God’s Word for You
Philippians 4:23 Grace
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, April 30, 2026
23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
There is a question here about the text, whether “Amen” belongs or not. A great many good witnesses have it, and as many do not. I have included the “Amen” here although I see that I did not in the identical verse in Philemon (Philemon 1:23) on account of the translation I was using then. The inclusion or exclusion does not affect the doctrine of the verse nor of the book. But “Amen” is our confession, our shout of “Yes!” at the very mention of grace. For when grace comes into the text, our salvation is declared with certainty, so that we can throw away every doubt, for God is the giver of grace.
What is this grace? To many modern ears, grace is a quality we expect to see only in women of refinement; their grace is an unhurried, intentional quality or dignity. It is or was often assumed to be associated with great beauty, especially in women over thirty; a timeless thing. But this has nothing at all to do with the grace in the holy Scriptures.
In the Bible, grace is the kind of love that is unique; God alone truly has this grace. It is an attitude or disposition in God. He loves for no other reason than he loves. God loves because it is his nature to love. God does not love because the object of his love is loveable. God loves because God is loving.
A human being loves because things or people or pets are loveable to us. We love when we get a response to our love. This is shown in our love for people, and pets, and even more remote kinds of love, such as love for certain flavors, tastes, foods, and kinds of entertainment (opera, baseball, reality TV, Jazz, and so on).
Professor Deutschlander adds this to our understanding: “the closest [that] human beings get to having the attribute of grace is perhaps a parent’s love for a child. The child, after all, is a lot of trouble, always hungry or dirty or noisy or in the way. But a parent loves the child nonetheless. Still, parents do not love all children in the same way; the love they have for their own is exclusive and unique. But God’s love is not that way” (Grace Abounds, 2015, p. 112).
God’s love, his grace, embraces the whole human race. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). And Jesus says: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45), to which Paul agrees: “Christ Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:6). So no one ever needs to wonder or agonize over God’s love, thinking, “Maybe God’s grace doesn’t include me, maybe Christ’s sacrifice on the cross wasn’t for me.” That can’t ever be true. Why? Because God is gracious. That is his nature. He himself said, “I am gracious” (Exodus 22:27), and again he said as he passed before Moses: “The Lord, the Lord, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding with mercy and truth” (Exodus 34:6).
God’s grace washes over us when we know we don’t deserve it. In fact, we do well to remember that God likes to make something out of nothing. Luther said once that if you think you’re something, there’s not much he can do with you. So what we should notice in our personal struggles is that our weakness and our terror over sin is so very beneficial to us, in our life of faith! We certainly understand the power of sin. We get that, not only in our minds but also in our hearts. Our opinions, our plans, our own special purposes, our desire to accomplish what we have decided on with our big fat egos instead of God’s good and holy will. But weakness is a tool that God uses. Weakness strips away our egos. Weakness teaches us to give up on ourselves. As our Professor Paul O. Wendland said in a sermon: “Sometimes God gives us his best gifts when he doesn’t seem to be giving us anything at all.”
Being a person who is covered by God’s grace takes the same effort that a stone puts into being wet when it rains. Just don’t try to cover yourself with something else when the blessings pour down from heaven. This is what we carry with us in every trouble, every trial, every problem, and every danger. We stand like Japheth and his brothers when the waters of the flood come pouring down and exploding up from below and we have no escape apart from a ridiculous ship that our father built. The waves come careening over the mountaintops so that we know there is no escape, except that the Lord says, “Go into the ark, and I will close the door.” And that is all. There is no tiller in the ark; no sail. There are no ropes or sheets or sweeps to pull to keep her on course; there is no course at all except to survive. Then we see that this danger—whatever dangers come to us—bring with them a flood of God’s grace. For even death will not destroy you. Luther writes: “Far from being able to destroy the Christian, death is the most immediate escape from death. For the death of the body immediately precedes the liberation of the spirit as well as the resurrection of the flesh. Similarly, in the Flood it is neither the earth nor the trees nor the mountains that carry Noah; it is the Flood itself, even though it kills the rest of the human race.”
The grace of God is the love that we do not deserve, but which comes anyway. And why? Because God is love (1 John 4:8), and because God is gracious (Jonah 4:2; Joel 2:13; Psalm 116:5). There is no question about God’s grace. May it be with you, with your spirit, and with all of those you love, forever.
By grace I’m saved, grace free and boundless;
my soul, believe and doubt it not.
Why stagger at this word of promise?
Has Scripture ever falsehood taught?
No; then this word must true remain:
by grace you too shall heav’n obtain.
By grace! On this I’ll rest when dying;
in Jesus’ promise I rejoice;
for though I know my heart’s condition,
I also know my Savior’s voice.
My heart is glad, all grief has flown,
since I am saved by grace alone.
Christian L. Scheldt (1709-1761)
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.