The giving of the law was a remarkable thing. It was a direct word from God, through Moses, to His people. God’s word was no longer hidden. “This commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off” (Deut. 30:11). There was a majesty and glory connected with the law. That being said, it proved, for poor sinful man, a ministration of death. “The ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious” (2 Cor. 3:7). Although there was a promise of life and blessing, there was also a curse if one did not continue in it (Gal. 3:10). We cannot have one without the other—the blessing while dismissing the curse. “The commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death” (Rom. 7:10). When we come to the New Testament, however, we find something far superior in glory. “If the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory” (2 Cor. 3:9).
The expression ten commandments (which occurs just three times in the word of God) could be translated literally as ten words—it uses the Hebrew דברים (devarim), meaning words. When we come to the New Testament, however, we read: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Word is here the Greek λογος—logos. This was a term familiar to the Greek philosophers. It was, for them, the reason pervading and underlying the universe. In Christianity, the Word, the Logos, is elevated to something even higher; something that transcends the reason of man. The Word is a distinct person of the Godhead, eternal and divine. It is the very expression of the Godhead. John takes us further and writes: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). That the Logos, who uttered the universe into existence, and now upholds it by the word of His power (John 1:3; Heb. 1:3), should become flesh is incomprehensible. The eternal and divine One becoming human, born of a woman, made flesh—this is beyond astonishing. And if that were not enough, John adds: “Of His fulness we all have received, and grace upon grace” (John 1:16). Grace upon grace in overflowing abundance.
“The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). The law demanded righteousness from man. Grace and truth, on the other hand, make known God. Grace is what God is towards man—His activity of love in the midst of evil. Whereas truth tells us what God and man are. If the verse had simply said “truth came by Jesus Christ”—and indeed, Jesus could say, “I am ... the truth” (John 14:6)—it would have been over for man. The truth would have condemned without remedy. Also, it is grace and truth and not truth and grace. Grace enables souls to receive the truth and to bear it, although, as sinners, we are judged by it. Grace and truth are intimately connected with the Son coming in flesh and the revelation of the Father. Grace and truth came into the world in the person of the Son. In the Son we have a full revelation of the Father (Matt. 11:27). The law revealed aspects of God’s nature, and the things it foreshadowed we can now reflect upon with delight; but it was not a revelation of God. The righteousness that the law looked for in man, but did not find, Christ displayed in His life; in His death we have something more—the righteousness of God manifested through grace.