Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you …

Every letter from Paul to the churches begins with a greeting of “grace to you and peace,” with his writings to Timothy beginning with “grace, mercy and peace.” These are all things that are sourced in “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” More than just a habitual salutation or vain repetition, this phrase marks out the apostle’s overriding desire for believers. He recognized what Christ said to His disciples in the Upper Room: “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

The Christian life is nothing if it is not characterized by grace and peace. Did not the angels announce Jesus’ coming, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14 NKJV)? John wrote that “we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). And continuing his biography of our Lord as an old man, he reflected, “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ” (John 1:16–17).

Paul continues this, not as a meaningless, religious platitude, but as a laser sharp focus of his communication. Paul uses the word grace no less than 78 times in his letters, and peace 47 times. And he ends every letter with grace as well. Grace (along with peace) is the apostle’s default position, his focus of communicating the Christian understanding and experience.

The first thing Paul has to say to the Corinthian Christians is that their sub-Christian behavior (as we shall find out about shortly) in no way restricts their supply of grace from God. Grace (which takes the emphasis over peace in his thought flow) was given them initially, and Paul desires them to understand the full extent of that grace. Grace in Christians’ lives does not abate because of sinful life practices. Yet our lack of response to God’s grace becomes abundantly evident in conflicts, abuses and turmoil in the church. The Corinthians had begun well, as their testimony shows, but things went from good to bad. So Paul reminds them of the foundational principles for all Christian life: grace and peace. He intends through his letter to bring them back to that solid platform, and spends the rest of the letter building on that.

Lord, teach me the depth of and the practical application of grace and peace.