Grace and Strength
You, therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
(2 Timothy 2:1 HCSB ©®)
For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by God’s grace I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not ineffective. However, I worked more than any of them, yet not I, but God’s grace that was with me.
(1 Corinthians 15:9-10 HCSB ©®)
The proper Evangelical definition of “grace” is “God’s unmerited favor.” That is because Evangelical arguments over “greasy grace” and “cheap grace” have influenced theologians more than interest in Yahweh’s power, especially when that power seems to be released in the earth through the Christ-like. Our arguments over power center over whether spiritual gifts are still needed by believers or not, especially “power gifts” like miracles, speaking in tongues, prophesying, and “revelation gifts” like interpreting tongues and receiving words of knowledge or wisdom. Definitely no apostles.
In both of the excerpts from Paul’s writings above, he clearly had in mind that grace was unmerited access to God’s power. His power empowered Paul to work harder than the rest of the apostles. His power in Christ Jesus could empower Timothy to be strong.
This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength.
He demonstrated this power in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens—far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put everything under His feet and appointed Him as head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way.
(Ephesians 1:15-23 HCSB ©®)