Ephesians Devotionals
Bob Morris
The Blessings (Part 3: Grace), Ephesians 1: 6
[He adopted us] to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Another result of God’s choosing us is praise being given for his glorious grace. Grace, a word Paul first used in a routine salutation (verse 2), is now presented as one of the unique concepts of Christianity.
God’s unmerited favour toward us is certainly good news, especially to those driven to try to earn their salvation through “being good”. God’s grace is what distinguishes Him from every other god humans have worshipped. Animism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism all claim to be ways to God, but all of them have in common the need either to appease the deity or work to earn its favour, through right rituals or meritorious deeds. Not so with YHWH. He has freely given us his favour, apart from, and even in spite of, our attempts to gain merit on our own. Grace is so closely identified with YHWH that to praise his grace is to praise him.
Romans 6: 23, which contrasts wages and a gift gives us the essential meaning of grace. A Roman soldier was paid a wage for service rendered. But there were occasions when an emperor first came to the throne or celebrated his birthday that soldiers were given a charisma or free gift, out of the goodness of the emperor’s heart. Paul argues that what we have earned, what we deserve, is death. But all we get is the gift of his favour.
God’s grace will be praised throughout eternity, because it is “glorious”. God’s glory is his being, his character, his very nature, and grace is surely his essential characteristic. When Moses asked God to show him his glory, God’s responded, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, YHWH, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion”. God’s goodness is his grace.
As wonderful as God’s grace is, it is one of the most difficult spiritual concepts to grasp, and even more difficult to communicate. Some equated Paul’s teaching on grace with an encouragement to moral laxity (“if we are saved apart from our good works, we can behave as we like” Romans 6: 1 ff.), but they demonstrate their lack of understanding of grace.
Bonhoeffer rightly railed against cheap grace. “Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate…[Grace] is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life…Above all it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “you were bought with a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.” (The Cost of Discipleship, page 48).
But the reality for most people, including many Christians, is that their eyes glaze over when you talk of grace. “Amazing Grace” must be one of the most sung songs in and outside of the church, but the reality of grace is difficult to comprehend. The reason for this is that deeply imbedded in the human heart is an assumption of the essential goodness of humans and where there are evidences of evil, they can be compensated for by sincere effort. There is little understanding of a holy God who cannot abide evil; rather, it is assumed that God can, and even must, forgive us all. At the same time it seems unjust that God would freely forgive those people who are so much worse than I am.
Philip Yancey (What’s So Amazing About Grace?) helps us grasp the marvel of grace with his statements, “There is nothing we can do to make God love us more. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less.” Grace just doesn’t keep track of what we do or don’t do. Grace is freely given us “in the One he loves”, and that wonderful gift draws from the depths of a person a compulsion to take up our cross and follow Jesus.
What a gift you have given us, Father - your love, without limit. May we never presume on your goodness or take your love for granted.
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