Justice is receiving what you deserve. Mercy is withholding something you deserve. Grace is giving you something you don’t deserve. The grace of God is the unmerited favor and kindness of God towards His creation. We see His grace in a variety of ways. There is a sense in which all mankind benefits from His grace. There is also a special grace that God provides towards an elect people to save them from their sins.
God owes us nothing. The fact that God saves any sinner from their just punishment is a marvel of His grace. Even more than that, He freely saves us without any thought to repayment or merit.
Grace – favor, kindness, blessing, a gift.
Saved – rescued, healed, saved, preserved.
Through – by, because of, for the sake of.
Faith – belief, trust, confidence, fidelity.
One of the most repeated sentences by Christians is we are “saved by the grace of God through faith.” This means that God purposes to demonstrate His grace on those He saves by His favor which is unmerited. In verse 9, this much is made clear when it states, “not or works, so that no one may boast.” Nobody will ever be in heaven and claim any part in making it so.
Nothing about us puts God in any position where He has to save us or that He “owes” us salvation. We are sinful rebels who deserve just punishment for our sins. God’s grace shows us kindness that we do not deserve. Therefore, in the most real sense, we are rescued by God from ourselves.
The instrument of our salvation that God uses is the faith that we place in Him. The command of God is for all men everywhere to repent and believe. When the Spirit of God raises a person’s spirit to life they are a new creature in Christ and they now have the spiritual capacity to repent of their sin, have faith in Christ, and love God with all their heart.
The entire salvation experience is a gift of God. Ephesians 2:8 says, “and this not of yourselves.” This translates a little clunky in English but what is clearly being said is that salvation and faith do not originate in the person but are gifts from God.
This salvation is a gift from God.
This grace is a gift from God.
Therefore, man in his unregenerate state does not love God, does not seek God, does not have faith in God, and would die in their sin apart from God’s grace. Repentance, faith, and salvation are the result of a spirit that has been raised to life in Christ. It is a gift.
This goes against everything that a man-centered view of God wants to believe. Man wants to attribute salvation to himself in thinking that he chose God and therefore God now saves him. However, this is not the consistent witness of Scripture nor the results of a spiritually dead person’s actions.
God could have saved all. This is called universalism. In saving all, God demonstrates grace, love, and mercy but not justice, holiness, or wrath for sin.
God could have saved none. This would demonstrate God’s justice, holiness, and wrath for sin, but no grace, mercy, or love.
God could save some. It is only in saving some that God displays all of His attributes in His creation for His glory. Therefore, God demonstrates grace towards an elect people and passes over the rest. In one instance, He has to do nothing. On the other, He has to enter creation, be murdered on the cross, and atone for His people’s sins.
Grace is not deserved. Grace is not earned. Grace is not mandatory. Grace is not chosen.
Grace is given. Grace is freely bestowed on behalf of the one demonstrating it. There is nothing that forces God to be graceful. He freely chooses to be graceful because it is consistent with who He is.
