Chapter # 12 Paragraph # 2 Study # 1
October 20, 2019
Humble, Texas
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Thesis:   Paul's claim of "speech" through "the grace given to him" is rooted in the reality of the grace of God.

Introduction:   As we begin this study of Paul's next paragraph, we see that he most immediately points us in the direction of what "grace" produces. Because the concept of "Grace" has been largely "dumbed down" at this point in the history of the Church, it is necessary that we step back to see what "Grace" is before we attempt to see what "Grace" produces.

• I. There Are Two Realities That Existed At the Beginning of "The Era of Grace".
  • A. There is the deliberate creation by God of "Grace" as the "umbrella" doctrine that will overshadow all doctrinal understanding going forward (under the reality that "a little leaven leavens the whole lump").
    • 1. Men naturally gravitate to the attempt to create a synthesis of many complexities into an integrated "whole" because they need a single anchor to provide the necessary point of reference that gives both understanding and significance to the myriad of details of Truth.
    • 2. God, knowing this penchant of men, determined to provide that "theological anchor" from the beginning of this age through the period, at the beginning, of the development of New Testament doctrine.
      • a. At the very beginning, God required the man who was to be the forerunner to the coming of Jesus Christ, to be named "John" (Luke 1:13).
        • 1) This requirement was no small thing, as God's dealings with his father demonstrate.
          • a) This demonstration had two aspects.
            • i. The promise of the most desired of all of Zacharias' desires: a son.
            • ii. The imposition of a penalty because "faith" was not Zacharias' response.
          • b) This demonstration was not completed until Zacharias wrote "John" on some form of tablet in response to the argumentative "relatives" over the boy's name (Luke 1:63).
        • 2) The name means "Yahweh [is] gracious".
      • b. When the forerunner's task had been accomplished, and Jesus was on the scene, He was characterized by another "John" as "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
      • c. And, then, at the end of this "beginning of the age", God used this "other" John to complete the canon of the New Testament and fulfill the promise made in John 16:13.
        • 1) Thus, from the beginning of the revelation of Jesus as "full of grace and truth", to the end of the revelation of the doctrine of the New Age of Grace, there was spread over the "whole" a single unifying umbrella thesis: Yahweh is Gracious.
        • 2) This makes the concept of "Grace" more critical than any other in this age.
          • a) Thus, we should not be surprised that the adversary has taken special aim at the doctrine of "Grace" for the purpose of corrupting it (and he has had 2,000 years to accomplish his goal).
          • b) Thus, that means that we must not be casual about how we understand the meaning (and down-line significance) of "Grace".
  • B. There is the pointed declaration of Mark 1:27 that the "synagogue" had never heard the actual truth of "Grace".
    • 1. At this point in Israel's history, the primary instrument of "indoctrination" was the synagogue.
    • 2. At this point in Israel's history, the "synagogues" were so totally "legal" that the idea of God's forgiveness being rooted in anything other than "performance" issues was so strong that "John's" doctrine of "forgiveness rooted in repentance" was rejected out of hand by the leaders of the synagogues and vigorously opposed by, particularly, the Pharisees.
• II. Thus, The Entire Theological Battleground of The New Age Was Focused Upon The True Nature of "Grace".
• III. Thus, There Is NO Greater Need For The Church Than To Have a Legitimate Grasp of What Grace IS And What It SIGNIFIES.
  • A. Thus, we need a "definition".
    • 1. Definitions can be developed in several different ways, but most of those ways are heavily influenced by the dominating "T"heology (What viewfinder should we use in looking at God?).
    • 2. My approach is to develop a definition from the Two Major Grace Activities of God in the beginnings of the New Age.
      • a. First, there was the "gracious" provision by God of His Son as the One Who was filled with "grace and truth" so that Calvary is the first demonstration of "what Grace actually means".
        • 1. Here we have to be very precise: Calvary was the core essence of "Grace" in action in regard to "justification" (the question of how a man can be welcomed by God into His presence).
        • 2. The requirements of the Glory of God that produced Calvary were two.
          • a) The Justice of the Glory of God demanded of men an absolute loyalty (Hosea 6:6) and perfection so that God could extend to them Eternal Life.
          • b) The Grace of the Glory of God responded with a provision solely provided by God for men to be considered "absolutely loyal and perfect in all their ways".
        • 3) From this we can discern a kind of "definition" of "Grace": God providing for man what He requires from man and then "imputing" His "actions-of-accomplishment" to men if they will "repent and believe" (Mark 1:15; two concepts that have, like "Grace", been distorted significantly) as Paul declared to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:17-21.
      • b. Second, there was the "gracious" provision by God of His Spirit as the One Who was to accomplish the myriad of tasks involved in God's goal in the New Age: the building of the Church (both numerically through evangelism and qualitatively through edification).
        • 1) Here we also have to be very precise: Pentecost was the core essence of "Grace" in action in regard to "sanctification" (the question of how a man can walk with God, having been welcomed by Him into His presence).
        • 2) The requirements of the Glory of God that produced Pentecost were also two.
          • a) The requirements of the on-going task of building the Church included an accurate understanding of the "Truth".
          • b) The requirements of the on-going task also included a way to provide a continuing presence of that understanding for the Church through the ages.
        • 3) Pentecost provided believing men with the Holy Spirit of God so that they could clearly understand "all truth" and provide that understanding to every generation.
          • a) John 16:13 was Jesus' promise that God would provide His disciples with His Spirit so that they could understand Him and His truth.
          • b) The New Testament canon became His method of providing that understanding to succeeding generations.
        • 4) Thus, we have a second major "Grace" provision so that we might accurately define "Grace" and, again, it turns out to be "God providing for man what He requires from man and then "imputing" His "actions-of-accomplishment" to men if they walk by His Spirit by repentance and faith.
  • B. And we need a "focus-target".
    • 1. Grace is, itself, a multi-faceted reality that makes distortion of it possible and, with Sin in the picture, inevitable.
    • 2. To provide a safe-guard from this inevitability, God gave us a "bulls-eye" on a "Grace" target to keep us from being deceived.
      • a. That "bulls-eye" is this: "Grace" is how God gets what He wants done, done.
      • b. In other words, "Grace" is seen in accomplishment, not "claims of faith".
        • 1) Since the "Grace" of God is, bottom-line, God acting for men to produce what men are responsible to produce, if the production is not there, neither is "Grace".
        • 2) Alternatively, if the production is there, so is the activity of God as "Gracious" (the Prime Mover).

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This is article #018.
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