First…

Jesus is the truth

John connects Jesus’ fullness to truth.

In verse 4, Jesus is “the Light of men,” and in verses 6–9 He is “the true Light” who enlightens every man.

Jesus Himself says in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

The apostle John writes in 1 John 5:20 that the Son of God has come and given us understanding so that we may know “Him who is true,” and then says, “This is the true God and eternal life.”

Next…

2. Jesus is the source of truth

In John 8:37–40, Jesus tells the Jews that His word has no place in them and that He has told them “the truth” which He heard from His Father.

In John 8:45–47, He says they do not believe Him “because I speak the truth,” and that those who are of God hear God’s words.

Third…

3. Jesus is full of grace

2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”

Gordon MacDonald notes that this verse shows Christ’s great generosity: He was eternally rich in heaven, yet became poor—Bethlehem, Nazareth, Gethsemane, Gabbatha, Golgotha—so that through His poverty we might become eternally rich.

Because Jesus is truth, the source of truth, and full of grace…

4. We have received “grace upon grace” (v.16b)

The phrase in Greek is charin anti charitos, often rendered “grace upon grace,” and can be understood as “grace in place of grace,” like wave after wave of grace.

B. F. Westcott says each grace received becomes the foundation for greater grace—like fresh manna each morning, new grace for each new day and service.

John MacArthur comments that this supply of grace will never be exhausted; grace continually follows grace in an unending flow.

Paul experienced this when he pleaded three times about his “thorn in the flesh,” and the Lord answered, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Romans 5:17 speaks of an “abundance of grace,” Peter prays for grace “in the fullest measure” (1 Peter 1:2), and Paul says in Romans 1:5 that through Christ “we have received grace.”

Ephesians 1:6–8 says God “freely bestowed” this grace on us in the Beloved, and Ephesians 4:7 says grace is given to each one according to Christ’s measure, along with various ministry gifts.

Romans 12:6 and 1 Peter 4:10 say our differing gifts are given “according to the grace” given to us, which we must use to serve one another as stewards of God’s many-sided grace.

Every believer has received grace for salvation, for obedience, and for ministry. “Out of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”

What is…

5. Grace in comparison to Law (v.17)

“For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”

God used Moses to give the Law to Israel, and the Law reflected God’s holy and righteous character (Romans 7:7, 12).

But the Law itself was not an instrument of grace; it exposed sin and condemned, showing the need for forgiveness and pointing to Christ (Galatians 3:24).

Though God was gracious in the Old Testament, grace and truth reached their full expression and realization in Jesus Christ.

In Him, God’s salvation truth was fully revealed and accomplished; “the truth is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:21).

John reaches his crescendo in verse 18 when he says…

6. Jesus explained God (v.18)

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

When Philip said, “Show us the Father,” Jesus replied, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” and explained that He is in the Father and the Father in Him, and that the Father works through Him (John 14:8–11).

“No one has seen God at any time”—not even Moses in the full sense.

Numbers 12:8 says Moses saw the “form of the LORD,” and Deuteronomy 4:10–12 reminds Israel that at Sinai they heard God’s voice but saw no form, only fire and darkness, and Hebrews 12:29 says, “our God is a consuming fire.”

So no one can see God and live.

But we have a promise in Revelation 22:4 “4 and they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.”

“The only begotten God” is the best rendering of verse 18 and fits the prologue’s emphasis on Christ’s deity and equality with the Father.

John says “no one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

That parallels verse 1 (“the Word was with God”) and expresses Christ’s intimate shared nature with the Father.

One last note…

“He has explained Him” is the Greek word exegeomai, from which we get “exegesis.”

Jesus “exegetes” or interprets God to us.

Since no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son reveals Him (Matthew 11:27), Jesus is the clear explanation of what God is like.

Again Jesus told Philip in John 14:9, “…he who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

That’s because Jesus embodied everything that was true about the Father.

CONCLUSION

Is that the Jesus you know, the One John the Baptist bore witness about?

“The Word became flesh” to explain God to us and to pour out grace on us through His life, death, and resurrection.

That grace is received at the cross.

That’s where you come with your sin.

That’s also where you come to repent and trust in Christ alone.

Jesus existed before time, is full of truth and grace, fulfills the Law, and is the “only begotten God” who alone can save you from the justice of the Law.

You can receive this grace now by turning from your sin and coming to God through Jesus Christ.

The Bible says in Romans 10:9–10 “9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation.”

Romans 10:17 “17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

This is the specific speech about Christ you need to hear in order to call on him to save you.

Romans 10:13 “13 for “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.””

Call on Him now as we pray.

Let’s pray.