In the last chapter of his first epistle, the Apostle Peter bestows a unique title for God that is not found anywhere else in Scripture. “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you” (I Peter 5:10).

Our God is the “God of all grace.” He is the ultimate source of all the grace in the universe. Just as there is no light apart from Him, there is no grace apart from Him. The gracious spirit we find in sanctified men and women comes ultimately from the God of all grace.

The grace of God was important to Peter. He mentioned God’s grace specifically eleven times in his two epistles. Simon Peter was the recipient of God’s grace in Galilee when a resurrected Christ graciously called him again after Peter had denied the Lord. A remorseful Peter knew that he was an undeserving sinful man. Yet Jesus gave Peter his name, meaning “a rock.” He also commissioned Peter to feed the lambs of God’s flock and to strengthen his brethren.

Peter had indeed “tasted that the Lord is gracious” (I Peter 2:3). In his epistles, he desires that we as followers also appreciate and treasure the “manifold grace of God” (I Peter 4:10). The term manifold grace means that God’s grace is applied in different ways at different times. Sometimes, God’s grace does not look at all like grace! He sends us hardships, troubles, sicknesses, trials, and even persecution and death! Is this God’s grace? Yes! God’s grace is the same, regardless of circumstances.

In I Peter 5:10, the apostle outlined how the manifold grace of God works in our lives through suffering. He was writing to believers who were facing the fires of Roman persecution and the agonies of martyrdom by gladiators, lions, fire, and torture.

To these saints, Peter wrote, “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you” (I Peter 5:10). Let’s consider these four aspects of God’s work in our lives as a result of His grace.

His grace makes us “perfect”

The perfection spoken of here is not sinless perfection. Rather, it is the mending and making whole what is incomplete or broken. The same word is used in Matthew 4:21 when Jesus saw “James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets” (emphasis added). As a Galilean fisherman, Peter knew the importance of this daily maintenance of nets and equipment. Similarly, the grace of God takes what is broken and torn in our lives and mends it for His glory!

His grace “stablishes” us

Jesus used this very same Greek word when He said to Peter, “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:32). Peter wrote this epistle in obedience to that command. He knew by experience that it is the grace of God that gives stability to a man. Peter had no stability in and of himself. He was an overly self-confident, impulsive follower of Christ; he vowed ultimate allegiance one minute and then denied the Lord in the next! Only the grace of God gave Peter stability in the Book of Acts; only by the grace of God do we possess stability also.

His grace “strengthens” us

This unique verb is used only here in the entire Bible. The word, however, is related to the commonly used word for “stand up.” God’s grace allows us to stand! Like Peter, who wept bitterly after his denial of Christ, we too are often driven to our knees by our failures and weakness.

Peter surely remembered the day on the Sea of Galilee when he took his eyes off the Master and began to sink in the waves. What enabled him to miraculously stand on the water’s surface? It was the touch of the Master. It was the grace of our Lord that enabled Peter to stand again. At another time, God’s grace loosed the prison doors when the angel bid Peter to rise. God’s grace empowered him to stand boldly before the Sanhedrin. So also, the grace of God will empower us to stand when we would otherwise sink in despair.

His grace “settles” us

God’s grace is our foundation. The Greek term here is the same word Jesus used in describing the house that was “founded upon a rock” (Matthew 7:25). The writer of Hebrews used this term to describe the way the Lord “in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth” (Hebrews 1:10). Similar to a house founded upon a rock and that stands firm although battered by storms, wind, earthquakes, and floods, so a life founded upon the grace of God will never crumble.

God has not promised that we will not encounter suffering. On the contrary, suffering is promised. But also promised is the provision of His merciful, powerful grace, as recorded in I Peter 5:10. “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”

Following that verse of God’s precious promise, Peter closed his epistle with this memorable doxology to the God of all grace: “To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (I Peter 5:11).