The Grace of God

Amazing grace how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see. (John Newton)

God’s Grace in the Old Testament

Despite what you might think, God’s grace is not an entirely “New Testament” concept. God has continually shown His gracious side to His people throughout their history. He describes Himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7 when He declares, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

The psalmist David says in Psalm 86:15, “But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (cf. Psalm 103:8).

What Is Grace? Insights from Theologians

But what, exactly, is grace? No doubt you’ve heard it described as “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.” However, how many of us really recognize just what that means? We begin with quotes from a few people who explain what grace means to them (all emphases added): 

• Tony Evans: “[God’s grace is] His inexhaustible supply of goodness by which He does for us what we could never do for ourselves…. We cannot earn it, we do not deserve it, and you can never repay it, but He has made it abundantly available for free.”^[1]
• A.W. Tozer: “As mercy is God’s goodness confronting human misery and guilt, so grace is His goodness directed toward human debt and demerit. It is by His grace that God imputes merit where none previously existed and declares no debt to be where one had been before.”^[2]
• Arthur W. Pink: “Divine grace is the sovereign and saving favor of God exercised in the bestowment of blessings upon those who have no merit in them and for which no compensation is demanded from them…. Shown to those who have no positive deserts of their own, but who are thoroughly ill-deserving and hell-deserving.”^[3]
• Gilbert Bilezikian: “Grace is the dimension of divine activity that enables God to confront human indifference and rebellion with an inexhaustible capacity to forgive and to bless.”^[4]
• F.F. Bruce, et al.: “GRACE—favor or kindness shown without regard to the worth or merit of the one who receives it and in spite of what that person deserves.”^[5]

The Basis of Grace: Undeserved Favor

The first point that should be clear is that we do not deserve grace. God does not extend grace to us on the basis of anything we are, anything we have, or anything we can or will do. It is extended solely on the basis of His graciousness. 

• John 1:16-17 – Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
• Romans 5:8 – But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
• Romans 3:20-24 – Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Common Grace for All Creation

Second, and briefly, all people benefit from what has been called “common grace,” that is, benefits that God bestows on all men and women on earth. Some examples of common grace are found in these verses:

• Psalm 145:9 – The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
• Matthew 5:45 – He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
• Luke 6:35 – … he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
• Acts 14:17 – He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.

Saving Grace: The Cost of the Cross

But, going back to our initial definition of grace as “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense,” the area in which we experience God’s grace the most deeply is in relationship to our salvation. Because it is ONLY by grace that we are saved (Ephesians 2:8-9). David Horton explains, “In mercy God withholds or modifies deserved judgment, and in grace God freely gives undeserved benefits to whom he chooses.”^[6]

Undeserved. That’s the key to our understanding of God’s grace. Because God does not owe us anything: “Grace means God does not have to do anything.”^[7] God is not obligated, except by His own will, to graciously extend salvation to us. Extraordinarily, though, we are told by the apostle Peter that God is “not willing for any to perish” (2 Peter 3:9). So, even though He will not force salvation upon us, in His graciousness He has provided a way of salvation for all who will come to Him. (See John 1:12; Acts 4:12; 10:43; Romans 10:13; etc.) 

But this gracious gift, although it is freely offered to us, cost God a great deal. It cost the death of His own Son! You can catch just a glimpse what this precious gift demanded by reading Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane in Luke 22:39-44. But, in spite of that:

“God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:16-18)

God cannot, because of His nature, not deal with sin. It must be dealt with, and sin must be punished. If it is not, if God overlooks our sin, then it would negate His own holiness. He would cease to be God! 

But even as far back as the Garden of Eden when the death penalty for sin was first imposed (Genesis 2:17; Romans 5:12), God graciously offered a substitute—animals that were sacrificed instead. Throughout Israel’s history the people had to continually offer sacrifices, thus acknowledging their own sinfulness, and expressing appreciation for God’s graciousness in allowing the substitute to take their place. 

But in the fullness of time, God sent His own Son to earth. That Son lived the sinless life that no man before or since has been able to achieve. Then, that sinless man went to the cross. The one who knew no sin became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). And in a move no one could have fathomed, the one who demanded the sacrifices became the sacrifice, dying “once for all” (Romans 6:10), breaking the power of sin, and extending God’s gracious free gift of salvation to all who would believe. 

Paul reminds us, “For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!” (Romans 5:15)

How Should We Respond to Grace?

So, now that the gracious gift of salvation has been extended to you, have you received it? Have you reached out to take what was so freely and sacrificially offered? If so, how then should you live? Titus 2:11-14 tells us:

“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

Are you living in appreciation of God’s grace?

Endnotes

1. Tony Evans, God, Himself: A Journey through His Attributes (Moody Publishers: Kindle Edition), p. 185.↑
2. A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (Fig: Kindle Edition).↑
3. Arthur W. Pink, The Attributes of God (Unknown: Kindle Edition), p. 71.↑
4. Gilbert Bilezikian, “Grace,” in Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988).↑
5. Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, and R. K. Harrison, Thomas Nelson Publishers, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1995).↑
6. David Horton, The Portable Seminary: A Master's Level Overview in One Volume (Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition).↑
7. Evans, p. 186.↑

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