Grace
Tozer examined the grace of God directed toward the fault of man, meaning that God’s grace is His ability through Christ to pardon us for our iniquity and spend eternity with Him. After examining the scripture for the word ‘grace’ we can see that grace entails more than this. We see examples where the grace of God is wished to be with other believers (1 Cor 16:23, Rom 16:20,24, 2 Cor 13:14, Gal 1:3, Gal 6:18, Eph 1:2, Eph 6:24, Phil 1:2… to name a few), i.e., “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you (1 Cor 16:23), where Paul wishes that God’s grace be with someone. How can grace be with someone, if it is only God’s willingness to rescue us from hell?
This idea that grace can be held or had is separate from the idea that grace is forgiveness of our sins from God. Grace is also something that is given, such as in Rom 12:3 (“through the grace given to me”), Eph 3:8 (“this grace was given”), Gal 2:9 (“perceived the grace that had been given to me”), Eph 3:2 (“the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you”), and most importantly Eph 3:7: “…of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power…” in which we see that the grace of God worked within Paul, and he became a minister according to that working. In fact, grace can be given to everyone in a manner that is not just a guaranteed rescue from hell, “but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Eph 4:7). It is clear here that grace can be quantifiable, and therefore we can receive more or less of it from Christ. Hebrews 4:16 says “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Here we see that grace is something that can help us, and this is probably the reason why most letters of the New Testament wish grace to be with other believers.
Love
God is love is not to be taken literally- this would allow one to be able to say “love is God.” The thought or action of love is not defined the same by everyone- some may say that love is a feeling you get when you see your spouse; others may say love is determined sacrifice. To state “love is God” would remove God from who He really is, stripping him of his name. If I love woodworking, for example, this does not mean that my desire to build a table is God. God has His own attributes that cannot be changed, and stating “God is love” is meant to say that God has so much love that it is part of his being.
Holy
God’s Holiness as fearful and awesome:
1 Samuel 6:20 And the men of Beth Shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? And to whom shall it go up from us?”
Isaiah 5:16 But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, And God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness.
Ezekiel 39:7 So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
Joel 3:16-18 The LORD also will roar from Zion, And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the LORD will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel. “ So you shall know that I am the LORD your God, Dwelling in Zion My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall be holy, And no aliens shall ever pass through her again.”
Habakkuk 2:20 “ But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”
God’s holiness as positive:
Psalm 68:17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, Even thousands of thousands; The Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the Holy Place.
Isaiah 6:3 And one cried to another and said: “ Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”
Revelation 4:8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “ Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”
Revelation 15:4 Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested.”
Isaiah 45: 22-23 Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, And shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall take an oath.
God’s holiness is both something to fear and something that is cause for praise. We see the awesome and the unique power that God possesses by examining his holiness. Throughout the Bible, those that encounter God are sent to their knees trebling in some way. He resonates holiness, and the very sound of His voice causes this fear and trembling. This is a cause for praise- God alone has this holiness, and nowhere else can anyone find anything that compares to it. The result of God’s holiness is also awesome and incomparable: thousands of chariots, every knee bowing to God, silence before him, His executed judgement, etc. Knowledge of what it means for God to be holy allows one to understand all the other attributes of God, and how none can be anything like Him.
Matt,
ReplyDelete1. Well said, butI think after a mighty effort to make your point (in which you did well), I was trying to get you to take a look at the way Tozer looked at grace in the OT and in the New.
2. We need to be careful to agree with the apostle John when he said God is love. God really is love--fully--but not the reverse. That is where the problem lies--when someone reads the verse with a case of theological dislexia. You made some excellent points in the second half of your statement.
3. Most of your cited verses were good, but I wasn't sold on how you used a few of them to make a case for the positive. Maybe a couple of clarifying words would have helped.