Grace be with you.
Summary: Once again Paul packs a lot into a few words. Understanding God’s grace requires that we understand the penalty for sin that hangs over our heads.
Paul’s parting words are simple: “Grace be with you.”
It sounds nice, but … what does it mean?
There are different kinds of grace, depending on whose grace you are talking about. Grace from me, for example, might be different than grace from you.
Some grace is worth more than others, too.
For example, if you return an overdue book to the library and the librarian says, “I’ll let it go this time but don’t let it happen again.” In that case, the “grace” is worth about thirty-five cents.
When we talk about God’s grace, we are talking about the real deal.
God, of course, is the owner of everything (Psalm 50:12). He also happens to be the Creator of everything (Genesis 1:1). As Creator and owner of everything, God happens to have authority over everything, too.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they incurred a penalty. It wasn’t a penalty like a traffic ticket where you mail in the fifteen-dollar fine, and you are good to go. The penalty they incurred was a death sentence (Genesis 2:17).
This gets a bit confusing because there are two kinds of death. One is physical, and the other is spiritual. Spiritual death is being separated from God (Luke 15: 24,32). Physical death is when the body stops working.
God could have written us off when Adam and Eve sinned, but he didn’t. He did two things that he didn’t have to do. One was putting a plan in place to redeem us from spiritual death (Genesis 3:15). The other was showing concern for Adam and Eve even though they had rebelled and disobeyed (Genesis 3:21).
Instead of giving Adam and Eve what they deserved, God graciously allowed them to live in the world he had made and clothed them with animal skins.
But what about now?
What about the post-crucifixion world?
What about the person who has accepted Jesus’ gift of salvation?
Unfortunately, the curse of sin is still at work in the flesh (Romans 7: 7-25). If we could choose to leave the flesh behind when we choose to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, life would be good. There would be no more sin. However, we continue to do things that merit death by breaking God’s Law.
The only thing that keeps us from the fire of hell is God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8).
Grace be with you.
Application: Thank God for his grace!
Food for Thought: How does living in God’s grace change our lives?
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