Philippians 1:29 – grace and more grace

For to you it is graciously granted, for Christ’s sake, not only to be believing on Him but to be suffering for His sake also….

To be allowed to believe is the grace of God. After all, He is the One who brings His Word to us. He is also the One who opens our ears, eyes and hearts to it. He convinces man so that our faith is 100% his achievement. Ephesians 2:8,9 also says it: faith is not of ourselves, it is God’s approach present… so that no one should be boasting. That believing is a gift is hard to digest for many because they prefer to think that believing is a wise act on their own.

What Paul is putting forth here is not at all according to man. The same goes for his second statement. The Gospel puts everything in a different perspective. We would say that suffering for Christ is a price to pay for believing in Him. But Paul reverses it. As believing is a gift, so too is suffering for His sake. For to believe for Christ means to belong to One whom the world today has misunderstood. But that automatically means that we will soon share in his glorification! (Rom.8:17).

Delen: