"Grace and peace to you..."
Galatians 1:3 (ESV)
Galatians 1:3 (ESV)
This is a simple greeting found among most of Paul's letters. It is so easy to skim over, to skip, in order to get on with the "real" message. This is, we believe, just introductory stuff. It is the warm-up act to the main show. We nod and politely smile as we read it, perhaps impatient...more than likely not even stopping to realize it is even there. The words flutter into our mind and are blown softly away before we even have time to notice them.
I think Paul wants us to stop and reflect meaningfully on these words. They are no accident, nor is this simply Paul being polite at the beginning of the sentence. These words are packed full of meaning. They are powerful and purposeful.
In Paul's day, letter writing was very common. For Greek speakers, the typical salutation at the beginning of a letter was the word "greetings" (Greek: chairein). Diverting from what is expected, Paul instead writes charis ("grace"). Paul chooses this term not only because it sounds so similar to chairein, but also because it means something so very different. Anybody can greet another, but only brothers and sisters in Christ can co-exist in the grace of God. We greet each other as grace-filled image bearers of God. We recognize the grace that is in the other, and we readily rejoice over the grace we experience in ourselves. God grace is something to be delighted in, something to be celebrated, something to be recognized.
Hebrew speakers generally greeted each other (in letters and in person) with the Hebrew word shalom (which means 'peace'). This word has a rich Old Testament history. Peace is similar to grace, though still very different from it. F.F. Bruce tells us that "grace is God's unconditioned good will towards mankind which is decisively expressed in the saving work of Jesus Christ". Peace is the state of life (peace with God and with one another) enjoyed by those who have experienced divine grace [see Note 1].
Paul is speaking of a reality of existence that is only available to believers. Only a Christian can experience it, and only a fellow Christian can understand it. Cherish the words grace and peace. Because of God's good will towards you, you are at peace with God. Before His grace, you were at war (and, by the way, you were losing). Paul understood that with the coming of Christ, believers now have been showered with the grace of God. No more misery, no more hopelessness, no more worry. Simply peace.
Paul is almost drunk with excitement about this new reality. And, by using two simple words at the beginning of a letter, he is inviting you to become intoxicated with this reality as well.
Note 1: F.F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians, NIGTC (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1982), p 74.
I think Paul wants us to stop and reflect meaningfully on these words. They are no accident, nor is this simply Paul being polite at the beginning of the sentence. These words are packed full of meaning. They are powerful and purposeful.
In Paul's day, letter writing was very common. For Greek speakers, the typical salutation at the beginning of a letter was the word "greetings" (Greek: chairein). Diverting from what is expected, Paul instead writes charis ("grace"). Paul chooses this term not only because it sounds so similar to chairein, but also because it means something so very different. Anybody can greet another, but only brothers and sisters in Christ can co-exist in the grace of God. We greet each other as grace-filled image bearers of God. We recognize the grace that is in the other, and we readily rejoice over the grace we experience in ourselves. God grace is something to be delighted in, something to be celebrated, something to be recognized.
Hebrew speakers generally greeted each other (in letters and in person) with the Hebrew word shalom (which means 'peace'). This word has a rich Old Testament history. Peace is similar to grace, though still very different from it. F.F. Bruce tells us that "grace is God's unconditioned good will towards mankind which is decisively expressed in the saving work of Jesus Christ". Peace is the state of life (peace with God and with one another) enjoyed by those who have experienced divine grace [see Note 1].
Paul is speaking of a reality of existence that is only available to believers. Only a Christian can experience it, and only a fellow Christian can understand it. Cherish the words grace and peace. Because of God's good will towards you, you are at peace with God. Before His grace, you were at war (and, by the way, you were losing). Paul understood that with the coming of Christ, believers now have been showered with the grace of God. No more misery, no more hopelessness, no more worry. Simply peace.
Paul is almost drunk with excitement about this new reality. And, by using two simple words at the beginning of a letter, he is inviting you to become intoxicated with this reality as well.
Note 1: F.F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians, NIGTC (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1982), p 74.
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