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Acts 11:19-30
Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. 25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 30 And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence program hosted on the web. ChatGPT is not infallible. You can ask it any number of questions, but you cannot rely on it unquestionably for answers to questions. And there are even tools teachers can use to see whether a bot wrote a term paper or otherwise did the work the student should have done himself.
Having said that, however, when I asked for a Lutheran definition of God’s grace it did pretty well. Here are the highlights:
Here’s a summary of the Lutheran definition of God’s grace:
- Undeserved Favor
- Justification by Faith Alone
- A Response to Human Sinfulness
- Sacramental Means of Grace
- Prevenient Grace [see note below]
- Ongoing Grace
- Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)
In summary, the Lutheran definition of God’s grace underscores its undeserved nature, its connection to justification by faith, its response to human sinfulness, its sacramental expression, the concept of prevenient grace, and its continuous and sustaining presence in the life of the believer.
The bot stated it fairly accurately, except that Prevenient Grace is a term not used in Lutheran theological explanations. We Lutherans tend to be quite careful in our theological expositions. Prevenient grace is more commonly used in Arminian theology, which emphasizes free will and conditional election. We reject both of those latter ideas. We believe that God’s grace is essential to our salvation, the final paragraph provided by the bot is not too bad. Just not totally accurate.
In any case, salvation is all God’s doing: grace upon grace. Grace abounds! That’s so beautifully clear in this brief section of Acts. God’s grace runs throughout these events. It was God’s grace that moved those who were scattered by Stephen’s persecution to share the gospel even with the Hellenists in Antioch. It was God’s grace that moved the Apostles in Jerusalem to send Barnabas to Antioch. It was God’s grace that moved the people in the church in Antioch to receive these new believers, Barnabas when he visited them, and Saul when he was invited to come there. It was grace that moved the believers there to send aid to the believers in Jerusalem.
Saul will take the name Paul when he begins to evangelize the Gentiles. He would write the profound and powerful book of Romans in which he says, “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20). He would also speak about the grace of God in connection with offerings made by other believers in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.
Paul knew all about grace. He recognized that he needed it most of all. We should aspire to know all about grace as well. We need it. And so do our loved ones, neighbors, and even our enemies.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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