Sunday 15^th March 2026

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:2 (NIV)

Grace and peace
‘Grace and peace to you’ is how the apostle Paul begins every single one of his letters, admittedly with a little variation and addition.  Perhaps because these words are so common, it’s easy to rush past them as if they’re little more than a warm greeting, a formality before we get down to the ‘meat’ of the letter.

However, precisely because he begins every letter with similar words, we should pause to ask ourselves why that is. 

It has often been pointed out that ‘grace and peace’ are Christian forms of typical Hebrew (‘peace’) and Greek (‘grace’) greetings.  We should know, though, that Paul is not one to follow convention for its own sake, but even if this were mere convention he’s stressing in his greeting that the gospel unites both Jew and Gentile in its blessings.

Many writers have gone on to explain how these two short words encapsulate so much of the Christian gospel.  Here are two examples:

“If grace is the origin of God’s plan to gather us into the blessings of his church in Christ, then peace is the result of it which demonstrates in the spiritual realms the triumphant wisdom of the gospel of Christ crucified” (Richard Coekin, Ephesians For You).

Similarly, “‘grace’ indicat[es] God’s free, saving initiative, and ‘peace’ what he has taken the initiative to do, namely to reconcile sinners to himself and to each other in the new community” (John Stott, The Message of Ephesians). 

The gospel, the good news of Christianity, could be summed up in three words: ‘peace through grace.’  It is in and through Christ that we know grace from God and peace with God and one another.

So, next time you find yourself reading the beginning of one of Paul’s letters, don’t rush past the greeting, but pause for a moment to ponder afresh God’s undeserved grace to and the enveloping peace that is yours – both of them in and through Christ – and don’t forget to praise him.

Prayer
God our Father, may I never cease to sing your praise, and to give you thanks, for the grace shown and the peace given in our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Yours warmly, in Christ
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)