We give thanks to God for giving us the indescribable gift of his Son as human.  Nothing in us indicates that we were worthy to receive this gift. The gift was given to us freely even though we were hostile towards God. Furthermore, we were called by God to accept the gift personally even though we did not want it apart from God working in us by his Spirit. We also have to say that we had no qualifications for this calling.  We came to know God not based on our intellectual capacity or skill in inquiry.  The initiative here was entirely God’s (“having come to know God, or rather having been known by God,” (Gal.4:9). From beginning to end, God moves towards us giving himself to us irrespective of any worth in us, indeed in the absence of worth.  Yes, In Jesus, God comes to people making them his own without them being worthy of his attention in any way.

Paul was once a man zealous for God’s law, but the risen Jesus encountered him and everything changed.  From that moment, Paul was now captivated fully by God’s free gift of himself in Jesus.  Following his encounter with Jesus, Paul went on to nurture new communities that would be shaped entirely by grace. The patterns of life within these new communities were significantly at odds with other communities. In these Jesus’ communities, shaped by grace, people did not seek for worth or value in themselves or something else. They were valued simply because they belonged to Jesus who wanted them only for themselves.  Their whole identity was based, not on who they were, but rather on WHOSE they were.