All Bible texts are taken from the New International Version

 

Introduction : Titus 2:11

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearance of our great God and Sa­vior, Jesus Christ."

1. All of us are specially concerned by divine grace

 

a. Personal reminiscences on divine grace

I was 18. As I planned to go to the Madrid seminary to prepare for the mi­nistry, I first had to take an exam that gave access to the Baccalaureate (at the end of my secondary studies). One of the classes I needed to pass was a class of Catholic religion, and the teacher was a canon from the Zarago­za cathedral, known for his violent anti-Protestant bias. He requested me to explain the doctrine of grace. As I did not then know exactly what the Catholic church taught on this topic--so important for us--I presented my personal convictions on this "grace of God that brings salvation [and] has appeared to all men" (Titus 2:11). The teacher, extremely surprised, told me: "You surely have not learnt this from a Catholic priest!" In short, I fail­ed this exam. But the poor teacher who had assured me that, with him, I would never pass this exam, suffered a lethal heart attack during the next night.

Six years later, I stood before another jury, this time in our Collonges Se­minary, to obtain my diploma of licentiate evangelist that would allow me to begin my ministry. I had to make a theological presentation before the jury, which was composed of teachers and some Union presidents. My chosen topic was Law and grace. After my presentation, the president of the Franco-Belgian Union, the veteran preacher Francis Lavanchy, told me: "Well done, son! This topic must become the keynote of your preaching and teaching as a Seventh-day Adventist minister..."

 

b. We are all debtors and thankful to God for His grace

Who, among us, could not add his personal testimony of admiration, en­thusiasm, gratitude and commitment before his discovery, his personal conviction and his preaching of the divine grace? We all feel debtors to God's grace manifested in Jesus Christ, and not only on the level of an in­tellectual acceptance of the Biblical doctrine of grace, but particularly as an existential and spiritual experience.

Whether it was when we first discovered "the incomparable riches of his gra­ce, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith" (Eph 2:7, 8).

Whether it was when we fell into the depths of temptation and sin, as David, and have called on the Lord and cried out to Him: "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions" (Ps 51:1), and the Lord told us that we had received "the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace" (Eph 1:7).

Whether it was when our soul sank into suffering or sickness, helplessness, anxiety or anguish, as Paul, and the Lord answered: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Co 12:9).

Whether it is when we, as servants of the Lord and "faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms" (1 Pe 4:10), preach the everlasting gospel in the world, "Freely you have received, freely give"(Mt 10:8), and, seeing it prosper and bear fruit, may glorify God "to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves" (Eph 1:6).

 

2. Primary importance of God's grace

The Speakers's Bible, edited by Edward Hastings, in its commentary on Titus 2:11, reads thus:

"'The grace of God hath appeared.' Grace! There is no word more vivid, more rich in the whole of our language. It brings before us kindliness of disposition, goodness of heart, welling up and welling out ceaselessly to­wards those who most need it and least deserve it...

"It describes God as Himself delighting in saving men; coming into our human life by the lowliest door and into its hardest conditions, for this work of salvation. No one word in the English language is equivalent to this great word 'Grace'. The wealth of the whole historic revelation of God in Jesus Christ is enshrined in it... It portrays the attitude of God towards a lost race, because it reveals Him not simply as He appears, but as He is in the core of His being, in the deep verity of His nature. God is grace."

And in its commentary on 2 Corinthians 12:9:

"The Grace of God is the first word and the last in the gospel of St Paul. No other theme is so often on his lips. It is his favourite benediction . It is the burden alike of his thought and of his speech, as it is the foundation of his faith. By grace we are saved, sanctified, and set apart for service... The words 'Grace' and 'Christ' are interchangeable in the language of his faith...

"The Grace of God is the eternal power of God, His living love, in which we 'live and move and have our being', everywhere present, always active, sustaining all human life. Many-sided, inexhaustible, accessible, and infi­nitely beneficent; it is not possible to say that there is 'higher gift than grace,' or to describe the Grace of God as anything other than God Him­self, by whose power we live every moment, who is our fullness, and in whom alone we are complete."

Robert Louis Stevenson declares about God's grace:

"The Grace of God! We live in it, we breathe it, we walk upon it. It is the roof, the rafters, the floor, and the nails of the universe" (Ibid.).

3. From grace in its primeval state to its definitive fulfillment in everlast­ing life

After hearing the two presentations by Elders Angel Rodríguez and Roy Adams, I have no desire to make another theological presentation on God's grace. I shall limit myself to the fulfillment of grace in the plan of salva­tion, the successive steps that marked its historical evolution, from its hid­den character in its primeval state, from grace in the Old Testament as a preparation and promise to its fullness manifested in Jesus Christ, also cal­led the visible grace or the advent and fulfillment of grace, and finally its eschatological intensification in the time of the end and definitive fulfill­ment in everlasting life.

 

I. Grace in its primeval state

 

1. Hidden grace

In the conclusion to his most important epistle, Paul speaks of "the revela­tion of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God" (Ro 16:25, 26).

The same idea is advanced by Peter, who affirms that "you were redeemed from the empty way of life... by the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without ble­mish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake" (1 Pe 1:18-20).

The author of the Book of Revelation takes up the idea that Christ--the Lamb--"was slain from the creation of the world"(Rev 13:8).

And finally, Paul uses the word "grace" in reference to the same fact: God "has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus" (2 Tim 1:9, 10).

Grace as a project, as an intrinsic attitude of the divine nature toward the universe, was already in existence in the graceful purpose of God's will. Through it, a long time before creation, "He chose us in him before the crea­tion of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ" (Eph 1:4, 5). This is what the New Testament calls the secret mystery and hidden grace.

 

2. Original grace

The narrative of the origins of the world makes a clear distinction between the creation of the human being and the other creatures. Man appears last on stage, as the crowning act of all creation. He was created "in his own image, in the image of God" (Ge 1:26), designed to enter a special communion with the Creator. Does this privileged constitution of man and his superio­rity over the animal come only from his rational nature? Isn't there more to it? Isn't it already the life of grace? Yes, the grace by which we were created unique beings in creation is a grace, indeed.

Also through grace were given the supernatural gifts of God to man, alrea­dy when he was still in his innocence. I believe it was through grace that man received the gift of freedom as a condition for the gifts of holiness, perfectibility, conditional immortality, science, intelligence and knowledge, and, finally, happiness. All these gifts were a manifestation of an invisible state of grace accompanying man in Eden in his friendly re­lationship with God.

 

3. Man's fall

Man's disobedience, his separation from his Creator and his fall deprived him, partly or totally, of his supernatural gifts, producing instantaneously the most dramatic consequences: the conditioning of his freedom, the desi­res in his flesh, the impoverishment of his perfectibility, the weakening of his body, sickness, death, physical and moral suffering, the darkening of his science, intelligence and knowledge, shame, and fear.

Man experienced the collapse of his trust in God, of his faith in His promi­ses and in His overmastering love for him. The essential character of this fall was that man was deprived of his state of grace, righteousness and ho­liness God had granted him at creation. He swapped a friendly relationship with his Creator for the slavery of the devil's service. The New Testament testifies many times about it (Jn 14:30; 16:11; Col 1:13; Eph 2:2; 2 Co 4:4).

 

4. Grace again: God's promise

How the severity of the divine sentence is tempered, in the narrative of man's fall, with the attributes and concerns of His mercy! As Paul puts it: "Where sin increased, grace increased all the more"(Ro 5:20). Before God Him­self covered Adam and Eve's nakedness with the skin of two victims--by analogy with the sequel to this narrative, this may already be considered as the first atoning sacrifice--He, in the curse pronounced upon the ser­pent, uttered also the first promise of salvation--what we call the Proto-Gospel--which is nothing else than another manifestation of grace, this time as a promise, a grace to be realized in the future of human History, which would bring forgiveness, redemption, salvation, victory over evil, and awaken faith, hope and love

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your off­spring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel" (Ge 3:15).

This promise--a renewed manifestation of the primeval divine grace--ex­plicitly implies an enmity, a conflict, suffering, and a spiritual struggle with the powers of evil, of which man is not completely exempt; because even if grace is a gift of the divine loving-kindness, an unmerited and freely-given favor from His love, it always demands man's assent: his faith, his free and responsible cooperation. We are going to meet this rea­lity of the divine grace, lived so many times in our personal experience, in all its historical manifestations. This is why Paul exhorted Timothy thus: "You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim 2:1).

II. Grace in the Old Testament

It is a serious breach against biblical revelation to claim that the Old Testa­ment features an economy of law and the New Testament an economy of grace. Even if the word "grace" appears only in the New Testament and if the Old Testament has only equivalents of it like compassionate, gracious, abounding in love(Ex 34:6), divine grace is always present in mankind, since the state of grace hidden in the divine purpose and the state of primeval grace manifested in creation and in the first promise, till its full and res­plendent manifestation in Jesus Christ.

The Bible History itself is nothing else than a manifestation of the doctrine of grace through the historical events. The Bible teaches us the develop­ment of a divine economy in this world, full of loving-kindness and mercy, abounding with acts of free favor and unmerited loving-kindness for man­kind.

The whole of the Old Testament rests upon grace. The life of the patriarchs, the historical narratives of the chosen people, with their images and sym­bols, are all reminders of the mystery of grace. These scenes from the Sa­cred History, in which the supernatural is present so often, are rooted in an atmosphere of grace.

In the Old Testament, the manifestations of grace are always associated with the covenant, the election, God's law, and forgiveness of sins.

 

1. Grace and God's covenant

The whole History and literature of the Hebrew people are dominated with the notion of covenant: first of all, the universal covenant with Noah, liken­ed to a second creation (Ge 9:11-17). Noah, the Book of Genesis tells us, "found favor (grace) in the eyes of the Lord" (6:8). Then the covenant of pro­mise with Abraham, a covenant of faith and justification, made with the fa­ther of all believers (Ge 15, 16, 17); and at last the covenant with Israel at Sinai, renewed many times (Ex 19, Deu 5).

These Old Testament covenants were not bilateral agreements between two partners committed to equal and reciprocal obligations, but rather a unilate­ral agreement, a free decision of the well-meaning divine initiative. Which means that they were covenants of grace. The decisive expression of God's revelation to Moses, which is the framework of the covenant with Israel and of the delivery of the law at Sinai, is an expression which sums up the attributes of God's grace in the Old Testament:

"The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to an­ger, abounding in love and faithfulness" (Ex 34:6).

 

2. Grace and election

It is not by mere chance that the covenant is constantly presented in the Old Testament as a fruit of Israel's election by the Lord: the core of this cove­nant between God and Israel is always couched in words expressing the no­tions of election and belonging.

"Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Ex 19:5,6).

To mention the election is to express the notions of possession, union, friendship, communion; it is to define a privileged status. Israel's election is totally free (Deu 9:5). Its only justification is God's sovereign love and His faithfulness to His promise given to the fathers.

Israel was chosen by Jehovah not because of their greatness; they entered the promised land not because of their righteousness (Deu 7:7; 9:4); com­passion alone motivated God's decision and its fulfillment (Deu 10:14ff). Later the prophets stated that, in spite of Israel's sins, the Lord kept His loving-kindness to them and that His loving-kindness always prevailed over the just punishment they deserved (Joel 2:13; Je 31:34; Isa 57:15ff).

"In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with ever­lasting kindness I will have compassion on you... Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the LORD, who has compassion on you" (Isa 54:8, 10).

 

3. Grace and the law

God's grace was just as efficient in the giving of the law and the institu­tions bound with it. In its origin, the law proceeds from the God of grace, the God of the covenant of grace, the God-Father who has made an election of grace for His child, Israel. In its nature, "the law of the LORD is perfect, re­viving the soul... The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart" (Ps 19:7, 8). David says: "Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk accor­ding to the law of the LORD"; he mentions to have found "wonderful things in your law"and testifies: "I delight in your commands"; he prays God thus: "Be gracious to me through your law" (Ps 119:1, 18, 47, 29). In its goal, God's law is a compendium of prescriptions God offers His children for their own good, that they may keep the covenant and inherit the promises bound with it. The law leads men to the supernatural goal of happiness and requires, for its observance, a supernatural strength--grace.

There is no contradiction nor opposition between law and grace in the Old Testament; the psalms on the law (25:12; 27:11; 37:31; 40:8 and particular­ly 119) testify to it. The law as an institution of the old covenant is a fruit of grace; it is grace. The argumentation of the New Testament on this topic, particularly in Paul's epistles, is produced more by the social and religious context of the Judaizing party of the early church than to an antinomian theology.

 

4. Grace and forgiveness of sins

Let us add that divine grace--whatever name it assumes in Old Testament parlance: loving-kindness, mercy or compassion--is often linked with the forgiveness of sins, one of its first benefits. This truth is highlighted in the Sinai pronouncement, already mentioned, and in all those which are a repe­tition of it. The solemn proclamation of the three attributes of grace (Ex 34:6) is followed immediately by the statement upon the forgiveness of sin:

"... forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished" (7).

This impressive association in the response to the Sinai pronouncement set the tune in sacred literature: each time the attributes of divine mercy are mentioned, we may expect to hear moving accents of confession of sins and calls to forgiveness. They are like two interdependent aspects of the language of grace. Let us examine them in the famous Psalm 51:

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin" (1, 2).

 

III. The invasion of grace

 

1. The appearing of grace

It is this grace of God that "brings salvation... to all men" (Titus 3:11), hidden in God's purpose since eternal times, announced, typified, prepared, ex­pected, prophesied during the long centuries of the History of Israel, which, when the time was fulfilled, "has appeared", reaching its highest develop­ment, its liveliest revelation and its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, the gracious God-made-flesh.

Christ's advent in this world--His "epiphany"--also meant the advent of grace, or "epiphany" of grace, its fullness; what a pastor once called "the invasion of grace", and another "the visible grace".

We find in all New Testament writers, and not only in Paul's letters, an em­phatic language, enthusiastic accents for this event--Christ--and admira­tion before such an appearance. Paul exclaimed: "The grace of God... has ap­peared"(Titus 2:11); and, a few lines further: "When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had do­ne, but because of his mercy" (Titus 3:4, 5). The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews also announced the advent of Christ in these words: "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.... the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his power­ful word" (He 1:1-3). Peter also expressed before the Sanhedrin his blissful assurance in Christ the Savior: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Act 4:12). And, to keep this list of testimonies on the appearance of grace to a mini­mum, let us read some verses from the prologue to the Gospel of John in the paraphrase of it given by the Speaker's Bible:

"The Eternal Mind which was in the world, by whom the world was made, who had been ever in the world, though the world knew it not, who had been the light of every man coming into the world, though men received it not, is made flesh, and tabernacles among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth" (Jn 1:10-14).

 

2. The kingdom of grace

Thus did God institute, through Christ, His kingdom of grace in this world: Christ began His ministry by the preaching of the kingdom of God: "The time has come... The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news" (Mk 1:15): a kingdom of peace, reconciliation, forgiveness, righteousness, love, hope and faith. Paul said: "Just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Ro 5:21).

A kingdom in which man is no more under the law and the tyrannical, en­slaving empire of sin, but under the liberating kingdom of grace, and, more than ever, with Christ's law, which is the law of love: "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace" (Ro 6:14).

A kingdom--the kingdom of grace--in which, even though His throne is in heaven, we may have a direct access to it through the way opened by Christ: "Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may re­ceive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (He 4:16).

A kingdom in which the ministry of dispensation of grace brought the Gos­pel to all nations, destroying the walls of separation between the peoples and leading all men to the unity of the body of Christ--His church. Paul admitted: "Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph 3:8).

And at last au unmovable kingdom: "The kingdom of heaven has been force­fully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it" (Mt 11:12), in which we are in­vited "to continue in the grace of God" (Ac 13:43), "to be strengthened by grace" (He 13:9), "to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pe 3:18), to "be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim 2:1) and "not to receive God's grace in vain" (2 Co 6:1).

 

3. The fulfillment of grace

Yet this invasion of grace into Satan's world, the institution--in his own kingdom--of the kingdom of grace in opposition to the kingdom of sin, was to lead to a dramatic and paradoxical conclusion: Christ's death on the cross--an afflicting, sad, bloody, cruel, scandalous event, which revealed as never before the infinite dimensions of the love, compassion, mercy and loving-kindness of the visible grace of God, present, real and effective in this world. It was the fulfillment of grace, its crowning act, because thus does God's grace reach us as an efficient instrument of our salvation: the cross was the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and, as a consequence, the ins­trument of our forgiveness; the cross was the price of our redemption and, as a consequence, the price of our liberation; the cross was the punishment imputed in our condemnation that Jesus suffered vicariously for us; the cross was the deadly wound inflicted to the serpent and the light wound in­flicted by Satan in man's heel; the cross was the victory of divine grace, its total fulfillment and revelation, when the prince of this world was cast out­side of this world and when all men, without any exception, had access to salvation.

 

IV. A special outpouring of grace in the last days 

"The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men"; indeed, and it still appears today; but God promises to us a special manifestation of grace in the future; this is what we call the "latter rain" immediately before the end of the"time of grace". In these last days, God's grace will become more and more intensive and compelling in its manifestations, as the world is marching to the final crisis and the evil powers are raging in society; while fear and anguish are reigning in men's hearts, we shall witness the intensi­fication of God's grace. Ellen G. White spoke about it:

"The circumstances may seem to be favorable for a rich outpouring of the showers of grace. But God Himself must command the rain to fall. There­fore we should not be remiss in supplication... We mut pray that God will unseal the fountain of the water of life. And we must ourselves receive of the living water. Let us, with contrite hearts, pray most earnestly that now, in the time of the latter rain, the showers of grace may fall upon us" (Testi­monies to Ministers, p. 509).

 

Conclusion

Glimpses of grace

How can we understand this magnificent mystery of grace manifested in Christ-come-in-the-flesh? How can we receive, live, experiment Paul's ex­traordinary theology of divine grace? Only by turning concepts into life and ideas into experiences. This is what Elder William Johnsson called "Glim­pses of Grace".

Whether though the testimony of Paul himself: "Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I act­ed in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abun­dantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 1:13, 14).

Whether in the incident of the woman taken in adultery, sentenced to be stoned by the keepers of the orthodoxy of this time, but to whom the Prince of grace said: "'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' 'No one, Sir,' she said. 'Then neither do I condemn you,' Jesus declared. 'Go now and leave your life of sin'" (Jn 8:10, 11).

Whether in our own personal experience as a servant of the church and one of those entrusted with God's amazing grace.

Of how many miracles of His grace has the Lord made us the admiring wit­nesses! How many times were we unable to believe that what was presently happening was a realization of divine grace! This our privilege as ministers of God's grace is to testify of what the Lord is doing every day in His church and through His church in the world.

It is time to close. But allow me to repeat our initial text once more: "The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men"; indeed, it has ap­peared throughout the History of mankind. Let us now live, while we are still witnesses to it, in the grace and in the blessed hope of another manifes­tation: "the glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13).

Carlos Puyol
Spring Meeting, April 19, 2002