The Grace of God

This study seeks to present a Biblical teaching of how we can keep on receiving God's grace, life and power in our lives, so that we can be what we ought to be as Christians, both in the church and in the world. We will examine the subject of what God's grace is, and how it can be received and applied in our lives. This will help us to avoid the cycle of failure, resolutions, repeated failure, frustration and condemnation which is a common problem amongst those wishing to please God.

The Problem

The problem that we have as Christians armed with lots of theory about what God has done, and what we should be doing, is that we can still find ourselves falling desperately short of our own ideals, principles, convictions and hopes. Sometimes the power to make the Christian life and ministry practical and real seems to be sadly lacking. It is possible to talk about love and yet find oneself bound by selfishness and irritation. It is possible to talk about God's power and compassion in healing and yet be unable to demonstrate it or testify about how He has helped you personally.

This is due in part to a misunderstanding and neglect concerning God's grace - which is the working of His life in us. God has not simply left us commandments and principles to follow, without giving us the ability to live out what He is talking about. Let us see what the Bible says on this point in 2 Peter 1:2-4.

"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

Grace is not a cover for rebellion and wilful disobedience

Grace is not given to us so that we can indulge in sin without any serious consequences, as some have taught. It is given that we might escape sin's grip and fully do the will of God. It is given that we might escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. Without doing the will of God, no one will enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 7:21). Grace does not guarantee eternal salvation to someone who knew God but then was overcome again by the corruptions of the world again and would not repent (2 Peter 2:20), nor does it guarantee eternal peace with God to those who never escape the fundamental slavery to sin and rebellion that is characteristic of unregenerate people. Grace DOES cover the failings of one who has truly committed his whole life to Christ, who has renounced the lordship over his own life and defers to Christ. The Bible says if we confess our sins he will CLEANSE us and FORGIVE us. But those who imagine themselves secure and saved by grace while continuing in wilful sin and rebellion against God are "turning the grace of God into lewdness" (Jude 4) and are in for a horrible shock unless they repent. There has been a lot of false teaching on grace in the last 100 years and a careful honest look at the Scriptures will refute it.

Grace gives the power to say 'No' to sin, and deny self for the one who is convicted of his need and humbles himself recognizing his need to change. Grace is needed because even the person who totally commits to Christ is powerless to honor this commitment or have a change of heart or nature without God's working in his or her heart.

God has already given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. He has already given us everything we need to live out everything that forms part of the Biblical plan for our lives as His followers. Where is the problem then? The problem lies with our failure to receive and take hold of the grace and power of God in our daily lives. The provision of power for holy living, for gracious living, for supernatural strength and anointing is there for us. Jesus is willing to share all He is with us, so that we can be like Him - not so much outwardly, but especially inwardly - in our thoughts, our attitudes, our love, faith and purity. He is also willing to share a measure of His power with us so that we can continue His mission of destroying the works of the devil and setting others free from Satan's destructive grasp. The question then becomes, "How do we then receive all that Jesus is wanting to offer to us of Himself?" We will consider this issue more later in this study.

It is a mistake to try to earn merit with God by our own religious activities. We cannot earn God's supernatural blessing on our lives through religious activity, sacrifice or anything else.

It is also an error to suppose that simply taking part in some of the ordinances of the Christian church will give us all that we need. Being baptised in water, or receiving regularly the Lord's Supper, or even having hands laid on us in the name of the Lord in themselves will not guarantee our receiving of the favour, power or grace of God so as to make a serious difference for our lives. Multitudes who have at some time received some or all of these ministrations and have been told to be good have found themselves nevertheless powerless to overcome sin within and temptation without. It is a mistake to assume that the power of the Lord is always going to work in us if we outwardly keep certain rituals and practices - even if they are Biblical!

What is Grace?

Grace (Grec.: charis) has been defined in many ways at many times. The Bible, especially the New Testament speaks much of grace. It is important to know what it really means.

Grace has been defined as the unearned, unmerited favour of God. This definition helps us to see that it is something good that comes from God, which we don't deserve. It is a gift. "The Lord will give grace and glory" (Psalm 84:11). "God .. gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6).

Two important things to realise about grace is the totally undeserving nature of the recipient (us), and the totally generous nature of the giver (God).

It is important to realize that God may give grace as He pleases. He can set conditions, or waive them. No one can demand grace from God based on what they have done. Grace is something you cannot earn by good works or even by suffering. No amount of religious activity - Bible study, prayer, obedience to church leaders, fasting, church programmes gives you the right to expect God to bless you or help you in any way. Giving money to the poor or to the church does not earn us any right to God's favour or blessings. Your struggle to obey God's commandments does not earn you God's grace either. Nothing you do can make God owe you grace. "Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt." (Romans 4:4). The things we do for God or others - our works - if they earned favour with God, this favour would not be grace, but rather something that God owes us according to the principle of what is just and fair. "And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work." (Romans 11:6)

The fact that grace is unearned and unmerited does not tell us everything about grace, because it does not tell us what grace does. A more practical definition of grace could be "God's life, power and righteousness coming to us, the undeserving, as a gift." It is through grace that God works effective change in our hearts and lives. God's laws in themselves do not have the power to make us what we should be. It takes God Himself, working in the human life, to make us what we ought to be. At every step, we are dependent on God's life and power to come to us and work within our hearts, if we want to be what God wants and do what He wants.

It follows therefore that we cannot say that our life and power, independent of God, is sufficient to fulfil God's plan. No, every proud religious effort to keep a set of rules, even Biblical rules, is doomed to failure. To live under the law in this way is to be separated from Christ and to be fallen from grace. Paul wrote to some people who had come to fall exactly in this trap. He writes, "You have become estranged from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified [made right] by law [rules]; you have fallen from grace!" (Galatians 5:4).

So then, grace is God's life, power and righteousness coming to us, the undeserving as a gift.

Grace gives us a new life which is not condemned by God. Through God's grace we are forgiven. Grace also transforms our thinking, resulting in the renewal of the mind. Through grace we are sanctified and made holy. Grace enables us to live the kind of generous, carefree life of service and joy that God would like every one of His children to experience.

We will now consider more in detail what the grace of God does.

WHAT GRACE DOES

Grace saves us

"For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast". (Eph 2:8,9).

It is important to see here that by God's grace we have been saved. It is not by works. Salvation is all that God does in taking a fallen man and making him into a son of God - righteous, holy and glorified. Legally it all belongs to us now. God's grace works to make it a reality in our being. First God saves our spirits, making us born again. Then in this life He saves our souls - our minds, emotions and wills, as the process of sanctification in this life unfolds. He also saves our bodies - firstly in part through divine healing and health, and then eternally through the resurrection and redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23). All this, and anything else which God does in salvation, is strictly on the basis of God's grace. God's gift, not our works, made it all possible.

Grace justifies us

"... being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24). See also Titus 3:7.

We may be considered to be right by God only because of the grace of Jesus Christ, which is available to us because Jesus willingly layed down His life for us - paying the price we deserved for our rebellion against God. Our justification is not something we receive because of good works, but because of the payment Jesus paid for us at the cross when he suffered and died.

Grace santifies us

Indeed, not only our right standing with God, but also our right living depends on grace. God does not leave us to struggle in our own power to think, speak and act correctly. He gives grace after grace. "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace." (John 1:16). We need to "continue in God's grace" (Acts 13:43) in order to go on with God. The Word of God's Grace "builds us up and gives us an inheritance among all those who are sanctified" (Acts 20:32). As we hear about all that God's grace does for us, our faith grows and we can then receive the actual grace to make all this a possibility.

The work of sanctification and perfection belongs firstly to God, not to us. This is why it says, "But may the God of all grace, who has called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you." (1 Peter 5:10). It is as the "God of all grace" that the Lord "perfects, establishes and strengthens us."

Grace gives us the power to conduct ourselves correctly in the world. "For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in all simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you." (2 Corinthians 1:12). It is only by God's grace, and the graciousness He puts in us, that we can conduct ourselves simply and with godly sincerity in the world.

By Grace We Have Strength to Stand Against Opposition

A Christian must stand in the grace of God (Romans 5:2). He must be strong in the grace of God. "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 2:1). The Scripture says plainly that is is "good that the heart be strengthened [or established] with grace" (Hebrews 13:9). "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." (Ephesians 6:10,11). All the armour of God is received by the grace of God. We did not pay for the "breastplate of righteousness" or "the shield of faith" or any other parts of that armour. It is therefore by drawing on the grace of God that we are going to be able to resist temptation and stand against all the temptations and trials that Satan wants to discourage us with and make us fall, if possible.

Under Grace we are not ruled by the Power of Sin

Some imagine that the correct understanding of grace frees the believer to do whatever he wants - to sin against his conscience, against others, against the Word and against God. However, this cannot be correct, since the Scripture says, "Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:14). Paul asks, "Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?" His response is clear. "Certainly not!" (Romans 6:15). Grace is not a license to commit sin. It is a force that both pardons us and empowers us to live right, without falling into temptation.

Grace Teaches Us Godliness

Rather than teaching us to sin freely, grace is "teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age" (Titus 2:11,12). Here we see how closely related is the concept of grace with the working of the Holy Spirit. For it is the Holy Spirit Himself who convicts

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