Now there is a very beautiful, though not, to superficial readers,
obvious, significance in this testimony. 'This is the true grace of
God.' What is meant by '_this_'? Not merely the teaching which he has
been giving in the preceding part of the letter, but that which somebody
else had been giving. Now these churches in Asia Minor, to whom this
letter was sent, were in all probability founded by the Apostle Paul, or
by men working under his direction: and the type of doctrine preached in
them was what people nowadays call Pauline. And here Peter puts his seal
on the teaching that had come from his brother Apostle, and says: 'The
thing that you have learned, and that I have had no part in
communicating to you, _this_ is the true grace of God.' If such be the
primary application of the words (and I think there can be little doubt
that it is), then we have an interesting evidence, all the stronger
because unobtrusive, of the cordial understanding between the two great
leaders of the Church in apostolic times; and the figments that have
been set forth, with great learning and little common sense, about the
differences that divided these great teachers of Christianity, melt away
into thin air. Their division was only a division of the field of
labour. 'They would that I should go unto the Gentiles, and they unto
the circumcision.' All the evidence confirms what Paul says, 'Whether it
were they or I, so we preach, and so' all the converts 'believed.' Thus
it is not without significance and beauty that we here see dimly through
the ages Peter stretching out his hands to Paul's convert, and saying,
'This--which my beloved brother Paul taught you--this is the true grace
of God.'
But, apart altogether from that thought, note two things; the one, the
substance of this witness-bearing; and the other, Peter's right to bear
it. As to the substance of the testimony; 'grace' which has become a
threadbare word in the minds of many people, used with very little
conception of its true depth and beauty of meaning, is properly love in
exercise towards inferior and sinful creatures who deserve something
else. Condescending, pardoning, and active love, is its proper meaning.
And, says Peter, the inmost significance of the gospel is that it is the
revelation of such a love as being in God's heart.
Another meaning springs out of this. That same message is not only a
revelation of love, but it is a communication of the gifts of love. And
the 'true grace of God' is shorthand for all the rich abundance and
variety and exuberant manifoldness and all-sufficiency of the sevenfold
perfect gifts for spirit and heart which come from faith in Jesus
Christ. The truths that lie here in the Gospel, the truths which glow
and throb in this letter of Peter's, are the revelation and the
communication to men of the rich gifts of the Divine heart, which will
all flow into that soul which opens itself for the entrance of God's
word. And what are these truths? The main theme of this letter is Jesus
Christ, the Lamb of God, that was slain. 'Ye were as sheep going astray,
but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.' He
dwells upon Christ's innocence, upon Christ's meekness; but most of all
upon the Christ that died, 'whom, having not seen, we love, and in whom,
though unseen, we, believing, receive the end of our faith'--and the end
of the gospel--'even the salvation of our souls.'
Thus, dear brethren, this gospel, the gospel of the Divine Christ that
died for our sins, and lives to give His Spirit to all waiting hearts;
this is the true grace of God. It is very needful for us to keep in view
always that lofty conception of what this gospel is, that we may not
bring it down to the level of a mere theory of religion; nor think of it
as a mere publication of dry doctrines; that we may not lose sight of
what is the heart of it all, but may recognise this fact, that a gospel
out of which are struck, or in which are diminished, the truths of the
sacrifice of Christ and His ever-living intercession for us, is not the
true grace of God, and is neither a revelation of His love to inferior
and sinful men, nor a communication of His gifts to our weakness. Let us
remember Peter's witness. This--the full gospel of incarnation,
sacrifice, resurrection, ascension, and reign in glory, and return as
Judge--this, and nothing else, 'is the true grace of God.' And this
gospel is not exalted to its highest place unless it is regarded as such
by our waiting and recipient hearts.
Further, what right had this man to take this position and say, 'I
testify that this is the true grace of God'? He was no great genius; he
did not know anything about comparative religion, which is nowadays
supposed to be absolutely essential to understanding any one religion.
He was not a scholar or a philosopher. What business had he to bring in
his personality thus, as if he were an authority, and say, '_I_ testify
that this is the true grace of God'?
Well there are two or three answers: one peculiar to him and others
common to all Christian people. The one peculiar to him is, as I
believe, that he was conscious, and rightly conscious, that Jesus Christ
had bestowed upon him the power to witness, and the authority to impose
his testimony upon men as a word from God. In the most inartificial and
matter-of-course way Peter here lets us see the apostolic conception of
apostolic authority. He had a right--not because of what he was
himself, but because of the authority which Christ had conferred on
him--to say to men, 'I do not ask you to give heed to me, Peter. I
myself also am a man (as he said to Cornelius), but I call on you to
accept Christ's word, spoken through me, His commissioned messenger,
when _I_ testify, and through me Christ testifies, that this is the true
grace of God.'
Now no one but an apostle has the right to say that; but we Christian
people have a right to say something like it, and if we have not
apostolic authority, we may have what is very nearly as good, and
sometimes as powerful in its effect upon other people, and that is
authority based on personal experience. If we have plunged deep into the
secrets of God, and lived closely and faithfully in communion with Him,
and for ourselves have found the grace of God, His love and the gifts of
His love, coming into our lives, and ennobling, calming, elevating each
of us; then we, too, have a right to go to men and say, 'Never mind
about me; never mind about whether I am wise or foolish, I do not argue,
but I tell you I have tasted the manna, and it is sweet. I have drunk of
the water, and it comes cool and fresh from the rock. One thing I know,
that whereas I was blind, now I see. I believed, and therefore have I
spoken, and on the strength of my own tasting of it, I testify that
this, which has done so much for me, is the true grace of God.' If we
testify thus, and back up our witness with lives corresponding, some who
are wholly untouched by a preacher's eloquence and controversialists'
arguments, will probably be led by our attestation to make the
experiment for themselves. 'Ye are My witnesses,' says God. He did not
say, 'Ye are my advocates.' He did not bid us argue for Him, but He bid
us witness for Him.