What IS Grace?
If you were to ask a Christian what the grace of God was, you would probably receive an answer such as the following:
“God’s grace is His unmerited favor. We are all sinners deserving judgment and hell, but God offers us good things instead… forgiveness and salvation… if we believe Him.”
While there is much truth in that statement, it falls far short of the Biblical perspective of grace. Yes, God’s grace certainly involves unmerited favor, but it goes much deeper than that.
Most believers think that grace frees them from the high standards and demands of the law. Actually, grace enables them to meet those requirements.
Under law, God says, “Here are my standards of righteousness… now, live and do them,” and, of course, we can’t. Under grace, God says, “Here are my higher standards of righteousness. The law fails to truly show how high my standards are. I will enable you, though, by my grace, to live and do according to these even higher standards.”
That is the difference between law and grace. They do not cancel each other out, and they are not mutually exclusive, as most Christians believe today.
Grace, beyond being His “unmerited favor” toward undeserving sinners, is God’s enabling power to bring us into the realities of what He calls us to be and do. Can I show this clearly from the Word of God? Let’s look at the following New Testament scriptures:
Romans 5: 1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God…. 17 For if by the one man’s (Adam’s) offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 3: 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.
1 Corinthians 15: 9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
2 Corinthians 8: 1 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: 2 that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality [in other words, they gave sacrificially by God's grace].
2 Corinthians 12: 7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Galatians 2: 19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Ephesians 2: 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
The last two passages, in Galatians 2 and Ephesians 2, clearly demonstrate a vital principle, and that is… we are called to pursue righteousness and genuine good works. It is simply a matter of… are we striving for it by the power of His life in us… by grace? Or by legalistic works of the law? It is not a matter of us not bothering to pursue genuine righteousness, because we are under “grace”.
1 Timothy 1: 12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, 13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
Titus 2: 11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
Hebrews 4: 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 12: 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
1 Peter 4: 10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
These scriptures, taken together, make a powerful case for the fact that the grace of God goes far beyond “unmerited favor”. They speak loudly and clearly.
Now, as powerful as those New Testament scriptures are in making this case, there is something even stronger, in the Old Testament. Let us look now at the two major passages that promise and foretell the New Covenant and its purpose:
Jeremiah 31: 31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Ezekiel 36: 24 For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
Is it not crystal clear now, that the grace of God toward His people goes much deeper than undeserved, unmerited favor, rescuing us from judgment?
Instead of law, and the outward, legalistic observance of it, believers now have the grace (enabling power) of God to write His law upon the heart, and cause us to truly walk in His ways and righteousness. Furthermore, we need His grace so deeply and profoundly, that even doing works of ministry, or giving with a right heart, must be by His grace.
He is, and must always be, the Alpha and Omega… the beginning and end… our all-in-all.
“Most believers think that grace frees them from the high standards and demands of the law.”
Do they? I haven’t seen it, but then, I don’t know where you’re from. Maybe Christians are like that over there.
“Is it not crystal clear now, that the grace of God toward His people goes much deeper than undeserved, unmerited favor, rescuing us from judgment?”
Yes and no. Yes, because you hit close enough to the truth, that to contradict you would make me sound like Satan. No, because grace is not deeper than mercy. The two go hand in hand and exist at the same level. You’ve disparaged mercy to exalt grace, but in so much as a Christian follows your line of thought, every sin that they make and every time they stumble will be a blow to their faith. The fact is that we have both mercy and grace, or else we have neither. One is not more important than the other, is it?
M. Patterson,
The point I was making is that grace goes beyond the typical idea of “unmerited favor”, and that it is good for believers to have this higher view of grace.
Please show me where I have “disparaged mercy” to exalt grace. I frankly can’t see it, although you do make a good point about our need for both mercy and grace.
If a person will stumble every time they sin… in light of a higher view of grace… then perhaps they don’t realize that this is a process to be gone through, as the scripture clearly teaches; a growing in grace. Nowhere do I say or imply that this is an instantaneous occurrence, and any stumble or sin must be reason to doubt one’s faith.
I once awoke from slumber
to find You there
To simply see
that You had been
there all along
I once stood up
to find You there
patiently waiting
and knowing one day
I would
I once knelt before You
before Your throne
Your mercy seat
And found
I could
never leave
I once reached out
to grasp for Grace
And I found
You always are
I AM
As Christianity spread, and the church became more secularized, this realization of the costliness of grace gradually faded. The world was Christianized, and grace became its common property. It was to be had at low cost.
Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace.
Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjack’s wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?
Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian “conception” of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins. The Church which holds the correct doctrine of grace has, it is supposed, ipso facto a part in that grace. In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.
Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. “All for sin could not atone.” The world goes on in the same old way, and we are still sinners “even in the best life” as Luther said. Well, then let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin. That is what we mean by cheap grace, the grace which amounts to the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin and from whom sin departs. Cheap grace is not the kind of forgiveness of sin which frees us from the toils of sin. Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the Cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Him.
Costly grace is the Gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.
Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it costs God the life of His Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but deliver Him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.
Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which He speaks as it pleases Him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow Him.
Author: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, excerpt from “The Cost of Discipleship”.
We should not abuse grace. Grace is a precious gift that God has given us and because of grace and His mercy, we long to do God’s will and do what is pleasing to Him. No one can boast because no one is perfect, not one but grace allows us to grow in Christ.
Oswald Chambers has this to say about Grace:
“We . . . beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.” 2 Corinthians 6:1
The grace you had yesterday will not do for to-day. Grace is the overflowing favour of God; you can always reckon it is there to draw upon. “In much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses” – that is where the test for patience comes. Are you failing the grace of God there? Are you saying – Oh, well, I won’t count this time? It is not a question of praying and asking God to help you; it is taking the grace of God now. We make prayer the preparation for work, it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God. Don’t say – I will endure this until I can get away and pray. Pray now; draw on the grace of God in the moment of need. Prayer is the most practical thing, it is not the reflex action of devotion. Prayer is the last thing in which we learn to draw on God’s grace.
“In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours” – in all these things manifest a drawing upon the grace of God that will make you a marvel to yourself and to others. Draw now, not presently. The one word in the spiritual vocabulary is Now. Let circumstances bring you where they will, keep drawing on the grace of God in every conceivable condition you may be in. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be humiliated without manifesting the slightest trace of anything but His grace.
“Having nothing . . .” Never reserve anything. Pour out the best you have, and always be poor. Never be diplomatic and careful about the treasure God gives. This is poverty triumphant.
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“Most believers think that grace frees them from the high standards and demands of the law. Actually, grace enables them to meet those requirements.”
I really like what you have written there as we will never meet te standards of the law by trying ourselves. We need to learn more and more about the grace of God and as we develop our relationship with Jesus (Who is grace by the way)through the study of His Word we will start to live more Godly and holy lives without even trying. This will flow out of our relationship with Him.
The law will allways condemn and put us down, grace “frees” us to rest in Jesus and live!