Yet Not I

1 Cor 15:10

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

KJV

If a believer in God through our Jesus Christ has no other reason not to glory in individual triumphs, the apostle Paul provides an important one: “Yet not I but the grace of God which was with me.” To an uninformed observer, such as the noble Festus, many of Paul’s assertions bespeaks of a man who was irrational (or even mad) because he gives glory to another divine force which governs his thoughts, ideals and actions. Paul does so repeatedly throughout the New Testament, for instance, when he remarks, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives within me.” Nevertheless, in spite of what appears to be some mad communicator of some strange new doctrine, we find in Paul’s communications a complete dependence and utter reliance upon the grace of God found in Christ Jesus our Lord. For grace is something much more than unmerited favor that every believer receives upon coming to know our Lord. Grace is a tangible, profitable endowment and gifting that enables us to live holily, walk worthy of the unique vocation we are called to fulfill and to accomplish whatever task that God has assigned to us:

[And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.] 2 Corinthians 9:8