RR Father’s Saving Favor By David Harwood
Shabbat Shalom,
One of the first scriptures I was taught is found in Ephesians 2. Please take your time and read these words.
By nature we were children of wrath, just like the others. But God was rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive together with Messiah. (By grace you have been saved!) (Ephesians 2:3b–5)
Consider this: “through favor (charis/grace) you have been saved.” Please reflect upon this reality - we have been saved through Father’s favor. Imagine how much love God has for us to motivate this grace (charis/favor) towards “children of wrath.” What unexpected favor!
For decades I practiced a form of spiritual dyslexia. This is how I mistakenly used to read Ephesians 2:4.
God, being rich in Love because of His great Mercy...
It sounds so right, but it’s really so wrong.
It came as a surprise when I came to realize that the text does not say that God loves us because He is merciful. Rather, Paul wrote that Father was rich in Mercy because of His great Love with which He loved us. Mercy was provoked by love.
But God was rich in mercy, because of His great Love with which He loved us. (Ephesians 2:4)
For me, this produced some cognitive dissonance. After all, what the Bible stresses is that we were loved “even when we were dead in our trespasses.” How could this be? After all, we’re such proud rebels and, in so many ways, despicable. Because of this I subconsciously switched the words mercy and love.
I read the words, but I could not comprehend them. Apparently, my subconscious improved (sarcasm) Paul’s theology. I had internalized this lie: “It must be that we are loved because God showed us mercy...” I was wrong. He showed us mercy BECAUSE of His great love.
We receive mercy because of the love God feels for us. Allow me to reemphasize this: we do not receive love from God because of His mercy. His love precedes His mercy. His love motivates His mercy. Father’s mercy is an expression of His love.
And what about charis (favor/grace)? In these verses Paul wrote that we are recipients of saving-favor because of His love which provoked mercy. In Ephesians 2 we learn that love, expressed in mercy, brings about saving-favor/grace.
God loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses. He found us to be lovely and wanted to bring us to Himself even when we were spiritually dead. Therefore, He was moved to show us mercy, and since we found favor (charis/grace) in His sight, He saved us: “By grace (favor/charis) you have been saved! (Ephesians 2:5b)” This is important. It helps us understand the emotions behind Father’s saving-favor (charis/grace). We have received saving charis (favor/grace) through mercy motivated by love.
Friends, did God like who He saw to the degree that He was motivated to show us favor? Ephesians 2:4-5a says, “Yes.”
How did Father deliver us? Through saving-favor, mercy motivated by love.
Love motivated mercy is the emotional foundation of saving-favor. These emotions are so strong that they could only be fully expressed at Golgotha.
Please meditate on this and consider the emotional content of saving-favor.
We were, by nature, destined to suffer wrath. We were children of wrath, just like the others. However, God loved us in our adamantly rebellious state and overflowed with mercy towards us (please allow me to reemphasize this) because of the great love He experienced when He saw us. He loved and, therefore, He was merciful.
In this case, the synergy of love and mercy yields saving, and transformative, charis. Your Father is your Deliverer who favors you and saves you.
What amazing favor. He’s such a wonderful Savior! He saved you through the Messiah. Also, this favor has only just begun to be manifest. It is written that He will... show in the olam ha-ba the measureless richness of His grace (charis/favor) in kindness toward us in Messiah Yeshua. (Ephesians 2:7)
God is rich in mercy and will reveal throughout the ages the richness of His favor.
Father favors you.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Sat11 Oct 202519th of Tishrei, 5786 Sukkot Shabbat
Ex 34:4-26, Nu 29:23-28 Ez 38:18-39:16 Eccl 1-12 Mt 17:1-8
One of the first scriptures I was taught is found in Ephesians 2. Please take your time and read these words.
By nature we were children of wrath, just like the others. But God was rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, He made us alive together with Messiah. (By grace you have been saved!) (Ephesians 2:3b–5)
Consider this: “through favor (charis/grace) you have been saved.” Please reflect upon this reality - we have been saved through Father’s favor. Imagine how much love God has for us to motivate this grace (charis/favor) towards “children of wrath.” What unexpected favor!
For decades I practiced a form of spiritual dyslexia. This is how I mistakenly used to read Ephesians 2:4.
God, being rich in Love because of His great Mercy...
It sounds so right, but it’s really so wrong.
It came as a surprise when I came to realize that the text does not say that God loves us because He is merciful. Rather, Paul wrote that Father was rich in Mercy because of His great Love with which He loved us. Mercy was provoked by love.
But God was rich in mercy, because of His great Love with which He loved us. (Ephesians 2:4)
For me, this produced some cognitive dissonance. After all, what the Bible stresses is that we were loved “even when we were dead in our trespasses.” How could this be? After all, we’re such proud rebels and, in so many ways, despicable. Because of this I subconsciously switched the words mercy and love.
I read the words, but I could not comprehend them. Apparently, my subconscious improved (sarcasm) Paul’s theology. I had internalized this lie: “It must be that we are loved because God showed us mercy...” I was wrong. He showed us mercy BECAUSE of His great love.
We receive mercy because of the love God feels for us. Allow me to reemphasize this: we do not receive love from God because of His mercy. His love precedes His mercy. His love motivates His mercy. Father’s mercy is an expression of His love.
And what about charis (favor/grace)? In these verses Paul wrote that we are recipients of saving-favor because of His love which provoked mercy. In Ephesians 2 we learn that love, expressed in mercy, brings about saving-favor/grace.
God loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses. He found us to be lovely and wanted to bring us to Himself even when we were spiritually dead. Therefore, He was moved to show us mercy, and since we found favor (charis/grace) in His sight, He saved us: “By grace (favor/charis) you have been saved! (Ephesians 2:5b)” This is important. It helps us understand the emotions behind Father’s saving-favor (charis/grace). We have received saving charis (favor/grace) through mercy motivated by love.
Friends, did God like who He saw to the degree that He was motivated to show us favor? Ephesians 2:4-5a says, “Yes.”
How did Father deliver us? Through saving-favor, mercy motivated by love.
Love motivated mercy is the emotional foundation of saving-favor. These emotions are so strong that they could only be fully expressed at Golgotha.
Please meditate on this and consider the emotional content of saving-favor.
We were, by nature, destined to suffer wrath. We were children of wrath, just like the others. However, God loved us in our adamantly rebellious state and overflowed with mercy towards us (please allow me to reemphasize this) because of the great love He experienced when He saw us. He loved and, therefore, He was merciful.
In this case, the synergy of love and mercy yields saving, and transformative, charis. Your Father is your Deliverer who favors you and saves you.
What amazing favor. He’s such a wonderful Savior! He saved you through the Messiah. Also, this favor has only just begun to be manifest. It is written that He will... show in the olam ha-ba the measureless richness of His grace (charis/favor) in kindness toward us in Messiah Yeshua. (Ephesians 2:7)
God is rich in mercy and will reveal throughout the ages the richness of His favor.
Father favors you.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Sat11 Oct 202519th of Tishrei, 5786 Sukkot Shabbat
Ex 34:4-26, Nu 29:23-28 Ez 38:18-39:16 Eccl 1-12 Mt 17:1-8
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February
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