Grace, Love and Communion 2 Corinthians 13:14

As Paul the apostle closed his letter to the members in Corinth he instructed them to, “Greet one another with an holy kiss.”, and he added “All the saints salute you.” In chapter thirteen and verse fourteen of Second Corinthians, Paul blessed the church members with “the grace, love and communion” of God where we read:

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,

and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen

The verse begins, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, ...” Paul began with the words, “the grace” which means “that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness, good will, loving-kindness and unmerited favor” “of the Lord” which refers to “he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master and the title given to God the Messiah” “Jesus” whose name means “Jehovah is Salvation” and is “the Son of God, the Saviour of mankind and God incarnate ” “Christ” or “the anointed One, the Messiah and the Son of God”, “and the love” which means “the affection, good will, benevolence and unconditional brotherly love” “of God” which refers to “the Godhead bodily and trinity which is comprised of God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit”. Paul began his final greeting with Jesus' “grace” and God's “love”.

The verse goes on to say, “and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.” Paul continued with the words, “and the communion” which means “fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation, intercourse and intimacy” “of the Holy Ghost” which refers to “the pure, morally blameless and ceremonial third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit who is coequal and coeternal with the Father and the Son ”, “be with you all” or “follow closely, in close proximity and together with the sum total of all the church members”. “Amen” which means “so it is, so be it and may it be fulfilled”. Paul added the presence of the “fellowship” of God's Holy Spirit to be with the church members.

When we meditate upon these words of Paul, we see how he blessed the church members in Corinth with with a final desire that God's “grace, love and communion” be upon and with them. Jesus Christ desires to pour out His “grace” upon all who will receive Him as “Savior and Lord”; God wants to share His “love” with all who believe in His Son, and the Holy Spirit of God promises not only to be “with” and “in” those who receive Jesus, but also will be poured out “upon” them. (See Acts 1:8) Paul's final benediction is for everyone who belongs to Jesus' church, and may all who read these words not only receive these blessings, but also believe in Him if they do not have a personal relationship with Him.

Next time we begin a new book, Romans, (known as, “the gospel according to grace”), which was also written by Paul the apostle, so read ahead, and we shall join together then,

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.