The Grace of God

Tuesday, 16 June 2009 09:45 |

The Alpha-Omega Report Presents

The Grace of God

A Biblical Studies Article

R.A. Coombes

Author of "America, The Babylon"

There is no truth more essential to true Christianity than the concept of the Grace of God. Unfortunately, all too many Christians do not fully understand the doctrine of Grace. Churches today, fail to teach its members the key elements of God’s Grace.

Without at least some understanding of Grace, it is impossible to understand the salvation principle, therefore, many who think they are saved may in fact not be saved because it is a vital key to understanding the Gospel – “Christ died for our sins” as a gift of eternal life offered to us on the basis of reliance/belief on the fact that “Christ died for our sins.”

THE DEFINITION OF GRACE

In the Hebrew Old Testament:

In the Old Testament Hebrew, the Hebrew word for Grace is “chanan.” You’ll find it in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance under the Strong’s Code # 02583 or the variant #02580. The combined usage of this word in the original is 147 times. It is often translated into English versions by the following words: favor, grace, charm, or acceptance.

Strong’s lexicon defines it as: “to be gracious, show favor, pity.

In the New Testament, the original Greet word translated as “grace” is the word “Charis” and in Greek it looks like this: Χαρις. You’ll find it in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance under the Strong’s Code #5485 with derivatives #5484 ( Charin – Ҳάριν ) and #5463 ( Chairo – Хαίρω )

The combined usage in the New Testament is 156 times. It is often translated into English versions by the following words: “grace” used 130 times in the KJV, “favor” used 6 times in the KJV, “thanks” or “thank” used 8 times in the KJV, or to have thank(s) is used 3 times in the KJV and finally used as “pleasure” in the KJV 2 times.

Strong’s lexicon defines the word as: gracious, acceptable, benefit, favor, gift, thankfulness.

Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, as well as B-A-G-D’s Lexicon, Moulton’s Lexicon and others describe the word definition as the following:

The word carried the idea of a gift, unearned or undeserved gift or unearned and undeserved favor or benefit or without merit or without being deserved as in ‘undeserving.’ It also carries the connotation of something freely given or offered without reciprocation or without any ‘strings attached.’

We can better state the definition as: Grace is something that is an unearned, undeserved gift. We can also say that Grace is a benefit freely given without any reciprocation and without any strings or attached obligations.

In regards to the concept of eternal life and salvation:

Grace stands in complete contrast to the conclusions of human reason.

Grace distinguishes Christianity from religion. Let me repeat that.

Grace distinguishes Christianity from religion.

Grace forms the basis, and it is the only basis, for a relationship with God.

Grace begets thankfulness as a motive for all living in the Christian life.

Grace alone can cure the disease of pride and direct all glory to God.

With that in mind we should ask: What is the Grace of God?

There are 9 major features or elements in correctly understanding the Grace of God.

Grace Element #1:

GRACE IS GOD’S OPERATING PRINCIPLE

Ephesians 2:4-9 is a central passage, wherein verse 4 gives us the facts on God’s side.

God is said to be “rich in mercy.” This points to God as the possessor of infinite resources.

God is also one of “great love.”

When His mercy is said to be rich and his love is called great, how far does this extend?

Fundamental to understanding the character of God is the recognition that God in his nature is infinite. This means that each of His attributes has no limit.

When we read that God is love, this means that His love has no limits. It cannot increase nor decrease. It is perfect. It is all that it can possibly be. Therefore, God who is “rich in mercy” means that He possesses ALL the mercy that is possible to possess; and since His love is “great,” we are to understand that it is perfect love without limitation. It is further stated that this love has direction – for “he loved us.” We, as humans, are the objects of the infinite mercy and love of God.

But who are we?

Ephesians 2, verse 5 now turns to the facts on man’s side. Are we, the loved ones, deserving of His love?

Our condition is stated as “when we were dead in sins…” Our condition could not be more desperate. Our condition is ‘dead.’ We were “dead” in our sins. This points to our helplessness, to our helpless state.

A dead man can do nothing for himself.

God, however, offers one solution – we are “quickened” (which means to be made alive). Here is the single answer to the problem of death. God further operates on one basis – we are made alive – “in Christ Jesus.”

All our hope lies in Jesus Christ alone.

Now on what principle does God provide this life in Christ? What is the principle upon which we are rescued from death?

The last words of Ephesians 2:5 tell us – “by grace ye are saved.”

Man needs to be saved; God possessed all the necessary resources to do so; all that is needed is a principle of operation, and that principle is grace.

The only method of salvation is the grace method. Let me repeat that.

The only method of salvation is the grace method.

God moves on no other basis.

Since this is true, what then is grace? What does Grace mean?

Grace Element #2

GRACE IS THE OPPOSITE

OF THE MERIT PRINCIPLE

Sometimes a thing can best be described by telling what it is not. Romans 4:4 works in that way.

“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.”

For the sake of clarity and understanding, let’s put the verse in a framework we can all grasp.

“Now to him that worketh ( i.e. puts in his 40 hour work week) is the reward (his paycheck) not reckoned of grace (as a gift or favor) but rather of debt (what is owed to him).

Most of life functions on the debt principle. We work for two weeks and, thus, put our employer into debt to us. He in turn relieves that debt by issuing a paycheck to us. This then repeats itself in every pay cycle, again and again.

God, however, does not work this way. Remember Ephesians 2:8, 9?

“by grace are ye saved through faith…not of works”

God does not issue a blessing because we deserve it or work for it.

If we work for it – we destroy grace.

To work for it, destroys grace, and grace is the ONLY basis for receiving God’s blessings. Is there anything more contrary to human reasoning than God’s Grace principle? Let’s look at a diagram of the “debt principle.”

The Debt Principle: Man Trying To Approach God on his own 'merit' for reward.

The diagram describes what may be logical to our human rational, but it stands in total contrast to God’s way. The debt principle or the “human works” or “human effort” principle stands in direct opposition to God’s only way of saving humanity.

The Debt Principle diagram as shown above presents a method whereby man gets what he merits (deserves) by his own efforts or by his own work or by his own human efforts to please God.

In stark contrast, God’s way makes it possible for man to receive God’s blessing without limits, without limitation and most importantly WITHOUT RESPECT for what the man deserves. What man deserves is eternal damnation and nothing more. The debt principle brings to us what we deserve. The Grace Principle of God, brings to us ALL that God can give including eternal life and so much more.

Understand this:

If we work for any sort of “blessing” or “reward” from God, then in our doing such effort or work -- we are rejecting and destroying God’s Grace and the method by which God provides us for all blessings, including and especially salvation. When we reject God’s Grace Principle, we’re telling God that He is a liar. We’re also telling Him that what He did for us, was simply not good enough and that He needs to include our efforts also.

The debt principle or the “human merit-works principle” is antithetical to God’s Grace Principle. It is a rejection of God’s Grace and it destroys His Grace Principle which is the only means by which God allows us to come before Him.

God has said, that we can do NOTHING to please Him or to “earn” anything from God.

The only way God is ever pleased with us, is by what He has done for us and on our behalf on the basis of His Grace Principle.

Grace Element #3

GRACE IS NOT LENIENCY

The fact that God is righteous and just demands that ALL sin be FULLY punished. God will not and cannot overlook the fact that man sins against the perfect moral code of God. A perfectly “just” or “righteous” God cannot allow sin to go unpunished.

Salvation by grace does not mean that somehow God is persuaded to be lenient and bestow blessing in spite of unpunished sin.

Romans 3:24 makes it quite clear to us that God’s Grace program is extremely costly. We are:

“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:”

Justification by grace is through Christ’s redemption. This redemption involved His (Jesus Christ) taking the wrath of God intended for the sinners that we are upon Himself. A ‘by grace’ salvation costs nothing less than the cross-suffering of Jesus Christ. He paid infinitely so that our salvation could be freely extended to us without cost to us.

The cross of Christ makes possible the Grace Principle of salvation.

Here then is the grace principle in diagram:

God's Grace Principle; Man's faith rests on Christ's Cross-Work for God's Grace

1. The diagram describes what the human mind would never conceive of, but, nonetheless, it represents God’s only way of salvation.

2. The diagram also shows that all blessing from God is given to man on the basis of Christ’s cross-work death and NOT by human effort or human merit. We cannot earn any blessings from God by anything that we do.

3. The diagram above shows the key issue for man is the perception of the nature and value of Christ’s cross-work on our behalf. The proper response to what He did for us is to have faith in what He did on our behalf. In other words, we are ‘resting’ (faith) in the adequacy of the cross-work of Jesus Christ.

In the interest of understanding this, let’s put the two principles together side by side for comparison.

Man's Debt Principle on left vs God's Grace Principle on the right.

These two principles are antithetical to each other.

The double lines cannot be crossed. The two principles are mutually exclusive of each other – they simply cannot be combined together or mixed together.

To introduce the “debt principle” as a means of obtaining God’s blessing is to obliterate Grace.

Romans 11:6 states that…

“And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”

Note that the Grace Principle eliminates the Debt Principle.

The opposite is also true, for Romans 11:6 continues with the categorical statement that…

“if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”

So then, Grace is not leniency. It is the extension of God’s blessing based upon the cross work of Jesus Christ and nothing less..

Grace Element #4

FAITH IS THE ONLY ACT

THAT IS COMPATIBLE WITH GRACE

The only response on man’s part that preserves the Grace Principle is Faith.

Faith is the only means of appropriating blessing. If we introduce ANY human work or any human effort at all, then “grace is no more grace;” and since Grace is God’s only method of operation between Himself and man, we have doomed ourselves if we attempt to add anything to the Grace/Faith equation.

This is why precision in stating the means of salvation is so important. Paul makes this clear in Romans 4:16 …” it is of faith, that it might be by grace.”

The use of terms other than faith is Satan’s most insidious attack on true Christianity. The good intentions of those who use terms other than ‘believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” are a poor coverup for the destruction of God’s Grace system. This leads us now to a fourth principle of Grace.

Grace Element #5

GRACE OPERATES PRIMARILY

IN SALVATION

God’s grace is certainly seen in creation. The fact that God bestows good things on all His creatures is certainly true. He sends rain on both the just and the unjust. This is often called God’s ‘common’ grace. At the same time, an examination of passages using the word Grace in some form shows they inevitably deal with some aspect of salvation.

Romans 3:24 speaks of being … ‘being justified freely by His grace…”

In that verse, grace is seen operating in the sphere of justification. The original Greek word translated into English as the word “freely” is the Greek word “Dorean” – a word that means without cause. Jesus used this same word in John 15:25 when He says “They hated me without cause.”

Romans 3:24 teaches us that we are justified “without cause” of anything in or of us. There is no reason within us for us to be justified as righteous, pure and innocent before God on the basis of anything we can do or merit.

This harmonizes perfectly with Grace. Grace does not look at the merit or demerits of ourselves or of any human being, BUT RATHER, Grace looks at the adequate cross-work of Jesus Christ and dispenses blessing to us on that basis of what HE did for us, not on the basis of what we do or do not do.

Romans 5:20 tells us “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Again, the context pertains to our salvation from sin, the area of the primary operation of grace.

Ephesians 2:5-9 makes the ultimate and unquestionable link in this issue by saying to us…

“For by grace ye are saved…”

5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

This link of Grace to Salvation applies to ALL phases of Salvation. It is the basis of our initial birth into God’s family; it continues to be the basis for living the Christian life; it will be the basis of our glorification when, at His appearing, we will be made “like Him” (Ist John 3:1-2)

Another very essential element in the subject of the Grace of God is the truth that…

Grace Element #6

GRACE HAS ALREADY BEEN MANIFESTED

We are taught that ‘the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men…” (Titus 2:11) Of particular importance here is the fact that Grace is conceived of as a great available reservoir. It is not something to be sought, but rather something to partake of.

Grace is not so much what God will do, as it is what God has done already. This points us back to the cros work of Jesus Christ where sin was dealt with adequately and eternally.

God does not need to be persuaded to bless us – grace is not a response to our begging God for something.

The mentality that fails to understand this is illustrated by 1st Kings chapter 18. Elijah, the Lord’s prophet) challenges King Ahab (and the followers of the pagan god, Baal) to see whose god will respond. A sacrifice is then placed on the altar for burning. The prophets of Baal begin their please to their god to bring fire down from the sky to ignite the altar in flames. Their first step is to call on the name of Baal “from morning until noon…” There is no response to their begging. They then step up the intensity of their requests by leaping onto the altar, but still no response.

Their frame of reference is easy to see. “if we are persuasive enough, Baal will observe and respond to our cries.” In a last act of desperation the prophets of Baal cut themselves til the blood gushed out upon them.

Finally, Elijah has the altar prepared for his offering. No begging. No pleading, no inflicting of punishment on the body, only a sacrifice. And to this God responds, for the “fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice…”

So in salvation it is not the beating of the breast, passionate prayers, or any other such activity. It is a mere resting on the sacrifice, the merits of Jesus Christ, that draws the divine bestowal of all blessings.

This leads us to a most amazing feature of Grace:

Grace Element #7

GRACE IS NEVER EXHAUSTED BY USE

Here is a truth that applies in no other area of life.

Can one imagine the type of bank account that grows larger each and every time a check is written on the account?

This is the way grace works.

No barrier can be erected that Grace cannot overflow; for though sin may abound, grace – ‘much more abounds.’ – John 1:16 states that…”of His fullness have we all received and grace for grace.”

The expression, “grace for grace” contains the Greek word “anti” which is called – the preposition of direct substitution and thus, we could translate better the phrase to be…

“grace in exchange for grace.”

Use grace and there is more to take its place. You can never use up grace. It is abundant and grace is inexhaustible.

Now this quality of the grace of God leads us to the fact that…

Grace Element #8

WE ARE TO GROW IN GRACE

2nd Peter chapeter 3 and verse 18 exhorts us to “grow in grace.”

Growth is continuous and a never ending process for the Christian who daily comes to comprehend more an dmore of God’s grace.

IF we can never exhaust the resources of Grace, then it is also true that we never come to understand it fully.

This is what makes the Christian life a dynamic, moving thing. Every day is a further penetration into the riches of divine grace. This in turn shows the importance of “study of God’s Word.

The wealth of grace is revealed in the scriptures. There is no knowing of our assets apart from the pages of the Bible.

Grace Element #9

GRACE IS THE STATE IN WHICH WE LIVE

In Romans 6:14 Paul says., “Ye are not under the Law but under Grace.”

This tells us the system under which we live and by which God relates to us. It is not by LAW or by human efforts that God relates with us.

Note again, that grace is not a condition to seek, but is one which now exists for us and within us. Since God’s Grace Principle is a foreign concept to human rationale, the reminder contained in Romans 6:14 is necessary.

GOD WILL NOT MODIFY HIS GRACE PROGRAM.

We, however can know the disaster of refusal to align with God’s method of operation (Grace Principle) and thus, many experience the slavish legalism and lackluster living that reduces Christianity to dead performance.

Power for living is available. Christ’s death says so. A completely adequate payment for all of our sins has been made – Christ’s death says so. God the Father is totally satisfied with His work – Christ’s Resurrection says so. Faith directed towards Him brings eternal life – God’s Grace says so.