4 ...who was declared the Son of God with power [a]by the resurrection from the dead, according to the [b]Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship [c]to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;
7 to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as [d]saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just want to dwell on Verse 7 today. Paul says Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is God's undeserved favour, and is shown to us most fully through Jesus dying for us we dont deserve it, we were helpless, weak, sinful and God's enemies, and yet we are shown mercy and grace and LOVE by God. What he has done for us is truly unfathomable and amazing. He is mighty and merciful and gracious! He gives us his grace, even though we in no way deserve it. He is truly a merciful God!
As I said, we were God's enemies. This means we were basically at war with God: slaves to sin. and not serving God. We were only deserving his wrath and hell for eternity. Through Jesus we have peace with God. Instead of facing his justice and perfect judgement, we face his mercy and grace, we are utterly forgiven, completely washed clean through Jesus if we repent and believe! God is ready to forgive, we accept by giving up our sin in proof that we are truly sorry. This means that we have eternal peace with God, eternal life in heaven with him! What a blessing!
'From God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ'. God has adopted us as his children! We are his sons, through Jesus. Jesus took our sin and God's wrath, and died for us, while we took his righteousness and were adopted as God's sons. Of course, after dealing with out sins he rose again and proved that he has saved us. God is our father, therefore we know that he is looking after us, he is caring for us, he loves us, he is always ready to provide for us. He doesn't promise us good things here, but he has satisfied our deepest need through jesus, and also often blesses us here. Ultimately though he works for our spiritual good (Rom 8:28, James 1:2-4), which is often accomplished best when we suffer and have to persevere in the faith. We also see that Jesus is Lord and saviour. As saviour, he deserves our eternal gratitude and praise. As lord, he deserves complete and utter obedience, not because that will save us, but because we are so thankful and realise that sin leads to death, while repentance and faith leads to eternal life.
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