July 15. We work by grace. By the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me

was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I,

but the grace of God that is with me. Paul realized that the first part of this verse might

be misunderstood. I worked harder than any of them, so he goes on to say, though it was not I,

but the grace of God that is with me. Paul does not trace his obedience back to his thankfulness

for past grace. He traces it up to moment by moment ever arriving grace. He is banking on the

promise of God's future grace to arrive at every moment of need. In every instant of Paul's

intention and effort to obey Christ, grace was at work to produce that intention and that effort.

Paul did not bring about his work merely out of gratitude for past grace, but in moment by

moment reliance on the arrival of promised grace. Paul wants to emphasize that the ever arriving

grace of God is the decisive cause of his work. Does it really say that? Doesn't it just say

that the grace of God worked with Paul? No, it says more. We have to come to terms with the words

though it was not I. Paul wants to exalt the moment by moment grace of God in such a way

that it is clear that he himself is not the decisive doer of his work. Nevertheless,

he is a doer of his work. I worked harder than any of them. He worked, but he said it was the grace

of God toward me. If we let all the parts of this verse stand, the end result is this.

Grace is the decisive doer in Paul's work. Since Paul is also a doer of his work, the way grace

becomes the decisive doer is by becoming the enabling power of Paul's work. I take this to mean

that as Paul faced every day's ministry burden, he bowed his head and confessed that unless

future grace was given for that day's work, he would not be able to do it. Perhaps he recall

the words of Jesus, apart from me, you can do nothing John 15.5. So he prayed for future grace

for the day, and he trusted in the promise that it would come with power. My God will supply every

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