Defining Grace

Chapter Three: The Continuity of the Walk (Colossians 2:6) “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.” One of the most subtle deceptions in the modern Church is what we might call the "Bait-and-Switch" Gospel. It is a mixed message that tells the sinner he is saved by Grace, but tells the saint he must maintain by Grit. It suggests that while the "entry fee" to the Kingdom was paid by Christ, the "monthly rent" must be paid by our own moral sweat. 1. The Manner of the Walk: "As Ye Received" The Apostle Paul shuts down this duality with five simple words: "As ye have therefore received..." Paul insists that the manner of your arrival is the only valid manner of your advancement. To understand this "walk," we must look at the two distinct mechanics at play in the Greek text: The Receipt: Paralambanō The word for "received" is paralambanō. In the Greek, this isn't a passive "getting" of a gift; it means to "take to oneself" or to "near-at-hand" a person. It implies a welcome into an intimate relationship. Crucially, when you received Christ, you did so by the Inworked Persuasion (Faith) of God. You didn't argue your way in or work your way in; you were won over by His Influence. The Walk: Peripateō Once we have received Him, Paul tells us to "walk" (peripateō). As The Discovery Bible Lexicon notes on 2 Corinthians 5:7: "4043 (peripatéō) is built on a base which already means 'walk.' Intensifying it with the prefix (peri) adds the sense 'walk around (in a circuit),' i.e., a circumspect course the Lord sets and empowers (from start to finish). It especially refers to how believers are to walk in each scene of life as a 'complete circuit' which the Lord directs by faith—i.e., completely walking out, with the Lord, what He works in." The Hinge: Houtōs The "hinge" that connects these two words, “received” and “walk”, is the Greek word houtōs (translated as "so"). It means "in this same way." (J. Thayer); says, “just as (in direct proportion), corresponding to fully (exactly).” Paul is saying: "In the exact same way you welcomed Christ (by Grace through Faith), you must now navigate the 360-degree circuit for your daily life." If you didn't "work" to get into the Garden, any "work" you do to stay there that is sourced in yourself, actually moves you out of the Garden and back into the Courtroom. We are to live the life by the same power that birthed the life: the Inworked Persuasion of God. “for of Him we are workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God did before prepare, that in them we may walk.” Eph 2:10 YLT You were created to do His goog works. We see the perfect example of this "Manner of Walking" in the life of Jesus Himself. He did not live by His own human initiative, but by a constant, dependent "looking" at the Father. He confirms this in John 5:19: “Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.’” Jesus didn't just act independently and ask God to bless it; He only moved when He saw the Father moving. This dependency extended even to the very words He spoke. He lived in a "complete circuit" of hearing and speaking, as He describes in John 12:49–50: “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”