“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Why not greet one another with hope and joy? Prosperity and perseverance? Love and charity?

Paul always opens his letters from prison with pronouncements of grace and peace.

Grace is unmerited favor, something bestowed upon us that we cannot and did not earn apart from our salvation and life in Christ.

Peace is both a feeling and a condition. The feeling is confidence and assurance while under the condition of our absolute redemption, having made peace with God.

Paul’s greeting IS the gospel in its simplest and most elegant form.

These two are pronouncements from Paul to the believers, not wishes for them of something that will or might still come to pass. It’s his affirmation of identity of those who will hear his letter.

Grace and peace are what this world needs most and what we see at work in fellow Christians.

We should, ourselves, use it more often.