Love and Grace

 •  3 min. read  •  grade level: 8
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In the minds of many, these terms are interchangeable, but that is erroneous. Love is meant to be reciprocal, but grace is unilateral. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:1919The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. (John 4:19)). God is love; that is a description of what God is. It would be incongruous to say, “God is grace.” He is gracious, the God of grace, the giving God, but grace is not reciprocal; it acts only in one way, that is, from God to man. God was manifested as the God of grace in giving His Son, but obviously grace cannot flow in return from man to God, although there is a further transmission of grace to those around, from those receiving it. So the Epistle to the Ephesians closes with the invocation that grace (that of the Lord Jesus Christ) may be with every true Christian. Originally that grace flows from God, and after permeating the individual Christians, it overflows and forms the medium between them, but it does not stop there; it goes outside the Christian sphere to the strangers around! What proceeds out of the Christian’s mouth should be good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearer; that will reach farther than only to Christians (Eph. 4:2929Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. (Ephesians 4:29)).
The love which subsisted reciprocally between the Father and the Son before time continued while the Son was here and is the same now in His place of exaltation. But grace could not be, until there was the need of man in consequence of the entrance of sin. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” The reign of sin unto death is superseded by the reign of grace unto eternal life, on account of righteousness having been accomplished by Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 5:20-2120Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:20‑21)). The reign of grace has the object of bringing man into the enjoyment of the love of God. The reign of grace will terminate when righteousness becomes dominant in the world to come. Grace removes every hindrance to that end and breaks down all opposition to the authority of the Lord. Who could have predicted the reduction of Saul of Tarsus from the state of an overbearing Pharisee to that of a humble worker in God’s service? Grace will then have served its purpose, but love will continue. God will ultimately rest in His love. He will rejoice over a redeemed creation which He will have brought to rest in His love. But there is a present aspect for the Christian. The appropriation of that love is hindered by fear or apprehension! “Perfect love casts out fear, because fear hath torment.” “Herein is love [with us] made perfect [or complete] in order that we may have boldness [confidence] in [or in view of] the day of judgment, because as He is so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17-1817The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. (John 4:17‑18)). “As He is” implies being in the atmosphere of love which envelops the Father and the Son. It is not “so shall we be” but “so are we” in this world. If we realize that we are loved as Christ is loved, can we have any apprehension as to the present or the future?
T. Oliver, adapted