Greetings matter. While cultures have different “greetings playbooks,” each has established patterns for the practice.
But what if one greeting revealed mysteries of the universe? What if it provided a map for where creation is heading, how it will get there, and how we are to live in the meantime?
I believe the apostle Paul’s signature greeting speaks powerfully to these questions.
In every letter, Paul greets the recipient with some variation of “grace and peace”—combining the standard Greek greeting, charis (grace), with the standard Hebrew greeting, shalom (peace). Taken together and in the right order, these two words give us a window into mysteries unknown apart from God’s revelation. Specifically, they reveal the trajectory of creation and provide guidance for how to live.
Where Creation Is Heading: Peace
If you asked Bertrand Russell where the world is heading, he would reply (as he wrote in 1903): “All the labors of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspirations, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system.” Death is the universe’s destiny.
Looking at the world, it’s hard not to feel like he might be right. Life can feel futile. So often the world seems to be falling apart in disarray, not coming together in harmony.
Sin is the Bible’s answer to explain the unraveling of creation, cosmically and personally. But sin is not the final word on the universe’s fate. Christianity takes a more hopeful stance: our world is not destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system. On the contrary, every frayed thread of creation will be restored and knit together in harmony. Creation is barreling toward peace.
But how is God turning creation from a path toward death to one toward life? The answer lies in the first word of the greeting.
How Creation Gets There: Grace
As Paul explains to the Ephesians, in Christ we have “redemption through his blood [and] the forgiveness of our trespasses,” which comes by way of the “riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:7). The riches of God’s grace culminate in the sending of his Son to save sinners.
This gracious work has brought us peace with God (Eph. 2:1–10) and peace with fellow believers (Eph. 2:11–22), and will usher in the unification of all things (Eph. 1:10)—setting creation free from its “bondage to corruption” (Rom. 8:21). Divine grace erupts in Christ, overwhelming sin and its fraying effects. So when it comes to where creation is moving, Paul’s greeting captures the Christian claim: the grace of God is bringing peace from God—what Cornelius Plantinga calls the “universal flourishing” of creation.
But Paul’s greeting doesn’t just speak to where the world is heading and how it gets there. “Grace and peace” also sheds light on how we’re called to live.
How to Live in the Meantime
Grace is God’s disposition of kindness and favor toward the world. It’s not as though we’re grinding out the Christian life and he drops “grace packs” from heaven to push us over the hump. Returning to Ephesians, Paul describes how the “riches of [God’s] grace” have unlocked a dizzying series of blessings we find in Christ, including “every spiritual blessing” (1:3), holiness and blamelessness (1:4), adoption (1:5), redemption and forgiveness (1:7). And it all begins with grace. The grace brings peace: peace with God, peace with other believers, and a broader peace throughout creation. Again, the order is critical: grace then peace. Grace first. Peace follows.
The order is critical: grace then peace. Grace first. Peace follows.
Other religions operate in the reverse: peace then grace. If I can gain peace with God (or the gods, or a supernatural force) through a set of practices, then I can secure his (or their) favor. Sometimes, Christians function with a peace-then-grace mentality. If I can achieve peace with God through being a good Christian, then I can unlock his grace in my life.
Aside from inviting a host of insecurities and anxieties into our lives, such an approach misses the heart of the Christian faith. We are saved by grace, which subsequently brings peace to our lives—both an objective peace as we experience forgiveness from God, and a subjective peace as our hearts learn to rest in Christ’s finished work. His grace, as it sinks deeply into our bones, produces peace—that is, cohesion or consistency between our declared, imputed righteousness and a righteous life made possible by the Spirit’s working in our lives.
Paul’s greeting doesn’t just map our salvation; grace-then-peace shows us how to relate with others. After spending three chapters focusing on God’s grace in Jesus, the apostle shifts to how we ought to live as a result. He calls believers to unity (4:1–16) and purity (4:17–5:21). We might describe the focus as peace with one another (unity), and peace or cohesion within (purity). Then, Paul explains how the Christian’s call, anchored in God’s grace, ripples out toward ordinary relationships like marriage (5:22–33), parenting (6:1–4), and work relations (6:5–9). Grace is the foundation for God’s interaction with creation, and it governs our actions toward one another. Such loving action within the body of Christ yields cohesion and ultimately peace. Grace then peace.
Paul’s classic greeting is a declaration of hope.
Bertrand Russell anticipated a devastating unraveling of the universe. Such a view might lead him—and those sharing his outlook—to greet one another by saying (if they’re honest), “entropy and devastation” or “chaos and doom.” Christianity speaks a better word. Paul’s classic greeting is a declaration of hope: stating in the most succinct way where creation is heading (not to disarray but peace), how it will get there (by grace), and how we ought to live in the meantime (living from grace, which brings peace).
The Gospel Coalition