Prevenient Grace

“Lord, we pray thee that thy grace may always precede and follow us,

and make us continually to be given to all good works…”

Proper 23, Book of Common Prayer

The Collect from this past Sunday suggests something important about God’s grace. In it, we pray that God’s grace may “precede” and “follow” us. However, we are probably more familiar with the notion that grace follows us. We see this in the basic plot line of the Biblical story. Humanity rebels against God, and then God acts graciously by sending His Son to redeem the world.

The same pattern plays out in our lives. When we sin, we then ask for forgiveness. We mess things up and then petition God to clean up the mess that we created. In this way, grace “follows” us. It brings to mind the words of Psalm 23: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” (Psalm 23:6) King David, who wrote the Psalm, knew this truth intimately well!

But perhaps less understood is the idea that grace “precedes” us. And yet, this is what we petition God to do in the collect. In effect, we are asking God to act before our action in the world. A close read of the Bible shows God’s preceding grace peppered throughout the Biblical narrative. Before humanity rebelled against God (Genesis 3), God’s abundant grace is on full display: He creates a beautiful world (all “good”) and sets up Adam and Eve as vice-regents to rule over the creation, granting them “freedom to eat of any tree” (less one!). The point is that God’s grace — His abundant favor — is present prior to humanity’s rebellion. This pattern repeats throughout the Bible, and it culminates in the New Testament’s teaching about salvation.

Paul summarizes our relationship to God this way: Ephesians 2:8–9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Perhaps one of the clearest pictures is found in Luke 15, where the father runs toward the returning prodigal. The son's repentance is real, but the father's love is already there waiting for him (preceding his return). And Jesus Himself tells us, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” (John 15:16) The point is that grace is not merely God’s response to what we do. God’s grace gets there first.

When we pray for grace to precede us, we acknowledge that God’s initiative comes before our response. Before we decide, before we act, God is already at work.

So, this little Collect reminds us that God’s grace goes before us and follows us. Thomas Aquinas summarizes it beautifully: “Grace precedes, that we may be healed; it follows, that being healed we may be quickened; it precedes, that we may be called; it follows, that we may be glorified.^[1]

As you begin your day today — and think of all that will transpire — what are some specific ways you might ask God grace to go before you? 

[1] Nature and Grace: Selections from the Summa Theologica, 169