1:2
The greeting in Paul’s letters is commonly “grace and peace”, and this comes from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Note the implication of the deity of Christ. When people are discussing the deity of Christ the debate often focuses on proof texts, and this is fair enough, but equally importantly the whole tenor of the New Testament makes no sense whatsoever if Christ is not God. See that at the outset Paul declares himself and Timothy to be servants of Christ, rather than saying servants of God. If Christ were not God, if He had not risen from the dead, this would make no sense at all. Then in this verse we see that He is given an equal role to God the Father.
We often think of grace purely in passive terms, ie in terms of our receiving forgiveness. This is only part of its meaning. Grace is also enabling and empowering, it involves God enabling us to do His work, to fulfil our mission in this world.
Jesus said He would give us peace, but not as the world gives peace. We live in a hostile world in which there is increasing opposition to the gospel, but in the midst of this conflict Jesus gives us His peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment