GRACE implies God’s continual and unfailing faithfulness both to His covenant and to His people forever. Thus, in the New Testament, grace takes on a special redemptive sense in which God makes available His favor on behalf of sinners, who actually do not deserve it.
Even though grace is unmerited favour, Acts 4:32–33 and 1 Corinthians 15:9–10 suggest that there is a place for human responsibility in the manifestation or expression of divine grace. Put simply, there is someone to become, and there are some things to do, for the grace of God to manifest and to abound in the life of a Christian. The same holds true for a Christian organization. There is a need to always call attention to those issues that help us to grow in grace, so that we can embrace responsibility for abounding in the grace of God, and also resolve never to frustrate grace at both personal and corporate levels.
Now, we can understand grace better by juxtaposing it against the words Justice and Mercy. Justice is getting exactly what we deserve (which, in our case, is death). Mercy is not getting the bad that we deserve (again, death). However, grace is getting the good that we do not deserve (that is, eternal life).
Grace is not earned. The grace of God absolutely excludes human merit. We did not earn it. We cannot earn it. Humanity is not deserving of salvation. No one can earn pardon by works of human merit. If we could, then some people would be able to beat their chest that they qualified for (or they paid for) their redemption; but, that is impossible. Paul writes in Ephesians 2: 8-9:
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Even if you are able to perform everything God commands, you are still an “unprofitable servant” (Luke 17:10). Jesus taught that our sins have put us absolutely in debt, and no person has the innate ability to liquidate that obligation (Matthew 18:24-27). So there is a lot of emphasis in the New Testament upon the fact that human salvation is the product of God’s grace. We did not qualify for salvation. It was offered us as an unmerited favour.
Grace can be “seen”. God’s grace is manifested in all the good gifts we enjoy freely in life. And there are so many of them. If the air we breathe were to be something we must pay for, how many of us will still be alive today? Talking about life; life itself is the fundamental gift. And then, God gave us the gift, or let us say the grace, to be a human being. If He made us goats, or snakes, we could not have chosen otherwise. As human beings, God gave us a unique place in the order of creation – by His grace.
To be continued.
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