It is amazing that God should still send forth the good news of His grace in a world where His Word and will are increasingly despised.
The growing wickedness of βthis present evil age,β of course, only emphasizes the true character of grace, for grace is the mercy and love of God toward those who do not deserve it (See Eph. 2:2-6).
It is interesting to observe that while the four βGospelsβ and the Acts take up twice as much space in our Bibles as the Epistles of St. Paul, yet the word βgrace,β in the original, appears only 27 times in the βGospelsβ and the Acts, while it occurs 107 times in the Pauline epistles: a ratio of 27 to 214 in favor of the Pauline epistles! Furthermore, only a very few times in the βGospelsβ and the Acts is the doctrine of grace referred to, while in the Epistles of Paul almost every reference has to do with the doctrine of Godβs love and favor to undeserving sinners.
True, βgrace and truth came by Jesus Christ,β but it was not manifested at His birth, or even during His earthly life, for He lived and died under the Law (Gal. 4:4,5). As βthe law was given by Moses,β not at his birth, nor when a prince in Pharaohβs court, nor yet when he served with his father-in-law in the desert, nor even when he returned to deliver Israel from Egypt, but years later at Sinai, so βgrace and truth came by Jesus Christ,β not at His birth, nor during His earthly ministry, nor even during His resurrection appearances, but after His ascension to heaven, when He committed the dispensing of it to Paul (Eph. 3: 1-4). source
