Grace – The Divine Life Expressed in Our Living

Grace – The Divine Life Expressed in Our Living (1)

 

1Pet 2:19  For this is grace, if anyone, because of a

consciousness of God, bears sorrows by suffering unjustly. 
20  For what glory is it if, while sinning and being
buffeted, you endure? But if, while doing good and suffering,
you endure, this is grace with God.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Words of Ministry~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here Peter is saying that if, due to our conscience toward
God, we are willing to bear sorrows and suffer unjustly, that
is, suffer unjust treatment, this is grace. The Greek word
rendered "grace" in verse 19 is charis, referring here to the
motivation of the divine life within us and its expression in
our life, becoming in our behavior gracious and acceptable in
the eyes of both man and God (v. 20).

As we have pointed out a number of times, grace is actually
the Triune God becoming our life for our 174 experience and
enjoyment. With this understanding of grace as our basis, we
can say that here grace is the motivation of the divine life
within us and its expression in our living. Therefore, this
becomes in our behavior something gracious and acceptable in
the sight of both God and man.

The words "conscience toward God" also mean consciousness of
God. This is the consciousness of our relation to God. It
indicates that a believer is living in an intimate fellowship
with God, that he has and keeps a conscience toward God that
is both good and pure (3:16; 1 Tim. 1:5, 19; 3:9; 2 Tim.
1:3).