Editorial: Grace upon Grace
A vital power in
the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ is
grace.
Grace means both
a knowledge of all God’s love, forgiveness and caring for us that is ours in the
Lord Jesus and the power that the knowledge and experience of
grace gives
to our living for him.
The Greek word
for grace is charis, meaning simply the favour of God, granted
freely and undeservedly to those who believe in His son. Charis is also
translated as gracious and graciously to describe the words and actions of God
and Jesus. In the synagogue at Nazareth, as Jesus spoke of his fulfilment of
the words of Isaiah 61 about God’s anointed one preaching good tidings to the
poor, healing the broken-hearted, freeing captives, and proclaiming the year of
the Lord’s favour, his hearers marvelled at the “gracious” words which he
spoke (Luke 4). (until he spoke about God’s favour to the Gentiles)
In the Old
Testament, the Hebrew word, chen, is translated as favour and chenan
is a verb meaning to be gracious. Thus, Noah “found grace in the
eyes of the LORD” (Gen. 6:8).
In Job 33,
looking forward to the grace that is ours in Jesus Christ, Elihu tells
Job how God works with a person and how a mediator who shows him God’s
uprightness will cause God to be gracious to him. So he will see God with
joy, for God has rendered to him His righteousness and redeemed his life from
the grave so that he might see the light.
John writes of
Jesus in John 1:14-18 that he was “full of grace and truth”. Jesus makes
the grace and truth of God, which filled his being, known to us in his
life. We see his grace in his care for the lost sheep of his people, in
his gracious words of spirit and life, and in his healing that expressed
so powerfully his Father’s purpose to make us clean and straight and strong and
free from sin to serve Him.
We see Jesus’
truth in his uncompromising words to the religious teachers of Israel - pointing
out their hypocrisy, their putting human traditions above God’s law and their
wrong teaching. To other sinners, who confessed their sins and sought his help,
he showed a remarkable spirit of grace and forgiveness that was intended
to inspire them to sin no more. Yet, he could also be blunt in reproving his
disciples, as he was with Peter, saying, “Get behind me, Satan. You are an
offence to me.” (Mat 16:22-26)
John continues,
saying, “And of his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace”-
an overflowing, pouring out of his grace and love as we see expressed
many times in the inspired words of the Apostle Paul. This grace is not
a technical absolution of sins imparted by a duly ordained priest, nor is it a
mere emotional feeling stirred up by music and exciting preaching. Grace
is experienced in our appreciation of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ and of
his hard won triumph over sin for our sakes that we might be forgiven because of
our faith in him. By that faith in Jesus Christ as our Saviour, the absolute
rule of sin over us is broken and we begin to experience the joy and peace of a
new relationship with our heavenly Father and His Son.
“Therefore,
having been justified (counted righteous) by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into
this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in the glory of God. But God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the
death of His son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his
life.” (Romans 5:1-10) So, grace describes our new relationship with
God through our Lord Jesus that opens our life to the power of the Lord Jesus’
life, love and intercession for us (Romans 8:33-39).
In the preaching
of the gospel recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, grace plays a very
important part. We read in Acts 4:32-33 of the unity of those who believed in
the face of threats and trial, of their sharing with each other all that they
possessed, and the bold witness of the apostles to the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus. “And great grace was upon them all.” Here, the word grace
includes not only their faith in the Lord of grace and truth, but the joy
and confidence inspired in them by his grace toward them.
Acts 11:19-23
tells how some of those scattered abroad by the persecution, led by Saul of
Tarsus, came to Antioch in Syria where they preached the Lord Jesus to
Gentiles. “And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed
and turned to the Lord.” Hearing of this, the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas
to Antioch. “When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad,
and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the
Lord.” Evidently, the grace of God was not only the essence of the
gospel they had believed; it was apparent in the lives of these Gentiles who
were now committed to the Lord Jesus.
Acts 14:1-3 describes
Paul and Barnabas in Iconium preaching boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and
his bearing witness “to the word of his grace” by enabling the apostles
to do miracles to confirm that very wonderful word.
Paul himself uses
that phrase twice in his farewell words to the elders of Ephesus (Acts 20) as he
journeyed to Jerusalem expecting imprisonment. Paul reminds them of the example
that he had given them in the two-plus years he had lived among them and of the
content of his preaching, warning them that chains and tribulations lay ahead of
him in Jerusalem as part of his ministry from the Lord Jesus to testify to the
gospel of the grace of God. He warns them about the savage wolves, men
speaking perverse things, that would come among them after his departure and
urged them to “watch”. Then, in v 32, he says, “I commend you to God and to the
word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an
inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
This “word of His
grace”, God’s grace, expressed in the life of the Lord Jesus and
coming to us through our faith in him and through our truly being in him, is a
word with power. It has the power to build us up spiritually and give us an
inheritance among all those who are sanctified. For that is the purpose of this
“word of His grace”, the sanctification or consecration of a new creation
of people who live no longer for themselves, but for him who for their sakes
died and was raised (Galatians 2:20.3:13:).
The Apostle Paul
tells Titus to teach older men, older women, young women, young men and servants
the noble qualities of mind and behavior which must be learned and practised by
disciples of the Lord. He exhorts Titus to show himself in all things a pattern
of good works�in teaching showing integrity, dignity and sound speech. “For”,
Paul writes, “the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all
men, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live
self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age, looking for the
appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to
redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own
possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:11-14). The grace of
God, made known to us so abundantly in His son, is intended by God to profoundly
change our minds, our speech and our behaviors. Grace is shown us to
train our minds so that we might live godly lives that are focused on the coming
of our Lord.
In the 13 New
Testament letters that bear his name, the Apostle Paul always says, “Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ”. As the
apostle of the Lord Jesus, inspired in his writing, Paul communicates grace
and peace to his readers. His mission, as we noted in Acts 20, was to testify
to the grace of God. These are not merely routine words of salutation.
The apostle uses them because the grace and peace of God and of His son
are such important elements in disciples being spiritually empowered to live
lives that are truly in fellowship with God’s Son (I Cor. 1:9).
We are often
critical of those who claim a personal relationship with our Lord, on the basis
of a very superficial understanding of the call of Jesus Christ and an induced
emotional experience. Yet, the greater depth of understanding of the meaning of
his life and sacrifice and of his relationship to God that we have been
privileged to receive must surely draw us to him with a fuller personal
commitment. Our relationship with our Lord must be very personal, and, being
so, will be blessed and empowered with grace and peace.
So, dear brothers
and sisters, let our thoughts, our words, and our deeds be always expressive of
the overflowing grace that we have all received “of his fullness.”
Blessed with his grace and truth, let us, by the open statement of the
truth, commend ourselves to every one’s conscience in the sight of God (2 Cor.
4:1-5), “correcting our opponents with gentleness” (2 Tim. 2:24-26).
Br. Bob Green
