A CONSTANT THEME WITH PAUL is the comparison of the Covenant of the Law with the Covenant of Grace. For example, he says, “The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 5:20-21) Earlier, Paul quotes David. “Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.” (Rom. 4:8, Psa. 32:2) And, consistent with this theme, Paul elsewhere says, “Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because ‘the righteous will live by faith.’” (Gal. 3:11; cf. Gen. 16:6, Hab. 2:4) More specifically, Paul explains, “The gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.” (Col. 1:6)
In theology, grace is defined as *“the spontaneous, unmerited gift of the divine favor in the salvation of sinners, and the divine influence operating in man for his regeneration and sanctification.” A less-cumbersome anecdotal definition offers, “Mercy is not getting what you deserve; Grace is getting what you don’t deserve.” In any case, this grace is something that comes from God, is not earned through our works but through faith, and is best found in every way wrapped up in the personally received nature and character attributes of Jesus.
John describes the grace that is Jesus through his own eyewitness testimony. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) This grace emanated from and through Jesus in rays of glory, ensuing from the creative powers of the Father. Just as God said, “‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” (Gen. 1:3), and the world took on substance, so John says of Jesus, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” (John 1:4)
It is eternal life that John refers to, and that life is extended to us, unmerited except by faith, through the grace of God. He continues, “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:9-12) And for those who receive Jesus, John says, “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.” (John 1:16)
We must stop and pause to consider the ‘fullness’ of grace in Jesus. **The Louw-Nida Greek Lexicon makes semantic comment on Strong’s definition: “for the totality of the divine nature lives in him (Christ) in bodily form.” The omni-presence of the Father, the God of creation, is distilled to and filled up in the bodily form of Jesus. This permeates every aspect of his soul with the never-diminishing power of the grace of God. Paul describes this Father/Son relationship as, “The Son is the image of the invisible God.” (Col. 1:15) This grace relationship is one into which we have been invited, not by our righteousness or our doing of good works, but through simple faith in Jesus’ all-sufficiency. The law no longer has power over us; instead, mercy is extended, and grace has come from heaven. “The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless, and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.” (Heb. 7:18-19)
Paul reminds us of God’s grace triumphing over the law again and again in his letters. So do John, and Peter, and most of the other authors of the N.T. If we ponder why this is, a very obvious answer emerges: Because we need to be reminded! The daily assault of circumstances that come one after another demand that we marshal the force of our will to contend against them. We rely on a certain inner strength that we have developed over the pattern of a lifetime to manage our day-to-day affairs.
When the circumstances of a moment are not routine, when the trial is a treacherous assault of the enemy of our souls, we often muster up this same force of will. This is a risk to us, a pattern which if pursued will inevitably end with failure. Scripture calls this sin, which separates us from the Father. We need instead to reinforce a different pattern, remembering that “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:4) The only way in which this works for us is to be in right relationship, so that grace can flow to us. Maintaining that powerful relationship requires self-monitoring. This quickens us to the Spirit, and we are reminded: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” (Acts 3:20)
There are several further aspects to grace. One is that it emanates from the Father as a direct result of his character and nature, existent before this creation. It does so independently of our knowledge or acceptance of him—this is ‘prevenient grace.’ It is the grace extended prior to and throughout all human history to all mankind. It is available for, not the taking, but the receiving, by any who will. This grace existed in the Law as Messianic prophecy, but in the Covenant of Grace is realized in Jesus. Another facet is that the grace of God is free, yet conditional; it is only accessed in a covenant relationship at a very personal level of “if you then I.” This is a conundrum for the mind of the rational man, but not for the wisdom of the spiritual man. God has expressed this unmerited favor to us “in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Eph. 2:7-8)
But perhaps the most important aspect of grace is that it extends to any and all of our failures in the temptations of life, except one. Jesus said, “I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” (Matt. 12:31) And blasphemy against the Spirit is defined for us by John: “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.” (1 John 4:2-3) No Jesus follower can deny the facts of his existence. So, against all doubt, John encourages, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1John 5:13)
Q. Is my heart at rest in the self-aware and true belief in Jesus as Lord?
*Encyclopedia Britannica.
**Strong’s 4138; Louw-Nida 59.32.
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