GRACE, LOVE AND COMMUNION
MARK B GRANT
2 Corinthians 13: 11-14
Verse 14 was particularly in mind; this verse is so full. I just read the other verses for context. The verse refers to three things: “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ”; “the love of God”; and “the communion of the Holy Spirit”. The apostle’s desire is that these three things should be with them all, these saints in Corinth. You could attribute each of these three things, grace, love, and communion, to each divine Person, but I am aware that the apostle speaks of them here as perhaps the greatest expression of these things.
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ”: there is not a greater expression of grace than by and in the Lord Jesus Christ. We just sang a hymn (No 211) that speaks of the glory of grace, and that is attributed to the Father, God the Father, and I think that is the way the vast extent of grace will be manifestly seen and known. Of course, there is the glory of the operations of grace as well, but “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ” is distinctive in the way that the Lord Jesus Christ came in and was here, “found in figure as a man” (Phil 2: 8); and expressed all the attributes of God as a Man. There are so many features we could think of, righteousness, lowliness, meekness, humility, patience, longsuffering, kindness; all of these features are seen in perfect blend in the Lord Jesus, but [it has been said many times that if there was] one thing that was [certainly] prominent[, it] was grace.
And then His pathway here led Him to the cross, and on the cross He said, “Father, forgive them, for they known not what they do” (Luke 23: 34), and that has been described as the ‘zenith of grace’, James Taylor vol 95 p243. You could not think of a greater expression of grace in a single moment than that. All that was around, all that was against Him publicly, all that was being done to Him, here He was bearing the injustice of it, in the perfection of who He was, the perfection of His life and manhood, and all the powers of darkness and various groups of men all against Him, and He says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”. He puts what they were doing down to ignorance or inadvertence because they did not know what they were doing. It is an amazing thing that that was the attitude of the Lord Jesus at that moment, as it always was, but it is particularly brought into relief at that moment. The whole dispensation that we are in has been marked by that, by that grace, and that character of grace has been active for about two thousand years, the attitude of forgiveness towards each one of us, towards sinners. God has answered that request of the Lord Jesus, if you can put it that way. The gospel, for example, has been preached for about two thousand years. Men were responsible for what they had done, but the gospel went out first to those in Jerusalem. Therefore, free forgiveness is available, and it is really the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that has been expressed while He was here. But then it is still available; it has not ceased because of the fact He is not here. In fact, it is even more widely available because He is on high, and He is available for all of us everywhere. Wherever we are, no matter what our circumstances are, whatever setting we are in, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is available to us.
It says here it is to be with us, which is more than being towards us, although it is towards us; and that is very blessed, and we can know that. We can know it individually; we can know it together; but if it is with us, I think it is experienced by us but also can be expressed by us, and then it circulates amongst us. That is a very blessed thing, and it is possible and it is known, and we are very thankful for that, that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is known amongst the saints. These three things are essential for there to be the enjoyment of what is collective. It is essential for each of us individually, but also if we are going to enjoy things together.
The love of God likewise would be the greatest expression of love. The love of Jesus and the love of the Spirit are known and enjoyed and would be included in the love of God, but the love of God is the greatest expression of it and the greatest source of it, involving He is the centre of it too. Love is God’s nature, of course, but it has been expressed so greatly. It has been expressed and made known by Jesus, but the source of love and that kind of love too, “the love of God … be with you”. It is not only that we are loved by God, which is true and very blessed, but the love of God being with us is that kind of love. We have been made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1: 4) which means that we are not only loved by God, but that love produces the same kind of love in us, which is an amazing thing. We here, though feeling our weakness, and we feel various circumstances and pressures and all of these things, but there are actually persons here who have been affected by the work that Christ has done and have come to Him, been converted, there is a work of God in them, and therefore this kind of love can be known by each but also expressed, formed in each and therefore expressed.
Again, that is essential for each one of us for our own enjoyment but also for the working out of things together. It is seen and it is known and it is enjoyed, but I feel the word is for myself that of the need to be maintained and draw on these things, and lay hold of them too in a greater way. We may be quite familiar with some of the terms of these things, although they have not been formed in me as much as they should have been, but I am very thankful for divine grace that has formed them in some measure. And I think it is encouraging to be able to identify these things in ourselves as well. I certainly have known it and experienced it amongst the saints, but we are to be able to identify these things in ourselves as the work of God - and the work of God is perfect - and we are to value it in each other. It is a wonderful thing that the love of God, that kind of love, is actually formed in us because it is “shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit”, Rom 5: 5. It is also formed and it is a very large part of what will go through into eternity. What has been formed after the divine nature and what is formed at the present time is what will answer to God, to divine Persons, eternally.
And then, “the communion of the Holy Spirit”. Each divine Person would be involved in this, but it is the Holy Spirit that is the great power for unity and oneness, and we have been given the Holy Spirit; it has been poured out. Think of the possibility of a company of persons who each have the Holy Spirit, making way for the Spirit, because their relationship with the Spirit is characterised by nearness to the Spirit. May this communion be known! I feel the test of it myself. You see and experience the benefit of it and certainly in gatherings, you see the fruit of it, but for myself the test is how much am I part of this myself and contributing to this. There is no greater power for the enjoyment of divine things. In fact, there is no other power for the enjoyment of divine things together. The links that we have are not natural. Natural relationships are, of course, right and precious and valued, but these links are more than that, greater than that. Our natural links in this scene will not go through in the way that we know each other now, but the spiritual links that we have, the common bond that we have, will go through. We can enjoy what belongs to eternity now in the Spirit.
These thoughts are not very well formed but I was just struck by what was contained in one short verse and the fact that it conveys the greatest expression of these three things, grace, love and communion; and they are to be with us. That is a test, but it is also very encouraging too because the apostle did not write this as some impossibility; he writes it as something that should be a known reality, and it is a reality, and we are very thankful for it. It is something to be enjoyed. I trust they may be for our encouragement.
May the Lord bless the word!
Malvern
10th October 2022