Essays in Ephesians #11
. . . so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2: 7- 9
In Hebrew, the word for grace is chessed; it is central to the Old Testament understanding of God. In hundreds of verses it tells again and again of God’s intentional tender, merciful loving kindness. His grace is never a detached, impersonal act of kindness; it’s always a gracious action that comes from a heart-felt willingness and desire for good for another. That’s God’s heart toward us—it’s filled with loving-kindness. The Greek word charis, or grace, is in the same word family as joy, or what delights; a state causing joy or an act of joy; kindness; it gladdens
In the Old Testament, grace flows from God, who has everything, to man, who has nothing. God was gracious when He gave children to Jacob and gracious again when He gave the law to Moses. He graciously shows mercy to the poor and lowly; he spares the weak and defenseless. His graciousness is appealed to in requests to hear, to heal, to pardon, to give strength in weakness, to look upon the lonely and afflicted. It is seen in His steadfast love, His favor, His faithfulness, His forgiveness of sins, His destruction of enemies, His righteous judgments and His protection from death. He especially loves to give grace to the weak and the lost. Grace flows not only from God to man, but also from person to person. People ask for grace and mercy from each other, losers ask for grace from winners.
Grace or favor changes the one who receives it; it may change their status. Noah and Moses found grace in God’s sight. God gives His people, grace and glory. Sometimes we recognize a divine beauty, a grace, a pleasantness from God around a person. They find favor and grace in our eyes. There’s a mystery about this favor from God. We recognize it when it’s there, but we can’t make it happen. Sometimes we ourselves have it, but sometimes, for God’s good purpose, it’s withdrawn.
Old Testament writers linked God’s grace with His mercy and compassion, with His kindliness and friendliness toward us. Grace was never reduced to an obligation or a duty. It is always a free gift, a spontaneous demonstration of His goodness. Biblical grace is always relational; it is expressed inside of ongoing fellowship, both in the covenant relationship between God and Israel and in human relationships. Scriptures document the grace of host to guest, of relatives to each other or of ruler to subject. The mercying grace of God is described as a person: He sends it; it is ordered; it comes; it meets man; it follows him. Man is told to remember it; to consider it; to understand it and to wait for it.
In the New Testament, the word grace suggests making glad by free, unearned, undeserved gifts; it is used for giving thanks and as a greeting. For Paul, grace is the only way to understand and describe the reality of man’s salvation at the cross of Christ. He sees God’s favor or grace to man as completely, perfectly, purely, unconditionally and without qualification expressed in the crucifixion of His Son. To Paul God’s grace and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as one and the same thing.
Since God’s favor is fully expressed in the crucifixion, man can be saved through grace alone. Nothing man can do in and of himself, no good works, no obedience to law, will move man from death to life. Man can’t earn God’s grace in Christ, or claim it, or deserve it, he can only enter it by responding as God calls Him. There is no other way to receive salvation except by grace through faith.
The freedom of the gift of grace makes grace what it is. Men and women are set free from sin and made right with God by receiving for themselves the saving grace worked out in Christ Jesus’ death on the cross; Only Christ in us by faith makes us free and blameless. By faith we receive His life, His Holy Spirit. Reunited with God, who is life, we escape the death of separation from God. Since grace is an undeserved gift, we can’t boast in it; our only glory is in Him, in our weakness, in His cross. We can be sure of grace itself, but we can’t be sure of our continued possession of it, for man can fall from it.
Grace is powerful; it overcomes sin and death. But the power of grace over sin and death is not because grace is stronger or bigger than sin; grace is superior to sin because it is of a totally different nature and order than sin and death. Death is human destiny, we cannot escape it; sin, our human independence of God, is a human condition; it is inevitable. Grace is not our inevitable destiny, it is received by free choice. God’s revelation of Himself and His love is by His grace and our acceptance of Him is by grace. True grace can never lead to a loss of morals or sinful living because true grace is an impartation that destroys sin.
All of our Christian life is by grace because grace is embodied in Christ Jesus. A Christian life is simply saying, “Yes” to Jesus in a daily moment by moment surrender to Him that allows Him to live out His life of grace and love within us and through us.
