"Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith."
The grace we receive (God’s good news) comes through Jesus. Jesus, the one who conquered death is the one through whom we are rescued. The demand was too high for us to prove ourselves righteous. The demand was complete submission to the Law of God, a Law so high that no one could live in perfect submission to it. Instead of letting it ending there, with us removed from God because of our inability to keep God’s Law (the bad news) God made a way for His righteous standard to be met in us, in spite of us.
This is the good news! Through Jesus the high standard and cost of God’s law is fulfilled. The standard is perfect adherence to God’s law and not just its letter but also its heart. The cost of God’s law is death and separation from God for all who fall short of perfection. The standard is so high that NO ONE can live by it! We are all hopeless! The good news is that God was not satisfied to leave us to death and separation. Why? Because God loves the world! Where there is love there is giving and God gave the world Jesus so that through him we would have life and a relationship with God.
We receive grace through Jesus who is the name’s sake of God. By Jesus God is glorified in that his willed gift to save mankind from sin and death is achieved. Jesus’ name means “The Lord is salvation” and it for his name’s sake (God) that Jesus offers himself to death so that through him mankind can be saved from death.
Tye Parks 