Receiving the Inconceivable Fact
(χάρις / charis – Greek: “grace, undeserved favor”)
- Ephesians 2:8–9 –
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—
and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
not by works, so that no one can boast.” - 1 Corinthians 1:23–24 –
“But we preach Christ crucified:
a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
but to those whom God has called…
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” - Isaiah 55:8–9 –
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Cross’s Grace
The cross presents a paradox:
how could the shameful execution of Jesus be the very means of reconciliation with God?
To the human mind, this seems irrational and offensive.
Yet this is precisely what Paul declared to both Jews and Greeks.
Jews expected a Messiah who would conquer Rome with power, while Greeks sought wisdom through philosophy. Instead, God revealed salvation through what appeared weak and foolish—the crucifixion. Grace (χάρις) means that salvation is given, not earned. The only path to peace is not through merit, wisdom, or strength, but through receiving the unimaginable gift of Christ’s death and resurrection.
Crucified Power
Contemporary historians such as Tacitus and Josephus confirm that Jesus was indeed crucified under Pontius Pilate, a humiliating form of execution reserved for slaves and rebels.
To proclaim that such a death could be the source of eternal life was not only scandalous but revolutionary.
Yet the growth of the early church, even under persecution, demonstrates that this “foolish message” carried divine power. The prophet Isaiah had already anticipated this in Isaiah 53, describing the suffering servant who would bear the sins of many. The apostles, including Paul and Peter, bore witness with their lives, showing that this was no myth but God’s unfolding plan.
Quotes
“Faith is to believe what you do not see;
the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”
— Augustine of Hippo
“Grace is the voice that calls us
to change and then gives us the power to pull it off.”
— Max Lucado
Humble Acceptance
Accepting the cross as the only way to reconciliation requires humility.
Human pride resists the idea that salvation is purely a gift. Yet when we embrace this reality, we discover that what seemed irrational is in fact the deepest wisdom of God. The cross was not an accident of history but the very center of God’s eternal plan.
Present Challenge
In our time, many still struggle with the same objection:
“How can one man’s death 2,000 years ago change my life today?”
The temptation is to reduce salvation to moral improvement or cultural tradition.
But without the cross, there is no reconciliation, no peace, no new creation.
“The challenge is to return to the simplicity of grace—receiving it with gratitude, proclaiming it with boldness, and living it out daily as a testimony that God’s wisdom far surpasses human logic.”
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