God's grace

Grace is the first word in our name because it best describes our individual and collective journey to God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. “Rather, we believe that it is by the grace of the Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Apg 15, 11)We are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Röm 3, 24)By grace alone, God (through Christ) allows us to share in his own righteousness. The Bible constantly teaches us that the message of faith is a message about God's grace.Apg 14,3; 20,24; 20,32).

The basis of God's relationship with man has always been grace and truth. While the law was an expression of these values, God's grace itself found full expression through Jesus Christ. By the grace of God we are saved only by Jesus Christ and not by keeping the law. The law by which every man is damned is not God's last word for us. His last word for us is Jesus. He is the perfect and personal revelation of God's grace and truth that he freely gave to humanity.

Our condemnation under the law is justified and just. We cannot achieve righteous behavior on our own, for God is not a prisoner of his own laws and legalities. God within us works in divine freedom according to his will. His will is defined by grace and redemption. The Apostle Paul writes the following: “I do not reject the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.” (Gal 2, 21)Paul describes God's grace as the only alternative he refuses to discard. Grace is not something to be weighed, measured, or bargained for. Grace is the living goodness of God, through which he seeks and transforms the human heart and mind. In his letter to the church in Rome, Paul writes that the only thing we try to achieve through our own efforts is the wages of sin, namely death itself. That is the bad news. But there is also very good news, for "the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Röm 6, 24)Jesus is the grace of God. He is God's salvation, freely given to all people.