Ephesians intro, Part 3
Paul’s greeting in his letter titled “Ephesians” uses two words that he starts 13 of 13 letters with. These are two exceedingly important concepts for Christians.
We read the two words of this greeting in Ephesians 1, verse 2. “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Grace, one scholar writes is “a favorable attitude of good will”. (Louw & Nida)
Peace, the same scholar suggests, is “a set of favorable circumstances involving peace and tranquility.”
Favorable attitude and favorable circumstances. It is especially important that both the favorable attitude of good will and the favorable circumstances of tranquility are Paul’s request of God to the people. They are not from Paul. They are from God. Paul wants the people to experience God’s grace, and God’s peace.
Over the years I’ve increasingly come to believe that these two concepts, grace and peace, are vital for humans. I would still say love is the most important of all, and we’ll get to that in the next post. But grace and peace are so important.
Why grace and peace?
Grace is important because we need God’s favor in our lives. And he is quite willing to share his grace with us. Primarily, he gives us his grace in the person, life, teachings, and work of Jesus, culminating in Jesus’ death and resurrection by which we can have new life. Then God fills us with his Spirit, an unfathomable gift of grace.
In fact in the language Paul wrote in, ancient Greek, “grace” is charis, and “gift” is charisma. Notice the link, the wordplay. Charis and Charisma. In Romans 12:6 Paul himself connects the two when he writes “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.”
Of the many wonderful aspects of grace, I love its energy. Maybe that’s how the English word charisma became a word about energy. I don’t know. But grace, rooted in a favorable attitude, has a healing energy. By God’s grace, we are healed from what Paul describes in other places as “enslavement to sin.” By God’s grace, we are set free. It is as though Jesus goes before us and sets us free. That’s grace. It’s especially gracious, because it is not due to anything we do. He goes first. He does it.
We then live in his grace and we likewise give grace. We are receivers of grace and givers of grace. Grace is the healing energy in broken relationships.
In addition to grace, Paul asks God to convey his peace to the people. Peace is rooted in the Hebrew concept of shalom, which is that expansive rightness and wholeness God desires for all things. God wants peace between himself and his people. Between people and other people. Between people and creation. As with grace, God is the initiator of peace. We have peace with God through Jesus.
It is astounding to think that God looks at each one of us with grace and peace. Personalize that. When God looks at you and thinks about you, his posture toward you is grace and peace. God has a favorable attitude toward you. God wants favorable circumstances for you. He does not choose or desire harm for you.
Clearly, our life circumstances are not always favorable the way God wants them. Sometimes that is the result of our poor choices, sometimes the result of others’ poor choices that affect us. Sometimes the result of the broken and fallen world we live in.
What is amazing is that we can experience God’s grace and peace in the middle of our circumstances. Which is precisely what Paul was communicating to the people when he said “Grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
That’s how Paul introduces the letter. In the next post, we skip ahead to his conclusion.
Photo by adrianna geo on Unsplash
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