Paul uses the phrase, "knew the Grace of God in truth." What does this mean? Can one know the grace of God falsely? Yes.
Recently a woman said to me, "I do not believe in God at all, but even if your God is real, I am safe because I do not believe a good God would harm me."
She has heard of the grace of God, but clearly does not understand his judgment is married to his grace. God must judge sin. He either counts it judged in Jesus for us or if we reject Jesus, we must receive the judgement on ourselves.
It is when we recognize how unworthy we are that we see God's grace in truth. It is the fear of his judgement that produces the joy of his grace.
