We need both, and it’s all in Jesus. In those days and in that culture the usual greeting was “Shalom”! (Peace) Paul adds the word “Grace”. Grace and Peace. A wonderful duo! I remember when Araldite Super-Glue came on the market. You got two small tubes of substance; one contained a ‘resin’ and the other a ‘hardener’. Two equal portions were mixed to form a glue that would bind almost anything together. Amazing! I have used it for all sorts of repairs. It was, to use a familiar phrase, a ‘winning combination’.
I often wonder what Paul’s life was like when he was Saul; the militant, highly educated, Christian hating and arrogant “Pharisee of the Pharisees”; blameless when it came to the keeping of the Law. Judson Cornwall, in his book ‘Let us see Jesus’, says concerning Paul; “It is unlikely that Paul knew much peace until he met Jesus”. Well, we know his story. On his way to Damascus to persecute the Church and drag followers of Jesus off to prison, he had that dramatic encounter with Jesus Himself. Humbled and blinded for three days by the light from heaven, he heard the voice of Jesus. His life was changed; Saul the persecutor was ‘born again’ and became the Apostle Paul. Later in life, he wrote ”…by the grace of God I am what I am” – 1 Corinthians 15 v10.
That is the case with all of us who know Jesus. Paul is writing to the Colossian church to correct some doubts they were having about Jesus. He tells them that Jesus Christ is Lord of Creation, He is the Head of the body, the church, and in Him dwells the ‘fullness’ of the Father. And, to top the list; that He has “…Made peace through the blood of His cross”. Peter uses almost the same greeting as Paul; 2 Peter 1 v2 “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord”.
Yes indeed! It is all in Jesus. The ‘fullness’ of the Father’s grace and peace flows into our lives through Jesus. This is the ‘winning combination’ that holds us together when we could be falling apart and our boat feels like it’s sinking!
Let’s be encouraged, and praise Him for His grace and peace.
Eddie.