What’s this thing called “grace”?
Ephesians 2: 4-9
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Grace, a definition based on this passage:
Grace is God’s unearned, unmerited gift to us, out of His love and mercy toward us, despite our sinfulness. It’s how God saves us. We do not receive His grace because of anything we have done to deserve it, but it’s a gift from a loving God.
Where does grace come from? It comes from God’s character: "God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love..." (v.4). It flows from His love and mercy to us, even though we don’t deserve it. We are all sinners: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. (Rom 3:23)
It is available to us, the undeserving: "Even when we were dead in our trespasses..." (v.5), even while we are spiritually dead—unable to help ourselves.
Grace is what makes us spiritually alive and connected to Christ. He "Made us alive together with Christ..." (v.5).
It is a gift -- it is not something we can earn. "By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works..." (v.8-9). Grace is not about what we do; it’s about what God has done for us.
And finally, it shows God’s kindness and mercy toward us: "The immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (v.7).
Grace is God’s free and undeserved gift of salvation, given out of His love and mercy, without any human effort or merit, making us alive in Christ and securing our eternal relationship with Him.
All we need to do is accept it!
Let me give you some additional scriptures that support this.
Romans 6:23 – "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Grace)
Romans 11:6 – "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise, grace would no longer be grace."
Titus 3:5-7 – "He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit... so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
John 1:14, 16-17 – "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth... For from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."
Ephesians 2:8-9 (again) – "By grace you have been saved through faith..."
So now I have defined it, and I’m sure that you understand it, but what about someone you are trying to witness to? How can you share that message with a non-believer?
Grace is God’s love in action toward people who don’t deserve it.
It's like us breaking the law. We are arrested and go to jail. The time comes and we go to court. As we stand before the judge, we know that we broke the law and deserve to be punished, but instead, the judge himself steps down, pays our fine, and offers us a fresh start — even though we did nothing to deserve it.
We, as Christians, believe that because of our sins — the wrong things we’ve done — we are separated from God. But He loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on a Roman Cross to take our place and pay the penalty that He requires of all those who sin against Him.
The point is that we can't earn our way back to God by being good enough
That’s works— I see works as building a 5,000 piece puzzle over your lifetime without a picture, just all white pieces, and when you get to the end (standing before God), He looks at the finished product and says: “OOPS! There is a piece missing. You should have accepted my gift.”
Grace is that gift -- God giving us something awesome — a relationship with Him and living in His heaven for all eternity — that we could never earn ourselves.
Again, the catch is that we just need to accept it. If you haven’t done that, take a minute and pray this prayer with me.
"Father, I am a sinner and deserve to be punished. I need Jesus in my life. I believe He is Υour Son, born of a virgin. I believe that He died on a Roman Cross to pay the debt for my sins so I can be forgiven. I believe that He rose again on the third day and is now seated at your right hand acting as my intercessor. Jesus, I ask You to come into my life right now. Thank you, Father."
Have you accepted His gift?
Ed Johanson
eldered.whc@gmail.com
*Scriptures are cited from the New International Version published by Zondervan. The Rights are owned by “Biblica”.