Grace alone

October 28, 2021 (Thursday, third post)

 

I know, it will take a while to wade through all these posts on one day. Take your time. Possibly the most contentious sola, among Protestants is, “grace alone.”  (sola gratia) The difference, I think, revolves around how grace is defined and understood.

 

Jesus’ first sermon was, “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!” [Mark 1:15 NLT] In other words, Jesus demanded a response to His announcement. This response is what we call “faith.” I suspect it is significant to note that Jesus never talks about “grace.”

 

In the New Testament the English word “faith” comes from TWO Greek words. One is a verb while the other is a noun. This indicates that there is faith (noun) as something we possess. This is considered “passive,” meaning faith is not something we acquire or do. Faith as a verb is “active,” meaning it is something we do. When we respond to God’s initiative in salvation, we believe, that is called “faith.” Once we believe (faith as a verb) we now have faith (as a noun).

 

Let me be clear the act of responding to God is in NO way earning or deserving salvation. Response to God is not possible without His initiative. Paul explains, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” [Ephesians 2:8 NLT] It is helpful for me to understand grace as God’s initiative and faith as our response. (Disclosure: Not everyone agrees with me on the initiative – response point.)

 

A further look into “grace” reveals more than just God’s initiative. I like to link it back to the Old Testament “loving kindness” and other similar expressions. Typically, when English speakers use the word “grace,” we mean something on the lines of favor or good will. I like to think this is “God’s want too.” God wants to save us. God has taken every measure to save us in Jesus.

 

Let’s turn to Paul again, “But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.” [Galatians 3:22 NLT] If we have this freedom from sin and its eternal consequences by believing in Jesus Christ, then it becomes spiritually toxic to add anything to “by grace you are saved through faith.”

 

Think about it this way: If God’s grace is 99.999999% effective and anything else is necessary then God’s grace is void. Or as Paul put it, “If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it.” [Galatians 3:21b NLT] If we insist on anything other than God’s grace through faith as the sole means of salvation then we say Jesus’ work on the cross was imperfect, lacking, and ultimately meaningless.

 

If we could be saved by anything other than Jesus’ blood, then Jesus’ death on the cross was unnecessary. The reason Jesus died was to save us. That’s short-hand for all sorts of things like reconciliation, regeneration, and adoption (among many other things). That’s God’s loving kindness, extended to those who do not deserve salvation, cannot earn salvation, and have no way to achieve salvation. That is God wanting to save you.

 

“For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” [2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT]