(GRACE IN MOTION - Day 1 of 3)
“For our proud confidence is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you.”
2 Corinthians 1:12
How do we conduct ourselves in the grace of God?
In two Corinthians Paul has come under attack by some and is defending His apostleship and work in the Lord throughout. He does not boast in himself or his works; but instead, boasts in the grace of God that moves him.
The “grace of God” here is contrasted to “fleshly wisdom”. As in one Corinthians chapter one, it is the “gospel” that stands opposed to worldly wisdom. When we conduct ourselves according to the gospel then we are conducting ourselves in the grace of God.
The gospel does not just teach of forgiveness but teaches of life as well. The gospel teaches repentance; for John the Baptist as a forebearer of such, and Jesus continued on in the sharing of this truth and commissioned it unto His holy chosen apostles to carry forth into the world and to all generations. The gospel is of repentance so that those living the grace of the gospel do so in the purity of the gospel (or as the Holy Spirit says here, “in holiness and godly sincerity”)
Any who claim to be Christians but are not living in the penitence of the gospel are said to have not really known the gospel. “But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”(Ephesians 4:20-24)
And so, the grace of God moves our conduct. It informs it. It inspires it. It motivates it. Paul’s “proud confidence” was the “testimony” of his conscience. Why? Because he was following Jesus in the purity and simplicity and sincerity of the gospel. His conduct since his conversion, when put on trial, would be found to be conduct rooted in the grace of God. And in fact, ultimately that’s exactly what happened. Paul was put on trial again and again and again, and his conduct toward the world proved to be that of a genuine follower of Jesus Christ. Up to his dying breath, and unto eternity, he lived in the grace of God.
May we live our faith in Christ Jesus, that if it were put on trial, our conduct in and toward the world, and especially toward our brethren, would be found guilty of being a follower of Jesus in holiness and godly sincerity. That the evidence of our conduct would prove we were living in the grace of God.
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