24. Grace

GRACE

What is grace?

Grace is favor. We often say “unmerited favor,” which is tautological. Favor to be favor, must be unmerited Grace is gift, and salvation is by grace because it is God’s gift to anyone who is willing to take it. “It is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed” (Romans 4:16); it could not be sure to anyone if it were otherwise. “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more of grace: otherwise work is no more work” (Romans 11:6). Praise God for salvation by grace!

What is falling from grace? Is it losing one’s salvation?

No. The only reference in the Bible to falling from grace is in Galatians 5:4, where Paul declares that those who were turning to law-works for saving or keeping them had “fallen from grace.” It is an error to apply this expression in any other way. Do any Christians love their neighbors as themselves, and is it possible to love God with all the heart, and all the soul, and all the strength?

I would say that the Law thus epitomized in Luke 10:27 is God’s yardstick to show us how very short we come of His righteous requirements and of His glory. Of course, it is quite impossible even for Christians, since they still have in them the old nature along with the new nature, to measure up to God’s perfect standards. It is good, however, to remember that, while we are unable to do these things in and of ourselves, God is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure and has promised to present us one day faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.