It is by this grace that Saul of Tarsus, the foremost of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15-16), became the foremost apostle, laboring more abundantly than all the apostles. His ministry and living by this grace are an undeniable testimony to Christ’s resurrection. The grace of God operated in him and for him, accomplishing things on his behalf.
In 1 Corinthians 15:10 grace is the Christ who is in resurrection and who is resurrection. By this grace Paul could be what he was and labor more than all the other apostles. Not I but the grace of God which is with me in 1 Corinthians 15:10 equals no longer I...but...Christ who lives in me in Galatians 2:20. This shows that Christ Himself is the grace of God—God Himself working through the apostle.
All the disciples and apostles who saw the resurrected Christ not only saw Him objectively but also experienced Him subjectively. Through their seeing of Christ, He entered into them and became the subjective One in them. When the day of Pentecost came, this was the reason they were living, energetic, and operative. The resurrected Christ was in them. Not only was Christ Himself resurrected objectively, but in resurrection He lived in Peter, John, and all the other apostles and disciples.
The grace that motivated the apostle and operated in him was not some matter or some thing but a living person, the resurrected Christ, the embodiment of God the Father who became the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, who dwelt in the apostle as his everything. This corresponds to Paul’s declaration in Philippians 4:13: “I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me.” Here Him refers to the resurrected Christ who became the life-giving Spirit. In such a Christ, Paul was empowered to do all things. This is the grace of God.
Grace is something of God which is wrought into our being and which works in us and does things for us. It is nothing outward. Grace is God in Christ wrought into our being to live, work, and do things for us. In 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul does not tell us that by the grace of God he has what he has, or even that by the grace of God he does what he does. It is not a matter of doing, having, or working; it is absolutely a matter of being. Hence, Paul says, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” This means that the grace of God had been wrought into his being, making him that kind of person. Grace is not outside of us or beside us. It is a divine person, God Himself in Christ, wrought into our being to be the constituent of our being. Grace is the Triune God wrought into our being to be what we should be and to live, work, and do things for us so that we may say, “I am what I am by the grace of God. It is not I, but the grace of God.”
By this grace Paul could be what he was and labor more abundantly than all the other apostles. Paul indicates that by himself he was nothing and by himself could never be an apostle and that he labored more than the others, yet it was not he who labored—it was the grace of God. The grace which was with Paul and which enabled him to labor more than others was actually God Himself. God in Paul was eternal life as his supply and support for the carrying out of His New Testament economy.
Throughout the centuries, all the living servants of the Lord have had this resurrected Christ living in them. We can testify that He as the grace of God lives in us, enabling us to do what we could never do in ourselves. We may be persecuted and opposed, and we may suffer very much; however, we have the resurrected Christ in us. The more we are opposed, the more alive and active we become. We must all declare that in our labor it is not we but the grace of God with us.
We should not be the ones working; rather, the grace of God, the resurrected Christ who lives in us, should be the One working. We need to learn of Paul to coordinate with the One living in us. Although in ourselves we cannot carry out the Lord’s work or bear the burden of the churches, the work is easy to do and the burden is easy to bear when it is the processed and consummated One living in us who does the work and bears the burden. We should praise the Lord that we can simply enjoy His living and His working and rejoice in Him.
Although many Christians define grace as unmerited favor or undeserved goodness bestowed on us, grace revealed in the Bible is far more than merely unmerited favor. Grace is the incarnated, crucified, resurrected Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit to enter into us, to indwell us, and to be our life and life supply. Such an amazing grace can make a sinner the foremost apostle.