Skip to main content

Grace is Grace


What is grace? Christians love to sing about that amazing grace that saved a wretch like me, but what does that word mean? The Greek word means favor or graciousness, and Strong’s defines it in a spiritual sense this way: “the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life.”

 

This word is a familiar friend in Scripture, but let’s consider Romans 11:6, which says, “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.”

 

Human nature is always to make salvation the result of works, something we earn by our efforts. But the second works become necessary, grace ceases to be grace. I love the line “grace would no longer be grace.”

 

In Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare wrote, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” A rose is a rose, no matter what you call it. A rose is a rose because of its inherent qualities as a rose. 

 

In the same way, grace is grace because of what it is—God giving us something that we do not deserve. If a zebra lost its stripes, it wouldn’t be a zebra. If a cheetah lost its spots, it wouldn’t be a cheetah. If an elephant lost its trunk, it wouldn’t be an elephant. And if grace is mingled with works, it stops being grace. 

 

Good works are good, but they do not save. We are only saved by the grace of God. It is the divine influence upon our hearts that can compel us to call out to God. The latter does not happen without the former, and in that order. Grace is grace because God initiates the process. We love Him because He first loved us. If God didn’t act first in our salvation, we wouldn’t act at all.  

 

That’s why amazing grace is so sweet a sound. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To Save a Life

(Like my blog about the peace symbol, this blog was written as a default response to all the parents, students, and other people who are asking my opinion of To Save a Life.) By now you have probably heard of the movie To Save a Life, which opened nation-wide in theaters on January 22nd. The movie deals with so many issues that teens face today, like suicide, cutting, drinking, drugs, premarital sex, teen pregnancy, and abortion. At first glance this movie looks like an awesome resource that we should recommend for our teens, parents, youth pastors, and youth workers. But a closer look at the movie reveals a few disturbing things. For starters, according to pluggedin.com, there are 2 uses of the “A” word, 5 uses of hell (used as a curse word), and once the “D” word is used. There are other crude terms used to describe a girl, and crude terms for referring to sexual activity. There is also a bedroom scene that shows a girl removing a boy’s shirt, then afterwards the girl putting he...
38 comments
Read more

Evangelism

“Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.” St. Francis of Assisi is given credit for this famous quote (although that exact phrasing does not appear in any of his writings), and a lot of people would think that this is a great philosophy. His actual quote was that everyone should “preach by their deeds.” Preaching with our deeds is not just a strategy, it is a necessity. We are commanded all through the Scriptures to let our light shine and be a peculiar people. People should be able to look at our lives and see that we are Christians. They should see the love of Christ readily on display, and thus feel compelled to live their lives in the same way. The sermon that we should preach with our lives is a sermon of love, joy, peace, patience, self-control, forgiveness, conviction, etc. But this idea that has emerged that says we should ONLY preach with our deeds is a heresy straight from the devil himself. Think about it: who is the one that does not want you t...
18 comments
Read more

All Things To All Men

One of our favorite verses to use in our evangelism methods is where Paul said that he “becomes all things to all men” so that he might “by all means save some (I Corinthians 9:22).” This is certainly a good idea if we keep it in its proper context and application. For example, I remember a time in high school where I knew a kid that loved skateboarding. Being the chicken that I am, I was never a skateboarder. All he would talk about was skating, and I knew none of his lingo. But to help develop a relationship with him (he was new to our church and didn’t know many people), I brushed up on my skating lingo so I could ask if he had done any sick ollies lately (impressed?). This would be like Paul saying “to the skateboarder, I became a skateboarder.” This is effective and necessary. But then there are the people that use this verse to justify doing sinful things in the name of evangelism. The first one that comes to mind is about drinking. Some people will go into the bars to evan...
23 comments
Read more