15 [a]John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I said, He that cometh [b]after me, was [c]before me: for he was better than I.

16 (A)[d]And of his fullness have all we received, and [e]grace for grace.

17 For the Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

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Footnotes

  1. John 1:15 John is a faithful witness of the excellency of Christ.
  2. John 1:15 That is, He before whom I am sent to prepare him the way: so that these words are referred to the time of his calling, and not of his age, for John was six months older than he.
  3. John 1:15 This sentence hath in it a turning of the reason as we call it, as who would say, a setting of that first which should be last, and that last which should be first: for in plain speech this it is: He that cometh after me, is better than I am, for he was before me. The like kind of turning the reason we find in Luke 7:47: many sins are forgiven her, because she loved much, which is thus much to say, she loved much, because many sins are forgiven her.
  4. John 1:16 Christ is the most plentiful fountain of all goodness, but then he poured out his gifts most bountifully, when as he exhibited and showed himself to the world.
  5. John 1:16 That is grace upon grace, as a man would say graces heaped one upon another.

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