Yet this word is how we describe the largest of all concepts: that heaven and earth were bridged in the Person of Jesus Christ. The theological bastion known as the book of Romans describes grace in this way, first by starting with the need for grace and finishing with the Person of grace:
“for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (3:23-24)
The Christian knows all to well, then, that the word grace is no small word. The need for God’s unmerited favor is quite clear. All have fallen short of God and His glory. On their own, mankind has successfully blockaded himself from God. And this is where the small word transcends this big world. Romans 3:23, perhaps the most well-known of verses regarding the fallen state of humanity, is followed by a verse exponentially greater. This verse talks not of mankind, but of a gift to mankind in Jesus the Christ, through Whom redemption is possible. In one of those big transitions in the Bible, Paul moves from the state of man to the grace God’s plan. Incarnating Himself into the flesh of a fallen human, the Messiah Jesus lived sinlessly to redeem those who have fallen short back to Himself. This redemption came as a gift so as to justify “all those who believe, for there is no distinction” (3:22). Man’s need abounds, yet God’s grace abounds more. Such a big word in a small world.
