God's grace
God's grace is the undeserved favor that God is willing to give to all of creation. In the broadest sense, God's grace is expressed in every act of divine self-revelation. Thanks to grace man and the whole cosmos are redeemed from sin and death through Jesus Christ, and thanks to grace man gains the power to know and love God and Jesus Christ and to enter into the joy of eternal salvation in Kingdom of god. (Colossians 1,20; 1. John 2,1-2; Romans 8,19-21; 3,24; 5,2.15-17.21; John 1,12; Ephesians 2,8-9; titus 3,7)
Grace
"For if righteousness is by the law, then Christ died in vain," Paul wrote in Galatians 2,21. The only alternative, he says in the same verse, is "the grace of God." We are saved by grace, not by keeping the law.
These are alternatives that cannot be combined. We are not saved by grace plus works, but by grace alone. Paul makes it clear that we must choose one or the other. Choosing both is not an option (Romans 11,6). “For if the inheritance were by the law, it was not by promise; But God gave it to Abraham by promise (Galatians 3,18). Salvation does not depend on the law, but on God's grace.
"For only if there were a law that could give life would righteousness really come from the law" (v. 21). If there had been any way to gain eternal life by keeping commandments, then God would have saved us by the law. But that was not possible. The law cannot save anyone.
God wants us to have good behavior. He wants us to love others and thereby fulfill the law. But He doesn't want us to think that our works are ever a reason for our salvation. His provision of grace includes always knowing that we would never be "good enough," despite our best efforts. If our works contributed to salvation, then we would have something to boast about. But God designed His plan of salvation so that we cannot claim credit for our salvation (Ephesians 2,8-9). We can never claim to deserve anything. We can never claim that God owes us anything.
This touches the core of the Christian faith and makes Christianity unique. Other religions claim that people can be good enough if they try hard enough. Christianity says we just can not be good enough. We need grace.
On our own, we will never be good enough, so other religions will never be good enough. The only way to be saved is by God's grace. We can never deserve to live forever, so the only way we can get eternal life is by God giving us something we do not deserve. That's what Paul wants out when he uses the word grace. Salvation is a gift from God, something we could never earn - not even by keeping the commandments for millennia.
Jesus and grace
“For the law was given through Moses,” writes John, and continues: “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1,17). John saw a contrast between law and grace, between what we do and what is given to us.
However, Jesus did not use the word grace. But his whole life was an example of grace, and his parables illustrate grace. He sometimes used the word mercy to describe what God gives us. "Blessed are the merciful," he said, "for they shall obtain mercy" (Matthew 5,7). With this statement, he indicated that we all need mercy. And he mentioned that we should be like God in this regard. If we value grace, we will also show grace to other people.
Later, when Jesus was asked why he associated with notorious sinners, he said to the people, "But go and learn what it means, 'I delight in mercy, and not in sacrifice'" (Matthew 9,13, a quote from Hosea 6,6). God cares more for us to show mercy than to be perfectionists in keeping the commandments.
We do not want people to sin. But since transgressions are inevitable, mercy is absolutely necessary. This applies to our relationships with each other and our relationship with God. God wants us to recognize our need for mercy, as well as to show mercy to other people. Jesus set an example of this when he ate with tax collectors and talked with sinners - by his behavior he showed that God wants to commune with us all. He has taken on all our sins and forgive us to have this fellowship.
Jesus told a parable of two debtors, one who owed an enormous amount and the other who owed a much smaller amount. The master forgave the servant who owed him much, but that servant failed to forgive the fellow servant who owed him less. The Master was angry and said, "Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I have had mercy on you?" (Matthew 18,33).
The lesson of this parable: Each of us should see ourselves as the first servant to whom a huge sum has been forgiven. We all did not meet the requirements of the law by a long way, so God shows mercy to us - and he wants us to show mercy as well. Of course, both in the area of mercy and in the law, our actions fall short of expectations, so we must continue to trust in God's mercy.
The parable of the good Samaritan ends with a call to mercy (Luke 10,37). The tax collector who pleaded for mercy was the one who was justified before God8,13-14). The prodigal son who squandered his fortune and then came home was adopted without doing anything to "earn" it (Luke 1 Cor5,20). Neither the widow of Nain nor her son did anything to deserve a resurrection; Jesus did this simply out of compassion (Luke 7,11-15).
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
The miracles of Jesus served to quench temporary needs. The people who ate loaves of bread and fish became hungry again. The son who was raised eventually died. But the grace of Jesus Christ will be given to all of us through the highest act of divine grace: His sacrificial death on the cross. In this way, Jesus himself gave himself for us - with eternal, rather than merely temporary consequences.
As Peter said, "Rather, we believe that we are saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 1 Cor5,11). The gospel is a message of God's grace (Acts 14,3; 20,24. 32). We are made by grace “through the redemption that is through Jesus Christ” (Romans 3,24) justified. God's grace is associated with Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Jesus died for us, for our sins, and we are saved because of what he did on the cross (v. 25). We have salvation through his blood (Ephesians 1,7).
But God's grace goes beyond forgiveness. Luke tells us that God's grace was with the disciples as they preached the gospel (Acts 4,33). God showed them favor by giving them the help they did not deserve. But don't human fathers do the same? Not only do we give our children when they haven't done anything to deserve it, we also give them gifts they couldn't deserve. That is part of love and that reflects the nature of God. Grace is generosity.
When the parishioners in Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas on a missionary trip, they commanded them to be by the grace of God4,26; 15,40). In other words, they entrusted them to the care of God, trusting that God would provide for the travelers and give them what they needed. That is part of his grace.
Spiritual gifts are also a work of grace. “We have different gifts,” writes Paul, “according to the grace given to us” (Romans 12,6). "Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of the gift of Christ" (Ephesians 4,7). “And serve one another, each with the gift which he has received, as good stewards of the diversified graces of God” (1. Petrus 4,10).
Paul thanked God for the spiritual gifts with which he had abundantly endowed the believers (1. Corinthians 1,4-5). He was confident that God's grace would be abundant among them, enabling them to increase even more in any good work (2. Corinthians 9,8).
Every good gift is a gift from God, a result of grace instead of something we deserve. Therefore we should be grateful for the simplest blessings, for the singing of the birds, the scent of the flowers and the laughter of children. Even life is a luxury in itself, not a necessity.
Paul's own ministry was given to him by grace (Romans 1,5; 15,15; 1. Corinthians 3,10; Galatians 2,9; Ephesians 3,7). Everything he did he wanted to do according to the grace of God (2. Corinthians 1,12). His strength and abilities were a gift of grace (2. Corinthians 12,9). If God could save and use the worst of all sinners (this is how Paul described himself), he can certainly forgive each of us and use us. Nothing can separate us from his love, from his desire to give us presents.
Our answer to grace
How should we respond to God's grace? With grace, of course. We should be merciful, just as God is full of mercy (Luke 6,36). We are to forgive others just as we were forgiven. We are to serve others just as we were served. We should be kind to others by showing them benevolence and kindness.
Let our words be full of grace (Colossians 4,6). We should be kind and gracious, forgiving and giving in marriage, in business, at work, in church, to friends, family, and strangers.
Paul also described financial generosity as a work of grace: “But we make known to you, dear brothers, the grace of God which is given in the churches of Macedonia. For their joy was exceeding when they were tried through much affliction, and though they are very poor, yet they have given abundantly in all simplicity. For to the best of their ability, I testify, and they willingly gave even beyond their strength" (2. Corinthians 8,1-3). They had received a lot and were ready to give a lot afterwards.
Giving is an act of grace (v. 6) and generosity - whether in financial, time, respect, or otherwise - and it is an appropriate way for us to respond to the grace of Jesus Christ who gave himself for himself gave us that we might be blessed abundantly (v. 9).
by Joseph Tkach
