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Acts 20:32
Excerpted from: Grace Upon GraceThe "word of grace" in this context is most specifically the whole gospel. Notice especially that he says (in his reference to it to modify what he says to help us to understand what he means) that he is committing us to the word of his grace which is able to build us up. It is something that is able to edify. That's what edify means—to build us up.
It is something that matures us, if we just change the context a little bit. You think of building in terms of something building a muscle. We think of building in terms of erecting a structure. We think of maturity, though, which is a building of personality, building of character, a growth from childhood and all of its weaknesses to something that is mature. So the word of grace is able to mature us. It builds us in that way. Another way of putting it would be, "The word of grace enables us to go on to perfection."
You see what is beginning to open up here is something very beautiful. Grace does not end when God forgives us. The grace of God continues to add to what was originally given, because if He stopped giving things with the forgiveness of sin, that would be the end of growth, as we are going to begin to see. It would stop right there. What we are beginning to see is that forgiveness is only the beginning portion of a process and that God keeps giving us grace to enable us to mature; to enable us to grow in the grace and knowledge; to enable us to grow to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We would never get there unless God continued to pour out His grace to you and me.
Grace is shown by the apostle Paul to be something that is dynamic and active. Remember Jesus said, "The words that I speak unto [the word of grace] they are spirit and they are power." That is what we are talking about here.
What is the gospel? It is words. That is all it is. It is words. It is good news, but it is a word of power. It is a word that confers a blessing that is unique. It is a word that enable us to mature spiritually. Words (any words) have the power to build or to destroy. They have the power to encourage or discourage. Words can either be true or they can be lies. Words can inspire or they can sadden and depress. It all depends on how they are used, the attitude in which they are used, and how they are arranged.
The gospel is an arrangement of true words that fill us with purpose for living and shows us how that purpose can be obtained. It comes completely as a gift. We are favored. It brings delight and salvation—an arrangement of words given in a loving attitude by a loving God.
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