Each week, our corporate worship mediates to us the grace and peace that we continually need. If you are experiencing a lack of peace in your soul, the very worst thing you could do is to stay home, away from the Lord’s Day service, yet this is exactly what so many Christians do when they go through a trial. No, come the service of God where God’s Word mediates grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, where you can for a time leave behind this present evil world and enter into Sabbath rest.

The apostle Paul begins each of his letters with a similar greeting: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Many Christian worship services begin the same way. This phrase expresses the wonderful reality that Christians have been reconciled to God by grace, bringing them into the rest that God intended from the beginning of creation.

This is wonderfully true for Christians, but why does Paul include this greeting at the beginning of every one of his letters, and why, then, did churches begin to use this greeting at the beginning of worship services?

Consider that Paul is not extending grace and peace to unbelievers in the opening of his letters. This is not a gospel presentation, like, “If you repent of your sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, then you will receive grace and peace from God.” That is certainly true—it is true that if you are an unbeliever, you can find rest in Christ through repentant faith. But that is not Paul’s primary point here.

Paul is not writing these letters to unbelievers. No, these are written “to the churches of Galatia”—to people who profess Jesus Christ as Lord. “To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae.” “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.” “To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus.” And so forth. This greeting is given to Christians.

So what is Paul doing here? Haven’t they already received grace and peace? Why does he need to extend grace and peace to Christians who have already been given grace and peace from God?

Here is the important point for us as Christians: although God extended grace to us in saving us, we who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ continue to need grace extended to us. We have been reconciled to God through Christ, and so we do have objective peace with him, but nevertheless we continue to sometimes experience subjective distress, don’t we?

Do you as a Christian ever still struggle with a lack of peace in your soul? We still often struggle with anxiety, with fear, with an inner restlessness.

You’re a Christian, you know that you have been delivered from the present evil age objectively, but we continue to deal with sinners around us, a world filled with conflict, and even disorderly desires in our flesh, don’t we?

You know that you have peace with God, but then you experience a trial that disrupts everything—you have a wayward child; you lose your job; you develop a chronic illness; you suffer a terrible loss; and you begin to experience anxiety, pain, distress. What’s the solution? You need grace and peace.

Someone sins against you, maybe even another believer with whom you should have harmony, but there is strife between you. You need grace and peace.

You give into temptation; you sin against the Lord who gave himself for your sin. Now your conscience accuses you. Fellowship with God is broken. You need grace and peace.

You see, we needed grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ in order for our sins to be forgiven, for the just wrath of God against us to be appeased, for our disordered hearts to be changed, and our relationship with God to be reconciled, but as believers, we continue to need that same grace and peace each and every day.

When trials come, we need grace upon grace upon grace. When we begin to be filled with anxiety or conflict or distress, we need the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding. When we have disharmony with other Christians, we need the peace of Christ to rule in our hearts. When we sin against God and break our fellowship with him, we need, as Peter begins his letters, grace and peace multiplied in us.

It’s not that we needed grace from God to bring us peace with him, but now that we’re saved, we no longer need grace and peace. No, we continue to need grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so, as Paul begins his letters which deal with all of these realities in our Christian lives—trials, and conflict, and temptation, and sin—he once against extends to us grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And he says these words over and over, at the beginning of every letter. Someone might say, “this is just vain repetition.”

Read More