You probably know 2 Corinthians 13:14, commonly known as ‘The Grace’ —

“[May] the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

  1. These are terrific words for you, and here are some reasons why —
    Paul desired that all of the Corinthian Christians would have: grace, love
    and fellowship (& we can each have this now, too). It’s easy to understand
    these are good things to have, but there’s more to the story.
  2. Paul desired they (we) have “grace” (charis). Here, he doesn’t mean that
    we experience salvation ‘for the first time’ but he means ‘grace’ in the sense
    of having daily divine enabling and empowering to live for Jesus. This
    enabling comes from “Jesus Christ”, the Universal King through whom God
    brings eternal rescue. Thus, Christ has all the unlimited resources of God to
    enable you to keep walking after him. So, Jesus is well able to give you this
    empowering!
  3. Paul wished that we have “the love of God” (agapē ), which here means
    love from God. Just as with “grace”, we already have God’s love. So, Paul
    here means that each day we will continue to know we are deeply loved by
    God, and that knowledge will continue to sustain and transform us, so that
    we will have love for God.
  4. Paul desired that you continue to experience the ongoing fellowship with
    the Spirit, Father and Son, and with other believers, which the Spirit himself
    gives you. This fellowship (koinonia) continues to draw us together, expressing our unity in Christ.
  5. receiving love, grace and fellowship are clearly works of the Trinity. We receive grace from and through Christ; love from the Father; and, ongoing
    fellowship from the Spirit. However, they don’t ultimately gives these
    individual blessings apart from one another: The Father originates grace (as
    he originates all things) and the Spirit applies grace to us. The Father’s love for us is seen most clearly in the Son laying down his life for us, and we
    experience this love through the Spirit’s ministry. Our fellowship is also with the Father and the Son, through the Spirit.

So … may your understanding and experience be enriched
as we say these words together from time to time!

Cameron