For the law was given by Moses grace and truth subsists through Jesus Christ.
The verse sets two names side by side — Moses and Jesus Christ — and with them two ways God deals with people: law given through a servant, and grace and truth arriving in Person.
Two Verbs, Two Ministries
The wording is deliberate. The law was given; grace and truth came. One writer presses that difference hard:
The law was given by Moses. Nothing came into the world by the law. But grace and truth came, and they were really here when Christ was here. He is "the truth" — He is truth plainly set out before us; and all grace was in Him, that is, love adapted to the state man is in.
What the Law Was, and What It Was Not
What is the difference between something true and the truth itself?
The law is holy, just, and good; but still it is nowhere called the truth. The law is God's standard of what He requires from man. It states what God demands from anyone who stands before Him on the ground of his own obedience. The truth is the revealing of God, and the making known of everything else, in Christ. It is therefore not requirement, but revelation. In fact, God Himself contrasts the two here. Was it not God's law? Yes — but Moses gave it. He was the channel it came through… Besides, Christ is the Truth. He makes everyone and everything known as they really are.
The Truth Tells You What You Are
The law told people what they ought to be. Christ does something harder. He tells them what they are:
If I take the law, God never came out, and man could not get in. In the Person of Christ, God did come out, and man has gone in… Grace comes abounding over all the sin, and truth comes too. It does not tell us what we ought to be, but what we are — and man does not like that. When I come and tell a man that truth came by Jesus Christ, he does not like it, for truth says man is lost already.
Another writer describes the same pair as a double action, each with its own purpose:
There is a twofold action in all God's dealings with us — an action of truth, and an action of grace. The first uncovers the evil, the second puts it away. The first unfolds what man is, the second what God is… Both are needed: truth, to maintain God's glory; grace, to establish our blessing.
Grace and Truth Never Travel Alone
One writer explains why the two cannot be pulled apart, and where they meet:
It is interesting to note that grace is put before truth, and yet grace is not more important than truth, nor truth more important than grace. I understand that a single verb follows those two nouns to show us that we cannot separate the one from the other. We have to come to the Lord's death to understand the secret of it. At the cross we find that grace and truth have met together… You go into a garden and cut a stem, and it breaks into two stems, each holding a flower. So it is here — "grace and truth," two flowers on one stem.
Not the First Kindness, but the Full Revelation
The verse does not mean God was ungracious before Christ came. Writers are careful here:
Of course God had shown patience and grace in Old Testament times. He always was a gracious God, and He said so Himself. Again, many true and real things came to Israel through Moses. But when it comes to the absolute thing we have to turn to Christ. In Him God revealed His grace in full and showed His truth in full. The law made many true things known, but reality itself shone out in Christ.
Why does grace need man's failure first? One writer answers:
The beauty and necessity and power of grace can only be seen when man's inability is demonstrated. He cannot take hold of the blessing in his own strength. He cannot even keep a blessing already given to him.
A Servant Could Not Do This
The contrast is between two persons, not two systems:
Moses brought law. The Son of God brought grace. A servant could come and tell man what God claimed from him. But only the Son of God could unfold the heart and nature of God. Moses could not do that.
Summary
- Given vs came — the law came down through Moses, a channel. Grace and truth arrived in Person, here in the world when Christ was here.
- Requirement vs revelation — the law states what God demands from man. The truth reveals God, and shows everyone and everything as they really are.
- Truth first, then grace — truth uncovers what you are; grace puts the evil away. Both are needed: one guards God's glory, the other secures your blessing.
- One stem, two flowers — one verb joins grace and truth. They cannot be separated, and they meet at the cross.
- Fully, at last — God was always gracious. But grace showed its full power only after man's failure, and only the Son could unfold the heart of God.