by Steve Tunstall, Trinity Church (Baptist & United Reformed)

RECENTLY I have been mulling over some words of a hymn chorus, 'Who is a pardoning God like Thee or who has grace so rich and free'. So who is this wonderful "pardoning God"?

Let’s look first at the wonders to be found in Psalm 111, a psalm which in some bibles is entitled 'Praise to God for his faithfulness and justice'. Here we find His work is recommended and His righteousness remains. His covenant is remembered and His commandments are reliable. His name is revered and His praise is repeated.

Undoubtedly, God’s love for the world he had created was the catalyst that caused him to be revealed to us as the pardoning God! John, the beloved disciple, in his first Epistle, could write "Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God . . . In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (atonement) for our sins."

The hymn writer then moved on to God’s grace, describing its quality as being rich and free.

So following on from a Pardoning God, what is this grace, the quality of which is so rich and free? The Oxford English Dictionary will tell us that it is "the unearned favour of God". But not only is it unearned, it is also undeserved! So summing up the word Grace it cannot be more fittingly described than by the same John in his Gospel. "For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life". Here is grace indeed.