³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Trinity is vitally involved in our relationships with other Christians. If God can transform a master-slave relationship through brotherly love, is there any problematic relationship beyond God’s power to reconcile?

So all three persons of the Godhead are critically involved in the experience of grace and peace among believers. “God the Father” is the ultimate giver of peace, having created the world and the garden of Eden as the place of complete tranquility. His redemption has as an essential goal to restore the peace that was lost, both with God the Creator and with our fellow creatures made in His image. For believers to live and act in ways that do not promote peace among us is to tear at the fabric of the image of God that is in each of us, both individually and collectively as the church. That is why peace among us is so important, and why Paul gave this benediction to the Thessalonians:

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thess. 5:23)

“The Lord Jesus Christ” is also invested in our grace and peace. Notice the fullness of the address Paul gives. “Jesus” is His earthly name because it means “salvation,” reminding Philemon of the source of our redeemed standing before the Lord, which we share with all believers. He is the “Christ,” the anointed one (this term is the Greek version of the Hebrew word “Messiah,” which means “Anointed of God”). Jesus is the one sent by God to give us peace through His death on the cross, and this name conveys the truth of our salvation (Matt. 1:21). Just before He left, He told His disciples in the upper room: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27a). We need the peace of Christ in our fellowship with other believers.

This short letter nowhere explicitly mentions the Holy Spirit, but His presence saturates the entire book as the divine author. This should not surprise us, for the Lord Jesus Christ said:

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth . . . He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. (John 16:13–14)

By inspiring this letter of Paul’s (2 Tim. 3:16, 2 Pet. 3:16), the Holy Spirit is very clearly present as a member of the Trinity, encouraging us toward the experience of God’s grace and peace in our relationships with fellow believers.

Lord, I want to be as invested in reconciling with others as You are.