Galatians 1:6 speaks of the grace of Christ by which God called the Galatian believers to the gospel according to God’s economy. The grace is of Christ; the calling is by God to the gospel. In order to know grace here, we have to know the entire book of Galatians. The entire book of Galatians shows us that the Galatians were under the law in the dispensation of law. One day a man sent by God sounded the trumpet to call the Galatians out of the law’s bondage to the gospel according to God’s economy. This means grace in Galatians is for the believers to be built up in God’s economy. This building up is to bring the believers out of bondage into the freedom of the gospel.
God called the Galatians and He called the apostle Paul through the grace (Gal. 1:15). This means that God called the apostle to minister His economy to the Galatians to call them out. The called one ministered grace to many called ones. Grace simply means that God comes in to replace man. Law is man doing everything to replace God. The law means man comes in and God is out. Grace means God comes in and man is out. Man must keep the Sabbath. God worked six days for man’s enjoyment. Now there is no need for man to do anything but enjoy. This is grace. Grace is God coming in to replace man. This corresponds with Hebrews 11:6, which reveals that we are to believe that God is and we are not. This is grace.
In one sense, we who have been graced do not need to do anything. But in another sense, we have to cooperate with God and coordinate with God. We have become one with God. God lives in us and with us. We live in God and with God. God initiates everything. Now we should just cooperate with Him. We do not need to do anything. Instead, we must learn all the time to cooperate and coordinate with the Triune God. He does everything for the accomplishment of His economy to bring us out of the negative things and into the positive things that we may become the members of Christ and the God-men.
Grace was given to the apostle Paul, and this grace differed from the grace given to James, Cephas, and John (Gal. 2:9). Peter’s two Epistles are a total of only eight chapters. I love his writing, especially the first four verses of 2 Peter 1. But regardless of how marvelous Peter’s writings are, they are not as mysterious in the Divine Trinity as John’s writings are. In John 14—16 we see the mystery of the Triune God building Himself into His believers to make His believers His house, the vine tree, and the new man. Eventually, John saw the big mystery of the New Jerusalem, which became the conclusion of the Bible. Although John saw these marvelous and mysterious things, he was not as complete, as perfect, as Paul was. Paul was the most complete, perfect, apostle.
If Paul’s fourteen Epistles were taken away from the Bible, not much would be left. John, Peter, and James did not use the term the Body of Christ. Only Paul spoke of the Body. The Body of Christ is the center, the reality, and the goal of God’s economy. Grace was given to Paul in carrying out God’s New Testament economy, which was much different from the grace given to James, and which was much greater, higher, and deeper than the grace given to Peter and John.
James, Peter, and John realized the grace given to Paul. This is why Peter deeply recommended Paul to the believers in 2 Peter 3:15-16. This shows that the grace given to you and me can be seen and realized by others. Grace is God coming in to replace man. This grace comes to one person in one sense and to another person in another sense.
Paul said that he was justified by the grace of God, not by the law (Gal. 2:21). He was justified by believing in Christ, not by carrying out the law, so he said that he would not nullify the grace of God. In Galatians two words are very negative. One is that we can nullify God’s grace, making God’s grace of no effect. Another is that we can be fallen from grace (5:4). Many today are not fallen from grace but are nullifying grace. You may say, “I am still in the church life. At least I go to the meeting once a week. I am still remaining in grace.” But you have nullified grace. No one can see grace upon you in an effective way. Paul said that he was justified by grace and that he did not nullify the grace he had received in Christ.