A Precious Plentitude

worlddic.com, J. Calvin.

John 1:16

And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.

I. THE FULNESS.

1. The fulness belongs to Christ personally. In His complex nature He possesses fulness.

(1) In Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. The fulness of omnipotence, omnipresence, wisdom, justice, mercy. The attributes of God make up a perfect total. The unity, with all its uniqueness is His. The fractional parts are ours.

(2) There was also a fulness of Christ in respect to His manhood. Nothing was lacking in Him to constitute human perfection — sinlessness, sympathy, the virtues of both sexes, human nature in its completeness.

2. In Christ is an acquired fulness. His perfect obedience secured an everlasting wellspring of merit; and now risen from the dead there is a fulness of prevalence in His intercession, of cleansing power, and of peace, when the Spirit applies the blood to the guilty conscience.

3. A fulness of dignity, prerogative, and qualification. He is a perfect prophet, priest, and king. Join all the qualities involved in name or fame and you shall find that He comprises them all in liberal, lavish fulness.

4. A fulness of every kind of perfection. All that is virtuous, amiable, noble or illustrious.

5. A fulness of the Spirit. The Lord gives not the Spirit by measure unto Him.

6. An abiding fulness. All the saints of every age have drawn their supplies from Him, but He is just as full as ever. He is never less, He can never be more than full.

II. THE FILLING.

1. Surely, then, the saints were empty before. All alike are empty of merit and satisfaction.

2. The filling is universal. All the saints partake of it.

3. There must be a personal reception in every case. Grace cannot be derived or transmitted from one individual to another.

4. It is gratuitous "Grace for grace"; not purchased or earned but received. All the doing to receive it is an undoing: the soul empties itself to be filled.

worlddic.com

I. We are shown that we ARE ALL UTTERLY DESTITUTE AND EMPTY of spiritual blessings. The abundance in Jesus Christ is intended —

1. To supply our deficiency.

2. To relieve our poverty.

3. To satisfy our hunger and thirst.

II. We are warned THAT AS SOON AS WE HAVE DEPARTED FROM CHRIST IT IS VAIN TO SEEK FOR HAPPINESS, because God hath determined that whatever is God's shall reside in Him alone. Accordingly we shall find angels and men to be dry, heaven to be empty, the earth to be unproductive, and, in short, all things to be of no value, if we wish to be partakers of the gifts of God in any other way than through Christ.

III. We are assured that WE HAVE NO REASON TO FEAR THE WANT OF ANYTHING, provided that we draw from the fulness of Christ, which is in every respect so complete as to be inexhaustable.

(J. Calvin.)