Grace, Peace, And Glory

Opening Illustration

Galatians 1:3–5 ESV

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

It was Christmas Eve, and the year was 1914. Germany and Britain have been dug into trench warfare for months, and there is no sign of the fighting letting up. Yet this Christmas Eve, instead of rifles being risen over the German trenches to fire on the British, something glowing is lifted up upon the parapets and turrets. A fir tree with lights on it, and along with that is the raising of songs: Christmas carols. The British open fire, but the Germans offer no response. On Christmas Eve of 1914, a weird occurrence happens that will never repeat itself in modern warfare. The British and German Soldiers declare a one day truce to swap wines and pies, retrieve their dead from no man’s land, and even kick around a soccer ball in no man’s land. The moment of the occasion was Christmas Day, celebrated by both warring Christian nations. For a moment there was an extension of grace to cease fighting on the front lines and have a temporary peace so that no one would die on the day we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

A similar event happened in history in direct connection to Christmas day that God, in the second person of the God head took on flesh. Jesus Christ, God incarnate. Romans 5:8 , Paul states “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God extends grace that results in peace for His glory.

Yet, contrasting God to man, in 1915, the war intensified in aggression with introduction of constant artillery and use of gas and there would never again be grace and peace until one side achieved their own glory in victory.

Praise God that we worship a God who did not rely on sinful man, but came himself to reconcile His elect unto Himself! Yet, as fallen humans, we are often tempted to diminish or even reject the grace of God and choose to live in disharmony with God for our own glory instead of in peace with God for His glory. This is the same problem that Paul addresses to the churches of Galatia who are tempted to add to the Gospel of Christ and make it into a Gospel of man.

Grace - Jesus Christ given for our sins

Grace and Peace

Paul begins his letter with this this greeting: Grace and peace. This is a distinctly Christian greeting that is not standard in the ancient world. In Paul’s day, a letter would have “Rejoice!” as it’s standard greeting, but Paul elects for grace and peace, which reflects the passion and burden on Paul’s heart for these churches in Galatia. As one commentator notes:

“Grace is God’s unmerited goodwill freely given and decisively effective in the saving work of Jesus Christ. Peace (eirenē; cf. Heb. šālôm), on the other hand, denotes a state of wholeness and freedom that the grace of God brings” (George, NAC pg. 85)

Grace points us to the complete work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and peace reminds us of the reconciliation that we have with God through Christ Jesus.

Yet this can only be the case because of the relationship between the Father and the Son. The syntax of this sentence reveals something significant about the Son. Paul writes “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul only uses “from” once, which is grammatically significant in the Greek. It not only implies but identifies a unity between the Father and the Son.

To put it another way, this grace and peace comes from one source, God the Father and God the Son. And this is true because this grace and peace comes from the one essence of God.

And yet we are shown this contrast between the equality of the Son to the Father in essence with the Son’s role in salvation history. Jesus Christ the Son of God empties himself to enter into our pain and suffering in order to give himself for our sins!

The summation of the cross in the word Grace

Which brings us to our first point. The word Grace comes to summarize the idea of Jesus Christ’s life and death for us.

Jesus Christ, the eternally begotten Son of God, entered into our story. Gregory of Nazianzus wrote in the 4th century, “That which God has not assumed, He has not healed.” Or in more modern language, whatever God enters into, God heals. God heals humanity by entering into humanity as a human. God, in the person of Jesus Christ not only heals humanity by becoming the God-man, but he also bears the punishment and wrath of the Father as a substitute for mankind.

The Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins by bearing our sins and entering into death. But by assuming death, by entering death he healed it. Christ conquered death by paying the debt that required death, that first led to death.

“Grace is God’s unmerited goodwill freely given and decisively effective in the saving work of Jesus Christ. Peace (eirenē; cf. Heb. šālôm), on the other hand, denotes a state of wholeness and freedom that the grace of God brings” (George, NAC pg. 85)

Here is where grace becomes so absurd. It is an unmerited gift freely given for sinners. Christ delivered us from sin on that cross.

“Christ the Son of God was given, not for the righteous and holy, but for the unrighteous and sinners. If I were righteous and had no sin, I should have no need of Christ to be my reconciler.” (Luther, 50).

God’s grace is for sinners, and God’s grace delivers sinners because of the sufficiency and perfection of Christ’s righteousness.

Paul, in his greeting to the churches of Galatia highlights grace in order to point these churches back to the cross. Grace is an unmerited goodwill of God freely given to sinners and decisively effective to save through the work of Jesus Christ. There is no additional work that one must do to merit this grace. God does not love us because Christ died for us. Christ died for us because God loves us.

Peace - Deliverance from this present evil age

The love of God revealed through the Son is given to us as grace, and this grace results in peace!

Galatians 1:3–4 ESV

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

“Grace is God’s unmerited goodwill freely given and decisively effective in the saving work of Jesus Christ. Peace (eirenē; cf. Heb. šālôm), on the other hand, denotes a state of wholeness and freedom that the grace of God brings” (George, NAC pg. 85)

Peace is Shalom. Shalom is so much more than an absence of war, but it is a wholeness and harmony as things were meant to be. This peace is a reconciliation to the God whose image we bear and whom we were created to be in relation with. This peace is a freedom to live in harmony with God.

The summation of reconciliation in the word Peace

As Grace summarizes the active and passive righteousness of Jesus Christ, Peace summarizes the application of Christ’s death through his resurrection and blood applied. We are reconciled to God and delivered from this world even while we remain living in this world.

Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins for the purpose of delivering us from this evil age. The word age here can also be translated and is appropriately translated as world.

Christ has delivered us from this wicked world, not by taking us out of the world or by diminishing the world, but he has delivered us from the ruler of this world, Satan. He has delivered us from sin and death.

We see this same language used in Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Through the cross, Jesus Christ bore our punishment and paid our sin debt. That is grace. Through His resurrection he is declared righteous, and he freely imputes his righteousness upon us - that is he legally declares that we stand in his righteousness by faith that we may be reconciled and adopted to the Father. That is true peace.

Paul does not proclaim a deliverance from this material world in which we live, but from the sin and evil that rules it and enslaves us.

This brings us to the third point in Paul’s greeting: Glory.

Glory - The will of our God and Father

According to the Will of God

There are two ways to appropriately read this Greek, and both are true.

First, The glory of God is the revelation of His will, who is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the perfect revelation of God, the Word made flesh, gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this evil age according to the will of our God and Father.

Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, and was betrayed by a friend, condemned to death by the people of God, crucified, died, and buried to be resurrected on the third day. All of this is prophesied throughout the Old Testament. Just read the Gospel of Matthew to see the richness of prophesy revealed in Jesus Christ! The horror of the cross happens according to God’s will to prove that what man intended for evil, God used for good as well as the truth that God works all things for good for those called according to his purpose.

This is done for God’s glory that some may be saved!

Enabled to live in accordance to the will of God

The other possible reading is that Jesus Christ delivered us from sin that we may be enabled to live according to the will of God. This reading is possible although a more strained use of the preposition kata here translated as according.

We have been freed from the bondage of slavery to this wicked age that we may now live according the will of God for HIS GLORY! This message is at the heart of Galatians 4-5.

For the Glory of God the Father

We are to live in our freedom which comes by grace and peace for the glory of God.

The first question of our Westminster Shorter Catechism is “What is the chief end of man.” To which we answer: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever!”

We live for the glory of God through conformity to His will, and we learn his will through the study of His word.

To glorify God, we first receive His grace, we live in his peace, and we glorify him through our gratitude lived out in obedience to Him.

Conclusion and Application

Paul’s greeting is no insincere greeting. It is not a Dear Sir/Maam or To whom it may concern, but it is a “Hurricane warning” to the churches of Galatia. Grace and peace to churches of Galatia who are flirting with the temptation to find your own grace by the law and make your own peace through your works. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen!

This greeting is an invitation to worship and praise, and that is what we need to hear every day. If God is for us who can be against us? Unlike the Christmas Eve Truce of 1914, this is not a pause of fighting, a momentary grace that results in temporary peace. No, Jesus Christ came, died, and rose again and is seated at the right hand of the Father and has sent His Spirit to dwell in our hearts. This is no truce but total victory over the rulers of this world, over sin and death, over every chain of bondage. Let us live in grace to one another and in peace with one another, grace and peace which comes from God alone for His glory alone.

The one application that I want you to take away today is the wondrous mystery of the cross that Christ died for you and called you to be his own. As Calvin put it: “So glorious is this redemption that it should ravish us with wonder.”

Let us be ravished with wonder for the God who saves as we approach Holy Week and Easter, and let’s extend this grace and peace to our neighbors by inviting them to church this weekend that we may celebrate the resurrection with new brothers and sisters!

Benediction: Numbers 6:24-26

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Glorify God in all that you do. Amen.