“And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen” (Romans 16:20).
The notion that God’s grace endorses a superficial mindset with a spiritually careless lifestyle is a popular lie. The grace of God which brings salvation clearly teaches a denial of ungodliness and worldly lusts and a circumspect life of sobriety, righteousness, and godliness (Titus 2:11-12).
A great insight into God’s grace came to Paul in the context of an excruciating thorn in his flesh. God’s grace did not eliminate this messenger from Satan; rather, it gave Paul victory in his infirmities, reproaches, needs, persecutions, and distresses for Christ’s sake (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
In light of this, no one ought to be surprised to read the two sentences of Romans 16:20. These are not random thoughts, haphazardly stuck together at the conclusion of this great epistle.
God’s crushing of Satan would be the final outcome of the impending, vicious spiritual warfare in Rome. This raging conflict would not be settled in three hours or three days or three weeks. There was not going to be a couple of minor skirmishes and then a victory parade. Months, even years of tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword lay ahead.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was not going to remove His people from this war zone; it was going to be with them while they were in its blood-soaked trenches. Because of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, all the Christians who were slaughtered like sheep by Nero were more than conquerors (Romans 8:36-37). The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ does not eliminate the difficult from life; it transforms those who are enduring it.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for you in all things.
