No New Testament writer did more to promote the grace of God than the apostle Paul. He knew that when he was converted on the road to Damascus that it wasn’t because he was pursuing a relationship with Jesus. Instead, he was Jesus’ most zealous enemy. He knew his salvation resulted from Jesus pursuing him. That is the case for every one of us. That is grace!
Paul knew the difference between religion and a faith-centered relationship with Jesus. He became an apostle who faithfully preached the gospel of grace. Nothing we could ever do could close the gap between us and God. The only way our sin could ever be dealt with is by Jesus dying in our place. That is the story of God’s grace. Jesus did what we could never do and we receive life and peace we could never deserve. Outside of grace salvation would always be out of our reach.
Paul, in his letter to the Roman believers, uses two pictures to help us understand grace. He wrote, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2).
The word he used, “access,” was used two ways in the culture of Paul’s day. First, it was used of a letter of introduction. It was Jesus who introduced us to God. We can now stand in the presence of God because of our faith in what Jesus did for us. He invited us to come with Him where we could not go because of our sin. We can enjoy the presence of God because Jesus brought us peace with Him.
William Barclay points out that there is another way the word “access” was used.
“In late Greek it is the word for the place where ships come in. It is the word for a harbour or haven. If we take it in that meaning, it means that so long as we tried to depend on our own efforts we were tempest-tossed, like mariners striving with a sea which threatened to overwhelm them completely, but now that we have heard the word of Christ, we have reached at last the haven of God’s grace, and we know the calm of depending, not on what we can do for ourselves, but on what God has done for us.”
What a picture of grace! Grace is a harbor in which we are safe from storms that threaten to destroy us. We each know what is like to depend on ourselves and find that we are constantly struggling unsuccessfully to live a righteous life. Faith in Christ means that we not only come into the harbor of grace but we stay there. It is a harbor “in which we now stand.” Grace is absolutely the safest place to be. We can rest in what Jesus did without relying at all on our best efforts to please God. He gives us His righteousness. Our best efforts can never be enough to satisfy God. Jesus did that for us. Believing in what Jesus did is more than enough for us and is a safe harbor in which to calmly live the rest of our lives.
Wally | GG Team
