“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:2 NIV
This greeting is in every letter Paul wrote that has been captured in the Bible. Paul wanted to extend the grace of God to the individuals he was writing to, the Christians at Philippi. Grace is receiving something that you do not deserve, therefore salvation from eternal damnation is grace as we can do nothing to earn our way out of what we deserve.
As grace comes from God and is what our salvation is built upon, Paul reminds the recipients of his letters that they have this grace from God already. When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we were granted this grace, grace from not having to spend eternity in hell. Paul places grace before peace as it is difficult to have peace without grace, as peace is a product of grace. Once we receive the grace of sparing us from an eternity in hell, we are able to have peace about where we are going to spend eternity.
It is also important that we remember that because we have been shown grace, it is imperative that we show grace to others and by showing them what God has shown us, we are hopefully leading them to Jesus. So as Paul is expressing his wishes that God continues to give the people he is writing to even more grace and peace, we should also wish that for every person we have in our lives.
Do you extend grace to others?