Word of Encouragement (9/3/2021)

We have gone through Paul’s prayers in the New Testament. Now, we want to survey Peter’s prayers and draw encouragement and lessons from them. The first one we will consider is, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you” (1 Pet. 1:2).

This is a benediction. This benediction formula—namely, extending God’s grace and peace to the recipients of the letter—is regularly used by Paul: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:7 and also in 1 Cor. 1:3, 2 Cor. 1:2, Gal. 1:3, Eph. 1:2, Phil. 1:2, Col. 1:2, etc.). As you can see, Peter’s benediction is much shorter and somewhat generic: he does not mention the source of grace and peace as Paul does—God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ; it is assumed.

But Peter adds his own variation to the formula: “Grace to you and peace be multiplied” (which is a more wooden translation). As we said in other places, grace refers to God’s demerited favor, which is extended to hell-deserving sinners for the sake of Jesus Christ, who laid down His life for their salvation. The biblical idea of peace (shalom) involves more than just the absence of conflict; it refers to that state of completeness, in which everything works according to God’s design in perfect harmony.

When Peter prays for grace and peace to be multiplied, he is obviously speaking of our experience of God’s grace and peace, not God’s grace and peace themselves. God’s grace and peace, as God’s attributes and possessions, are infinite and eternal; they cannot be multiplied or increased. And the grace and peace God extends to us cannot be multiplied or increased either. As far as the saving grace, and the peace that comes with it, are concerned, they are given to all believers in fullness: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places...” (Eph. 1:3). Besides the saving grace, each of us receives our own individual and peculiar graces from God in different measures: “...grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift” (Eph. 4:7). But in the sense that these differing measures of grace were determined even before the foundation of the world, they cannot be multiplied or increased, either. But our experience of God’s grace and peace can change according to various circumstances and reasons. For example, when we persist in sin, we will not experience the kind of peace we can enjoy when we walk in joyful obedience to God even though we still have the same (saving) peace in Jesus Christ: “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).

As Matthew Henry points out, “Solid peace cannot be enjoyed where there is no true grace; first grace, then peace.” We can understand why this is the case. As we saw in Rom. 5:1, we cannot have peace with God unless we have been justified by His grace through faith. Peace is not something we attain through mindfulness and meditation (in the Eastern, transcendental sense of the word). Peace is what results when we understand and deepen our understanding of God’s grace (through reading, hearing, and meditating on the Word of God).

So then, we must look humbly to God for His grace and peace in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we should ask Him to multiply His grace and peace in our lives—that is, for our experience of His grace and peace to increase more and more as we grow in the understanding of His Word and in our obedience to His Word. Do you have a saving understanding of God’s grace and peace? Great! Are you experiencing God’s grace and peace these days in abundance? Wonderful! But don’t forget: there is so much more of His grace and peace to experience and enjoy. May grace to you and peace be multiplied!

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