Eph 6:21-24 So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. (22) I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts. (23) Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (24) Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
As we close the book of Ephesians, we are encouraged by the words penned by Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Just as the Lord hasn’t left us to fight the battle of faith alone, so too Paul encourages the believers in Ephesus by sending Tychicus, a beloved and faithful servant. Often the Lord will put other people into our lives at just the right time to encourage us.
Peace, love, faith, and grace are trademarks to the salutations of Paul. He isn’t simply saying them as a courteous way to end the letter, he is reminding them that they are from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us in John 14:27 that the peace he leaves us is not as the world gives. The peace of Christ should help us to not have troubled hearts nor cause us fear. As we pursue the things of the flesh that the world would describe as peace giving, we often come up empty and fearful. But the peace and love of Christ gives us hope and power to overcome.
Grace wraps this letter up for the believers who love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and mind. An incorruptable love that comes from a heart of right motives and sincerity. Just as Paul began (Eph 1:2), he concludes with grace to the saints through the Lord Jesus Christ.
But what is this grace he is talking about and how do we receive? “May the grace of God be with you.” God’s grace is a free gift. Often we believe that we need to perform a certain way to receive God’s grace, but the Bible makes it abundantly clear that it is a gift that comes from his nature of love that flows to us in great abundance. It is not something that we have to earn, as we saw in Ephesian 2:7-8, “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (8) For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”
Clearly the grace of God is a gift, but Paul also has a caveat. “To those who love our Lord with a love incorruptible.” In order to receive the grace we must be in love with Jesus Christ, and in order to be in love with Christ we must be redeemed, which is the work of the Holy Spirit in us… There are two kinds of grace, common grace which is the grace of God that allows all of us to share in the things of life that we need such as air, sun light, food, and water. It is common to all humankind. I don’t believe this is the grace Paul is talking about here. He is talking about that special grace that is bestowed on the believers whom he has elected for eternal life. “Eph 1:4-6 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love (5) he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, (6) to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”
Paul is blessing them with “special grace” which redeems, sanctifies, and glorifies his people. It is the favor of God that results in salvation. Dutch Theologian Herman Bavinck describes it like this, “His voluntary, unrestrained, unmerited favor toward guilty sinners, granting them justification and life instead of the penalty of death, which they deserved.”
May the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.. Amen