Grace and Truth Came by Yeshua
By
James Scott Trimm
In John 1:17 the KJV reads:
For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
(John 1:17 KJV)
While I normally italicize quotes. in the above case I did not. This was so that I could preserve the fact that the KJV italicizes the word “but” in this verse. When a word in the KJV appears in italics, it means that word does not actually appear in the ancient manuscripts, but was added in the KJV English.
In this case, adding the word “but” completely changes the meaning of this verse. The KJV reading contrasts the “law” with “grace and truth” as if these are diametrically opposed ideas.
Instead, this verse should be read as we read it in the Aramaic of the Old Syriac:
דנמוסא ביד מושא אתיהב
וטיבותא ושררא ביד ישוע משיחא הוא
Because the Torah through Moshe was given
And grace and truth is through Yeshua the Messiah.
In this case the word “and” does appear in the Aramaic. In this verse we have a case of synonymous poetic parallelism in which Moshe is parallel to Yeshua the Messiah and Torah is parallel to “grace and truth”.
What is Grace?
There are two words for “grace” in the Hebrew Tanak. The first word is CHEN (Strong’s 2580/2581) which means “grace or charm”. The other word is CHESED (Strong’s 2616/2617 ) which carries the meaning of “grace, mercy or undue favor.”
These two words closely parallel the meanings of the two Greek words used for grace in the Greek Bible. These are CHARIS (Strong’s 5485/5463) which means “grace or charm” and ELEOS (Strong’s 1651/1653) meaning “grace, mercy or undue favor.”
Obviously Hebrew CHEN = Greek CHARIS and Hebrew CHESED = Greek ELEOS. Now the KJV tends to translate CHEN/CHARIS as “grace” but tends to translate CHESED/ELEOS as “mercy”. Now when we think of “grace” in biblical terms we are usually thinking of the concept of CHESED/ELEOS “undue favor”.
Now if we follow with the KJV translation scheme then it appears that there is much more grace in the New Testament than the Tanak, since CHEN only appears 70 times in the Tanak while CHARIS appears 233 times in the New Testament. But remember, the concept of “undue favor” is actually CHESED/ELEOS. CHESED appears 251 times in the Tanak, while ELEOS appears only 50 times in the New Testament. If anything there is far more “grace” in the Tanak than in the New Testament.
Now let us turn to the Tanak to get a better understanding of what grace really is. According to the Scriptures there is a close connection between “grace” and the “fear of YHWH”:
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his grace (CHESED)
toward those who fear him.
(Psalm 103:11)
Oh let those who fear YHWH say,
“His grace (CHESED) is everlasting.
(Psalm 118:4)
By grace (CHESED) and truth
iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of YHWH
one keeps away from evil.
(Proverbs 16:6)
And the fear of YHWH, according to the Tanak, includes Torah observance:
…that he may learn the fear of YHWH his God,
to keep all the words of this Torah
and these statutes, to do them:
(Deut. 17:19)
…that they may hear, and that they may learn,
and fear YHWH your God,
and observe to do all the words of this Torah.
(Deut. 31:12)
Therefore there is clearly no conflict between grace and Torah. In fact the Torah is closely connected to grace.
(For more on this topic see my earlier blog Faith, Grace and Torah)
What is Truth?
What is Truth? The Pslamist says:
Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your Torah is truth.”
(Psalm 119:142)
You are near, O YHWH, and all your commandments are truth.”
(Psalm 119:151)
(For more on this topic see my earlier blog The Torah is Truth)
Conclusion
Yochanan 1:17 is not contrasting the Torah that Moshe gave us with the “grace and truth” that Messiah gave us. This verse is expressing through the common Hebrew poetry device of poetic parallelism, that the “grace and truth” which Messiah came to give is the Torah that Moshe also gave us!
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