What is Grace? Grace is God in Christ as the Spirit Gained by us and Enjoyed by us

In Acts 20:24 Paul calls the gospel “the gospel of the grace of God”, saying that he considered his life of no account as if precious to himself, so that he may finish his course and the ministry which has received from the Lord Jesus to solemnly testify of the gospel of the grace of God.

His entire life Paul testified of the gospel of the grace of God; he didn’t just preach the gospel but he enjoyed the grace of God, was entrusted with the stewardship of the grace of God, labored because of the grace of God, endured the thorn in his flesh because of the grace of God, and testified of the gospel of the grace of God.

In his epistles Paul mentions the grace of God again and again, but today this term, “grace” has been very much misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misapplied. We need to know what grace is. Both believers and unbelievers use the word grace, but the general concept concerning grace is not according to what the Bible shows us.

Grace is simply God in Christ as the Spirit to be enjoyed by us. We thank the Lord for having a way to expose the wrong concepts and ideas concerning grace and bringing us to the divine revelation of what grace is, according to what the Bible tells us.

What is Grace? Grace is God in Christ as the Spirit Gained by us and Enjoyed by us

Does God give man grace according to his merit or based on man’s works? Should a man who does good works receive more grace, while one who is a worse sinner should not receive grace? Would God save only the good men and leave the bad in sin to die? Would God freely save someone simply because of His love, or does man have to do anything to deserve God’s grace?

We need to clearly see and know what grace is. Grace is not something we deserve, something to make up our lack, something based on our works, or something that would make us a debtor. God gives us grace freely, but at the same time He won’t forgive our sins without the proper procedure: a price has to be paid for the sins, and He came to pay the price!

Grace has nothing to do with man’s sin; we all are sinners, “broken vessels” in need of God’s restoration. Whether we sin more or less, it has nothing to do with the grace we receive; if we sin more, this doesn’t disqualify us from receiving God’s grace.

God’s grace has nothing to do with our merits: no matter how much effort we put in, we don’t get “more grace” than others; rather, God gives grace to the humble, and not based on our merit. Grace has nothing to do with our responsibility, to make us a debtor to “do good”; what God gives us as grace we can never repay – we can never repay for God’s salvation, God’s grace, and His sanctification.

Hallelujah, the grace God gives us has nothing to do with our merits, our sins, or our responsibility; God has given us grace unconditionally, and He has given Himself to us freely. According to the Bible, grace is God in Christ as the Spirit given to us, gained by us, and enjoyed by us (John 1:17; Acts 20:24).

The grace in God’s economy in the believers’ experience is the processed Triune God. Without being processed, the Triune God could not become grace. God is one, yet He is three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit….In the Son the Father is expressed and seen, and as the Spirit the Son is revealed and realized. This Triune God dispenses Himself into us to be our portion as grace to us that we may enjoy Him as our everything in His Divine Trinity. (Witness Lee, The Law and Grace of God in His Economy, p. 48)

Even before the world began God has bestowed grace upon us: God saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the times of the ages (2 Tim. 1:9).

The grace God gives to us is not by accident, neither is grace an afterthought; God’s desire in His plan from eternity past is to dispense Himself into us. From eternity past God determined to give us grace, and for this He saved us according to His own purpose and grace!

No matter how we feel, what our condition is, and who we are, nothing can distract God from freely giving us grace. Whether we are rich or poor, regardless of our morality, and no matter what our background is, God determined to give us grace.

We are here today because of His grace; as believers in Christ we are in the realm of God’s grace, and this is not because of what we have done but because of God’s determination.

Hallelujah, our God has been processed and consummated to become the Spirit who today is grace to us, that is, God in Christ as the Spirit is our enjoyment! We can enjoy God, gain God, and receive God for our enjoyment – He is grace to us!

Thank You Lord for bestowing grace on us even before the world began. It is Your desire and Your purpose to dispense Yourself as grace into us, and this has nothing to do with our merits, our sins, our responsibility, or our disposition. Lord, thank You for being processed and consummated to become the life-giving Spirit for us to receive God, contact God, gain God, and enjoy God as grace. Hallelujah, God in Christ as the Spirit is given to us to be gained by us and enjoyed by us as grace!

God Became Flesh as Grace, and now the Grace of Christ is with our Spirit!

In the beginning was God, and then one day God became flesh in time – the Triune God took the greatest step to enter into humanity and become flesh in time (John 1:1; 14, 16-17).

God coming among men in the Lord Jesus Christ was grace coming to us; the law was given through Moses, but grace came through the Lord Jesus, who was God tabernacling among men, full of grace and reality. When Christ came, grace came, and He came that we may receive grace upon grace.

The righteous, holy, and glorious God became flesh to tabernacle among us; God became touchable and enjoyable to be grace to us. God became flesh in time as grace for man to receive, possess, and enjoy; Christ made God contactable, touchable, receivable, experienceable, enterable, and enjoyable.

Our Lord seemed to be a common man like you and me, but He lived on earth and displayed grace time and time again; many things He did we can never do – His human living was sweet, balanced, and glorious, His death was all-inclusive (and not sorrowful and terrible like human death), and His resurrection was powerful!

When we see the Lord, we truly see grace; He came as the incarnation of grace, and lived thirty-three in a poor carpenter’s home and then ministering for God, tasting and passing through all the hardships of the human life.

Then, He ministered for three and a half years, and even though He didn’t have any attracting form or majesty so that people would desire Him, His words were with power, His doings were with great might, and He made God contactable, touchable, and enjoyable.

He lived a perfect human life and yet was betrayed, arrested, and crucified on the cross to accomplish our redemption; He died, was buried, and on the third day He resurrected from the dead and breathed Himself into his believers (John 20:22).

In His resurrection Christ as the embodiment of grace became a life-giving Spirit; as such a One, He comes to us to be enjoyed by us as grace. Now the processed and consummated Triune God as grace can be enjoyed by us, His believers, both today and for eternity (Rev. 22:21).

Hallelujah, today grace is with our spirit: the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is with our spirit, Amen (Gal. 6:18)! The bountiful supply of the Triune God – who is embodied in the Son and realized as the life-giving Spirit – can be enjoyed by us through the exercise of our human spirit.

How can we enjoy grace? It is by the exercise of our human spirit, where grace is today. Today grace is God in Christ as the Spirit to be with our spirit for us to enjoy God and remain in God’s New Testament economy.

Lord Jesus, thank You for becoming flesh to bring grace to man, thus making God contactable, touchable, receivable, enterable, and enjoyable! Thank You Lord for coming as grace for us to receive, possess, and enjoy. Thank You for becoming the life-giving Spirit and coming into our spirit to be grace to us. Lord, we open to You to enjoy You as grace. We exercise our spirit to enjoy the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ which is with our spirit! Lord, we praise You for being grace to us and with us in the mingled spirit!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the sharing in the message for this week, and the Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans, msgs. 17, 19-20 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Gospel (2016 International Chinese-speaking Conference), week 2 / msg. 2, The Gospel of Grace.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # ’Tis Jesus who confirms / The blessed work within, / By adding grace to welcomed grace, / Where reigned the power of sin. (Hymns #1051)
  # In eternity He selected you, / Then He came to earth in His love for you; / On the cross, His life gave, / Then He rose from the grave. / Coming forth to seek for you, / To bring God Himself to you, / Life divine impart to you, / Grace abundant give that you / May be satisfied. (Song on God becoming grace to us)
  # Grace upon grace, / The Triune God is processed for us to enjoy; / The law is over, / Now we can partake of His supply through grace. (Song on enjoying God as grace.)