Full of grace and truth; and we have seen His glory, the glory as the Only Begotten of the Father. 

Having said that the Word was made flesh, the Evangelist adds: "We have seen the glory of "Him," that is, of Him who is in the flesh. For if the Israelites could not look at the face of Moses, illumined by communion with God, then the apostles would not have been able to bear the pure (without covering) Only-begotten Divinity, if He had not appeared in the flesh. We have not seen such glory as Moses had, or with which the cherubim and seraphim appeared to the prophet, but such glory as befitted the Only-begotten Son, as was inherent in Him by nature from God the Father. The particle "as" here does not mean assimilation, but affirmation and indubitable determination. Seeing the king coming with great glory, we say that he came as a king, instead of saying, "Truly royal." Likewise, here we must understand the words "as the Only-begotten" in this way; the glory we saw was the true glory of the true Son, full of grace and truth. The word "full of grace" because His teaching was, so to speak, blessed with grace, just as David says: "Grace flowed out of Thy mouth" (Psalm 44:3), and the Evangelist remarks that everyone was amazed at the "words of grace" that proceeded out of His mouth (Luke 4:22), and because He gave healing to all who needed them. "Full of truth" because all that the prophets and Moses himself said or did were types, and what Christ said and did is full of truth, since He Himself is grace and truth, and distributes them to others. "Where did they see this glory?" One may think with some that the Apostles saw this glory of Him on Mount Tabor, but it is also fair to understand that they saw it not only on this mountain, but in everything that He did and said.

  John bears witness to Him, and exclaiming, he says, "This was the One of whom I said, that He who came after me stood before me, because he was before me." 

The Evangelist often refers to the testimony of John, not because the authenticity of the Lord makes him dependent on the slave, but since the people had a high understanding of John, he refers to John as a witness to Christ, whom he reveres as great and therefore more trustworthy than anyone else. The word "shouting" indicates John's great boldness, for he did not cry out for Christ in a corner, but with great boldness. What did he say? "This was He of Whom I spoke." John testified of Christ before he saw Him. Thus God was well pleased, of course, so that he, bearing witness to Christ from a very good side, would not appear to be partial in relation to Him, wherefore he says, "Of whom I spoke," that is, before I saw Him. "He who follows me" is, of course, of course, coming according to the time of birth; for the Forerunner was six months older than Christ by birth in the flesh. "He became before me," that is, he became more honorable and glorious than I. Why? - because He was before me, according to the Divine. And the Arians foolishly explained this saying. Wishing to prove that the Son of God was not begotten of the Father, but came into being as one of the creatures, they say: Behold, John bears witness to Him, he stands before me, that is, he came before me, and was created by God as one of the creatures. But from what follows they are convicted of an evil understanding of this saying. For what thought is expressed in the words: "This (that is, Christ) stood before me (that is, was created before me), because he was before me? It is utterly insane to say that God created Him before because He was before me. On the contrary, it would be better to say: This was before me, because he became or was created before me. This is how the Arians think. And we understand it in the Orthodox way that "he who comes after me," by birth of a Virgin in the flesh, "has gone before me," has become more glorious than I and more honorable because of the miracles that were performed on Him, because of His Nativity, because of his upbringing, because of his wisdom. And this is just, "because He was before me," according to the eternal birth of the Father, although after the appearance in the flesh He also came after me.

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

And these are the words of the Forerunner, who speaks of Christ, which all of us, the prophets, have received of the fullness of "Him." For He has not such grace as spiritual men have, but, being the source of all good, all wisdom and prophecy, He pours it out abundantly on all who are worthy, and in such an outpouring He remains full, and is never exhausted. And we have received the "grace" of the New Testament, of course, instead of the grace of the law. Since that Testament has become obsolete and decrepit, we have adopted the New Testament in its place. Why, it will be said, did he call the Old Testament grace? Because the Jews were also adopted and received by grace. For it is said, I have chosen you not for your multitude, but for your fathers. And the Old Testament things are received by grace, and we are obviously saved by grace.

  For the law was given through Moses, and grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.