GRACE AND PEACE

Text: Galatians 1:1-24

I. GRACE AND PEACE TO YOU (Galatians 1:3)

A. The greeting of “grace and peace” is found in all 13 of Paul’s letters/epistles and in 16 out of 21 New Testament letters/epistles (Rom.1:7; 1 Cor.1:3; 2 Cor.1:2; Gal.1:3; Eph.1:2; Phil.1:2; Col.1:2; 1 Thess.1:1; 2 Thess.1:2; 1 Tim.1:2; 2 Tim.1:2; Titus 1:4; Phm.3; 1 Pet.1:2; 2 Pet.1:2; 2 Jn.3; cf. Rev.1:4-6).

B. Every one of Paul’s letters ends on the note of grace and 6 end on the note of peace.

C. Galatians is “framed” by grace and peace.

Galatians 1:3
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,

Galatians 6:16
And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.

Galatians 6:18
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.

D. Grace and peace summarizes the message of the Old Testament.

1. “These two words, grace and peace, comprehend in them whatever belongs to Christianity… Moreover, these two words, grace and peace, contain in them the whole sum of Christianity” (Martin Luther).

2. “grace and peace” “comprehend all the benefits of redemption” (Charles Hodge).

E. The false teachers in the Galatian churches were perverting the Gospel of grace (Galatians 1:6; 2:21; 5:4; cf. Acts 15:1,5).

II. GRACE

A. Grace is God’s unmerited/demerited favor (Ephesians 2:1-9; cf. Luke 18:10-14).

B. Many of the “righteous” Jews of Jesus’ day could not come to grips with Jesus’ message of grace (Luke 18:10-14).

C. The unbelieving Jews in Paul’s day (and even Christians) had a hard time coming to grips with the implications of God’s grace.

III. PEACE

A. Peace is the restoration of a broken or disrupted relationship. The peace of the Gospel is our being reconciled to God through the cross of Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:19-20; Romans 5:1,10).

B. Many Muslims are trying to bring the world to peace through bombs, killing and threats. But Muslims don’t have peace with God. They have no assurance of salvation. They don’t know for certain whether or not God will accept them on the Day of Judgment.

C. There are two great “ifs” for every Muslim:

1. If Allah forgives.

2. If Allah takes vengeance.

D. Based on the teaching of Roman Catholicism, Catholics don’t have peace with God in the biblical sense.

“But as to him who repents and believes and does good, maybe he will be among the successful” (Qur’an 28:67; emphasis added).

“Say: I am not the first of the messengers, and I do not know what will be done with me or with you: I do not follow anything but that which is revealed to me, and I am nothing but a plain warner” (Qur’an 46:9).

In chapter IX of the Decree of Justification the Council [of Trent] not only described such an assurance as ‘boasting’ and as a ‘vain and ungodly confidence’, but also stated unequivocally that ‘no one can know with the certainty of faith, which cannot be subject to error, that he has obtained the grace of God’. And in Canon 16 it says: ‘If any one shall say that he will for certain, with an absolute and infallible certainty, have that great gift of perseverance even to the end, unless he shall have learned this by a special revelation—anathema sit (let him be anathema).’ This view is a necessary inference from the Roman Catholic view of justification, because of its inclusion of the idea of human co-operation. As soon as an element of synergism, however small, enters into the doctrine of grace, there is no room left for the Reformation concept of the assurance of faith.

Because Luther and the other Reformers placed all their faith in the declaratory act of the justifying God and rejected any possibility of human cooperation at this point, they had a firm basis for assurance. Because man’s salvation in no way rests on anything he himself does, not even on his faith, but rests solely on that wonderful justitia aliena (strange righteousness) of Christ, such a man may know for sure that his sins are truly forgiven and that, in spite of the sinfulness that remains in him, he will never fall out of the hand of this gracious God. ‘At once justified and a sinner’ is not a Lutheran onesidedness, but it touches the very heart of salvation. Solus Christus (Christ alone), sola gratia (by grace alone), and sola fide (by faith alone) belong together in an unbreakable unity, and because of this unity the last word is and remains: soli Deo gloria (to God alone be the glory)! (Klaas Runia, “Justification and Roman Catholicism”; in Right with God: Justification in the Bible and the World, edited by D.A. Carson, p.215)

E. By believing in Jesus we have peace with God and the assurance of salvation. It’s that simple, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” There are no ifs or maybes, peace with God comes through faith in Jesus.

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.(John 5:24)

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:15-18)

QUESTIONS FOR SABBATH DISCUSSION & MEDITATION

Pray that God would enable you and give you the desire to be conformed to His Word as read and preached today.

What is God’s grace?

What is God’s peace?

Explain how “grace and peace” summarizes Christianity.

Is Islam a religion of peace? What aspect of “peace” does the secular medium focus upon?