Grace and Peace

'To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.' Romans 1:7

When we write to our friends we often start out our correspondence with simple words like, Dear, Hi, Hello or my friend. The Apostle Paul often included "Grace and Peace" in his letters. As a Christian, I believe we can easily overlook this common greeting used by Paul because we talk about grace so much that when we see the word being used it doesn't phase us. However, it is worth noting that you cannot separate grace from peace. Imagine if Paul had written, "Law and worry to you from God our Father." That carries an entirely different meaning. Similarly, you cannot separate Law from worry. To subject yourself to the Law means you have subjected yourself to trying to live a life you cannot live; a life of obedience and repentance to rules and regulations you can never fully obey. The Law's standard is perfection; "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2:10)." The Law stirs up sin: "For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death (Romans 7:5)." The Law is a ministry of condemnation and death: "For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law (Galatians 3:10)."” The Law is for the lost, not for believers: "We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine... (1 Timothy 1:8-10)." Life under the Law is a life of hopelessness. It is a life of worry because deep down in your heart you know you are not being obedient enough and you're only left with this feeling in your gut that God is not pleased with you and doesn't love you; you are a failure in His eyes.

However, grace is different. "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1)." If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your savior, becoming born again of the Spirit of God, then you have peace with God. You have been delivered from darkness to light: "But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5)." All of your sins are forgiven and do not separate you from God: "I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name (1 John 2:12)." You have eternal life: "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life (1 John 5:11-13)." You have access to God: "He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit (Ephesians 2:17-18)." Nothing, not even you, can separate you from God's love: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39)." Knowing these truths about the grace of God is what gives you peace. That peace comes from the fact that your right standing before God, your holiness, your justification, your sanctification, your entire existence comes from your trust in and dependence on what Jesus Christ did for you, not trust in and dependence on what you try to do for God. If you are worrying about your relationship with God or if you don't have one with Him at all, it is probably because you do not have peace in your heart and do not know His grace.