Grace To You And Peace From God Our Father!

In the prescript of the book of Galatians which consist of the first five verses of chapter one, Paul says a lot of things in just a few words. Let me quote it to you and then I’ll show you what I mean: “Paul, an apostle (not sent from men, nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me, to the churches of Galatia; Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore, Amen.”

First, Paul introduces himself as an apostle and we know this to be a fact that his training in the Gospel came directly from the Lord. Second he testifies that the Father and the Son are one, and he points out that it was God who raised Jesus from the dead and he includes all he brethren who are with him in Ephesus and he said all of that in the first two verses.

He accentuates his introduction with not only a “greeting” but a “blessing” as well. “Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ…” but it is verse 4 that I want to draw your attention to.

After he has introduced himself, offered his credentials, testified to the “likeness” of the Father and the Son, assured the readers that it was the Father that raised the Son from the grave, included all of the brethren who were with him during this writing, offered a blessing (all of this took only 54 words in my NASB), his first order of business was going to be to convince the reader that the subject of his letter evolved around the risen Lord, and that He would deliver us out of this “evil age” according to the will of the Father. Boy that’s a mouthful.

“He gave Himself,” God sent His Son, Jesus faced the cross alone, He took on evil for all mankind forevermore, and both the Father and Son carried out this mission because of
“this present evil age.”

We were at Epcot Park in Disney World today with our grandkids and I had to get one of those “electric” carts so my back would still be in one piece when we got back to the room and I was amazed at the number of “selfish, inconsiderate, uncaring, rude, and hateful, people that could be at the “Happiest Place On Earth” ALL at the same time! But God allowed me to “keep my cool” and I even had a few words of “blessing” for some of them (all good that is). But we DO live in a present “evil age” and so when I saw these words in verse 4, I thought “What a cool way to catch these people “off guard” by simply saying to these ungrateful individuals “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”

I’m gonna try that when we go back to the park tomorrow. I am absolutely positive that I will defuse more attitudes with this kind of greeting than with any other thing I could think of. That Paul! For a guy who tried so desperately to destroy the church from it’s beginning, he sure has excellent ways of bringing peace into stressful situations. I’ll let you know how it goes! In the meantime, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”


Dave