God said, “Let there be light; and there was light,” and so on through the whole creation, “He spake, and it was.” So here, “Let there be grace and peace to you,” and so it is. “The grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men.” Titus 2:11. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” John 14:27. “Peace, peace to him that is afar off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord.” Isa. 57:19. God has sent grace and peace, bringing righteousness and salvation to all men—even to you, whoever you are, and to me. When you read this third verse of the first chapter of Galatians, do not read it as a sort of complimentary phrase,—as a mere passing salutation to open the real matter at hand,—but as the creative word that brings to you personally all the blessings of the peace of God, that passeth all understanding. It is to us the same word that Jesus spoke to the woman: “Thy sins are forgiven.” “Go in peace.” Luke 7:48-50. Peace is given to you; therefore, “let the peace of God rule in your hearts.”
The Gift of Christ.
This grace and peace come from Christ, “who gave Himself for our sins.” “Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Eph. 4:7. But this grace is “the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” 2 Tim. 2:1. Therefore we know that Christ Himself is given to every one of us. The fact that men live is an evidence that Christ has been given to them, for Christ is “the life,” and the life is the light of men, and this life-light “lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” John 1:4, 9; 14:6. In Christ all things consist (Col. 1:17), and thus it is that since God “spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,” He can not do otherwise than, with Him, freely “give us all things.” Rom. 8:32. “His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” 2 Peter 1:3. The whole universe is given to us in Christ, and the fulness of the power that is in it is ours for the overcoming of sin. God counts each soul of as much value as all creation. Christ has, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man (Heb. 2:9), so that every man in the world has received the “unspeakable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15). “The grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one Man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many,” even to all; for “as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” Rom. 5:15, 18.
Christ Not Divided.
The question is asked, “Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you?” (1 Cor. 1:13), the answer obviously being in the negative. In that Christ is given to every man, each person gets the whole of Him. The love of God embraces the whole world, but it also singles out each individual. A mother’s love is not divided up among her children, so that each one receives only a third, a fourth, or a fifth of it; each one is the object of all her affection. How much more so with the God whose love is more perfect than any mother’s, and who Himself is love! Isa. 49:15. Christ is the light of the world, the Sun of Righteousness. But light is not divided among a crowd of people. If a room full of people be brilliantly lighted, each individual gets the benefit of all the light, just as much as though he were alone in the room. So the life of Christ lights every man that comes into the world, and in every believing heart Christ dwells in all His fulness. Sow a seed in the ground, and you get many seeds, each one having as much life as the one sown. So Christ, the true Seed, whence everything of worth comes, gives to all the whole of His life.
Our Sins Purchased.
Christ “gave Himself for our sins.” That is to say, He bought them, and paid the price for them. This is a simple statement of fact; the language used is that commonly employed in referring to purchases. “How much did you give for it?” or, “How much do you want for it?” are frequent questions. When we hear a man say that he gave so much for a certain thing, what do we at once know?—We know that that thing belongs to him, because he has bought it. So when the Holy Spirit tells us that Christ gave Himself for our sins, of what should we be equally sure?—That He has bought our sins, and that they belong to Him, and not to us. They are ours no longer, and we have no right to them. Every time we sin we are robbing the Lord, for we must remember that Christ has purchased not merely the specific acts of sin that we have committed, and that are in the past, but the sins that are in us, and which break forth. In this faith there is righteousness.
He Has Bought Us, Too.
This follows from the fact that He has purchased our sins, to deliver us from ourselves. Our sins are part of ourselves; nay, they are the whole of us, for our natural lives are nothing but sin. Therefore, Christ could not buy our sins without buying us also. Of this fact we have many plain statements. He “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity.” Titus 2:14. “Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price.” 1 Cor. 6:19. “Ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ.” 1 Peter 1:18, 19, R. V.
“Accepted in the Beloved.”