Galatians 6:18
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.”
We have come to the end of our study of the book of Galatians. Quite appropriately, Paul’s final words are a pronouncement of grace. The grace of God is foundational to everything in your life as a Christian.
Grace reveals God to you. Aside from creation, the most amazing thing that has happened in the universe is that the Creator has chosen to reveal himself. He is not a distant, disconnected deity. The infinite-personal God is there, and he is not silent. He has revealed himself in his dealings with Israel throughout history, he has revealed himself in scripture, and he has revealed himself through Jesus.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth … And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” (John 1.14-18)
“The Word became flesh” means that the infinite-personal God has broken into human history in the person of Jesus Christ. Philosophers and theologians have speculated, debated, and pontificated about God, but Jesus breaks through the noise by breaking into the world as the Word become flesh. Verse 18 above is a powerful, radical statement about Jesus: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”
Grace redeems you and reconciles you to God. Jesus came to planet earth to repair our broken relationship with God. Redemption means “to buy back,” and Jesus did precisely that. Although we did nothing to deserve it, he went to the cross to pay the price for our sin. He bought us back from sin and death.
“More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:11)
“We are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:24-25)
Grace restores you to God’s purposes. As important as salvation is, it is not the goal of the Christian life; it is just the beginning. Salvation restores God’s purpose into your life. Redemption returns you to the purpose for which God created you: to be a bearer of his image and an agent of his kingdom. He did not save you for your purposes; he saved you for his purposes.
“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.” (2 Corinthians 5.18-20)
Grace transforms you. Grace redeems you and saves you; it also changes you. The Lord works in your life to progressively transform you more and more into the Christ-like person he created you to be.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
Grace trains you. Grace brings more than a pardon; it also brings the process of spiritual formation. It brings the power of the Holy Spirit to energize our growth so that we are progressively conformed to Christ’s image, and we bear fruit for God’s kingdom. The same grace that appeared to all men and brought salvation — the very same grace — also trains, teaches, and disciplines us.
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.” (Titus 2:11-12)
We could accurately call this training process “the discipline of grace.” Redemption in Christ is a gift; maturity in Christ is a process. It is learned. It is developed through discipline, and it is powered by grace.
We come now to the end of our study of the book of Galatians. It has been an incredible journey deep into the truth of God’s grace through Christ. The apostle Paul has taught us, warned us, and encouraged us. We are stronger because of it. I will end with Paul’s final words, a simple benediction that underscores the core message of this powerful letter:
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.”
