GRACE AND PEACE

Verse 2d - Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

These terms were common salutations in the Greco-Roman world. Grace or Charis was a common Roman greeting like “Salam” or “Namaste”.

We have misunderstood the word Grace to mean that anything goes, God understands, we need to overlook people’s faults, and we can ‘nod and wink’ at sin!

What did Grace or Charis mean to the original reader of this letter? Yes, it was used as a greeting, but here, it is intended to remind the Christ follower of something.

Charis/Grace in those times meant receiving favour from a higher to a lesser powerful relationship between a giver of gifts and the recipients of those gifts. Today, the word patronage could have negative connotations, such as favouritism. In the Roman world, it was understood positively. It was understood as a relationship between a patron and a client where the patron gave the client something, usually money to the amount that they could never repay, but they entered an agreement and relationship based on mutual trust and loyalty. The new client “was expected to show respect and gratitude to the patron, to render certain services to him . . . and to support his political, economic and social activities” (Paul Sampley, editor, Paul in the Greco-Roman World: A Handbook, Vol. 2, 2016, p. 206). So, becoming a client in the Roman world was not a light commitment. The client was supposed to show gratitude. The Patron protected the client.

This takes on a new meaning for the Christian.

Charis served New Testament authors as a model for God’s mercy through the atonement of Jesus Christ, which also comes with covenantal obligations. When Paul sought to explain the Christian’s new relationship with God, one of the ways he did so was in terms of the ancient patronage system—something everyone understood (Richards and O’Brien). Paul and Peter use this as a part of their greetings to mean that God is our divine patron, giving us undeserved forgiveness, favour, and the amazing gift of eternal life! They use Grace to explain what Jesus did on the Cross for us. They take common day words and weave them into the gospel so people can understand what they are saying. Patronage had its own vocabulary. Words we usually consider particularly as Christian terms like grace and faith were common parlance before Paul commandeered them. The undeserved gifts of assistance the patron offered were commonly called charis (‘grace’ and ‘gift’). The loyalty the client offered the patron in response was called Pistis (‘faith’ and ‘faithfulness’). So, there is an expectation that Jesus also has of us. Just as the client demonstrated ‘Pistis”, i.e. faithful loyalty, we are required to live in obedience to His word, that we are faithful and loyal to Him (Rom 12:1). Faith (Pistis) without works is dead (James 2:17).

As time went on, by the 5th century AD, several Christian scholars began to teach that grace is something given freely without expecting anything in return. However, “free grace” is not what Paul intended to communicate. Paul profoundly understood that “by grace [Charis] you are saved through faith [Pistis] . . . it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8, ESV).

PEACE

Peace or Shalom was the common Jewish greeting, which means wholeness in every way. I guess Peter was aware that Gentile and Jewish converts would read these letters; therefore, he adopted this dual style of greeting.

What are the key thoughts I want to leave you with?

God has chosen you and brought you into a new covenant that requires you to obey. You are strangers who can live because of the Holy Spirit’s work in you. Much grace and peace have been given to you.

Reflections

• How would you live your life toward God in the light of this understanding of Grace?
• Can you reflect on what Pistis, i.e., faithful loyalty, looks like in your life?