What Does the "Grace Upon Grace" Mean That We Receive in Christ?
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"Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given." - John 1:16
Sometimes I wake in the dead of night and the day’s poor choices flood my mind. The guilt, the heaviness, and the pain make me question if God will ever get tired of my issues. Yet, He gives me grace upon grace—something I will never truly comprehend on this side of heaven. Before I gave my life to Christ, I questioned how anyone could love someone like me. The hopelessness and regret try to shroud me in a cavern of darkness. Yet, the incredible light of God’s love illuminated His priceless gifts of mercy, forgiveness, and grace.
Have you ever felt the weight of feeling unworthy? Or the way hopelessness untethers your soul? But then you meet the One who gives grace not because you deserve it but because He loves you anyway? God gives us grace upon grace because we’re all flawed, imperfect human beings in need of saving.
Jesus loved us so immeasurably that He sacrificed Himself with all of His infinite perfection. He took the penalty of our sin and made it His own. There is sin, no darkness, no crime ever committed that His limitless purity and goodness has not already paid for. In other words, Jesus’s actions became the unthinkable transfer: the perfect Son of God taking our darkness, crimes, hatred, deceit, and lies, becoming our unrighteousness so that we could receive His perfection as our own. This is the definition of grace. The word translated "grace" in the New Testament comes from the Greek word charis, which means “favor, blessing, or kindness.”
What Is the Meaning of 'Grace upon Grace'?
John 1:16 says, “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in a place of grace already given.” In other words, grace upon grace. This passage tells us that Jesus’ fullness is the never-ending source of grace. Let’s break down this verse:
#1 “Out of His Fullness…”
Whatever we have in Jesus, it comes from His fullness in God. Through this relationship, He is full of grace and truth (John 1:14). We are incomplete without Christ. He is the Word of God in flesh. He revealed our heavenly father to us. Through Jesus, we have all we could ever need. He is our infinite source of grace and truth.
#2 “…we have all received grace”
If you’re alive and living on this planet, you have already benefited from God’s grace and goodness. Every sinner, saint, atheist, agnostic, and doubter have all received His gifts of through being alive, witnessing God’s hand-painted sunsets, the breath in their lungs, or the love of a parent. Everyone has benefited from the goodness in this world that God not only created but provided.
Matthew 5:45 says, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” All have received the grace of life.
#3 “…in a place of grace already given.”
Jesus died for our sins so that we can live in Him and through Him. God sent His one and only son as a perfect sacrifice to take our place on the cross. This is the gift of salvation. The gift of undeserving grace. Before Jesus there was only the law, John 1:17 says that “the law was given through Moses.” The law was given to the Israelites but it did not truly make us free nor did we have complete communion with God. But then Jesus arrived on the scene making the law of Moses more like the “ministry of death” (2 Corinthians 3:7). Because of Jesus, we have received grace upon grace that was already given. On top of salvation, God continues to bless us every day with new mercies out of the riches of his glory (Ephesians 3:16). His ultimate goal is that we enjoy the glory we have in Jesus! John 17:24 shows us Jesus is praying for us, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”
What is the Origin of Grace?
Grace was birthed in heart of God and began weaving its legacy throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament. Jesus came into the world as Son of God, to make Him known to us in ways that were not yet fully known (John 1:17). For without this gift, the wages of our sins were death. So, Jesus took our place on the cross. He died a sinner’s death, paying for our sins. When there was no way, Jesus made a way. Jesus saved us through the gift of grace—a gift that cannot be paid back. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves.”
Out of the fullness of God in Jesus, we all can receive the gift of grace. Grace was already given in the beginning, but it was replaced with a new and greater grace! God’s grace is new each day, sometimes we are in need of grace moment by moment, even breath by breath and before we can comprehend the gift of grace today, God heaps on the gift of grace tomorrow and the next day.
We often think of grace beginning at the cross, but the story of grace goes back to the beginning of time. All the way back to the first few chapters in the book of Genesis. The story unfolds in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating from the forbidden tree and unleashed sin into the world. God then banished them from the garden.
I used to think they had to leave because God was punishing them. After all, they had broken His rules and refused to take responsibility for their choices. It looked like God had given them what they deserved, but God was coming to them from a place of grace.
He sent them from the garden because sin had corrupted everything. If they had been allowed to stay, they would’ve kept eating from the forbidden tree of good and evil; right alongside the Tree of Life, the tree that gave immortality (no disease, no death, no heartbreak, or separation from God). If they had been allowed to stay, it would have been a life of unending shame, a life of carrying all the brokenness that their sin had brought with it. In God’s amazing grace, He shepherded them out of the garden and had a plan to redeem all of humanity so we can all experience the resurrected life His Son Jesus would one day provide.
What Does the Bible Say About God's Abundant Grace?
This means Jesus has come to touch and transform our lives. He brings us out of pain, fear, disappointment, poor choices, regret, hopelessness, and ushers us into a life of forgiveness, mercy, grace, and love. But He doesn’t want us to just be grateful we aren’t going to hell or that He eases our burdens—He wants to have life and live it abundantly. He wants us to be free of guilt, shame, or anything else that might blind us to His purpose, fullness, and love. In John 10:10, Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” The word “abundant” in the Greek is perisson, means “exceedingly, beyond measure, more, superfluous, a quantity so abundant as to be considerably more than what one would expect or anticipate.”
Jesus wants us to walk in His footsteps and live in today’s grace so that it fills us up and pours over into friends, family, and strangers we encounter. Each day will have struggles and disappointments that give us the opportunity to bring the fullness of God or let our issues get in the way. Yet, each morning the rising sun brings the promise of God’s grace fresh and new. It covers us with love, joy, peace, and all the Fruit of the Spirit. May we taste the manna of His grace and flourish in His love!
A Prayer for Grace Upon Grace
Lord, thank you for your abundant, abounding grace. Thank you that we don't have to earn a drop of the mighty river of grace that flows freely for us today. Thank you for the unexpected, unmerited favor you've showered on my life. Help me put myself in the path of your love and grace. Help me not neglect the disciplines I need to meet with you regularly and to drink from the water of life. Thank you for your rich love. Amen.
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This article is part of our larger resource library of popular Bible verse phrases and quotes. We want to provide easy-to-read articles that answer your questions about the meaning, origin, and history of specific verses within Scripture's context. We hope that these will help you better understand the meaning and purpose of God's Word in your life today.