UNDERSTANDING THE GRACE OF GOD

The grace of God is the bedrock of your Christianity. Understanding it enables us to live a fruitful life, and see things from God’s perspective. You will appreciate what you have better with a full understanding of the grace of God; how God is the all in all.

Most view the grace of God merely as “unmerited favour” bestowed on us through salvation. A favour bestowed on us, not because we deserved it and yet we could not have worked for. However, it goes beyond that. The grace of God is a concept that reveals God’s character. It is a concept that brings joy and gladness; that depicts the character of God.

Also others view it narrowly, and see it as a concept limited to the New Testament. This is however untrue.. It is not limited to the Old Testament; rather, it cuts across both the Old and the New Testaments.

The manifestation of God’s grace can be seen in the Old Testament. For example Jonah expressed the fact that God was a gracious God. He verbalized this in Jonah 4:2 and cited it as the reason why he did not want to obey God by prophesying about the judgment of God that was coming on them for their sins. He knew that God was gracious and he could change his mind if they repented. This was exactly what happened.

 Other scriptures in the Old Testament underscore this fact of God as being gracious [Nehemiah 9:17, Exodus 34:6-7,Ps 78:38, Ps 103:8-18, Ps 145:8-9,Is 55:7-9,Joel 2:13].

However, the concept of the grace of God is better understood in the coming of Jesus Christ. What He came to do and made available to us showed us what grace is all about. A gift we did not merit in any way [John 1:14-17,2 Cor 9:15]. It was not about what we did, but about God and His gracious character.  Understanding the grace of God therefore cannot be fully comprehended outside the New Testament, or the work of redemption.  God demonstrated His graciousness in giving His son to die for us so we can be saved. [Titus 2:11, 2 Tim 1:9]. Indeed, every aspect of the work of redemption, from election to His incarnation, His vicarious death, our call to salvation, and our response to the gospel are attributable to the grace of God [2 Tim 1:9, Eph 1:4, 1 Cor 25-31, John 6:44, Titus 2:11, Titus 3:5-7. Even while on earth, Jesus Christ manifested graciousness towards people. For example, in Matt 9:36, seeing the crowd helpless and harassed like sheep without a shepherd, He was moved with compassion. Other verses also reveal this [Luke 4:22, Mk 6:31, Jn 3:16].

When we speak of the grace of God, we should realize that it excludes works or anything we could have done. (Different schools of thought in varying degrees try to ascribe the things salvation to some degree of works)???, thereby nullifying the role of grace. However, Paul understood clearly that God’s choice of us, our salvation, was entirely by His grace, and did not in any way include our works [Rom 11:6]. You were chosen and elected in Him. You did not decide on your own to be a Christian. Without the workings of God in you, you would not have chosen to give your life to Christ [John 6:44,65,  Eph 1:4]. Everything we see from Eph 1:4-14 which described our blessedness in Christ Jesus is punctuated at different parts with attributions of that blessedness to grace. Realize that your works in any way do not count towards your salvation. Emphasis on your works nullifies the work of grace!

We need to appreciate the priceless possession God gave to us because He chose to save us of His own free will [2 Tim 1:9, Rom 8:28-30]. It cannot be over-emphasised that the coming, death and resurrection of Christ is a demonstration of God’s grace. There was a substitution for you in that Jesus died for your sins, He took your place, so you can have life; it was not based on your good works, but only His grace! Rom 8: 28-30, Gal 6: 15. We were justified through redemption by the grace of God [Rom 3:24, Titus 3:7].Our perseverance and continuity in the faith is also by His grace [1 Pet 1:5, Jude 1:3, 24, 1 Cor 1:9,1 Cor 5:23-24].

Paul had such a profound understanding of God’s grace that He attributed all He was to the grace of God [1 Cor 15:10], and relied on that even amidst challenges [2 Cor 12:9]. God’s grace satisfies every need of man. The earlier we lived our lives in that consciousness, the better we approach life. We become more fruitful when we live consciously and deliberately in the reality of the grace of God. We know His grace is at work in us in all situations, and cease depending on ourselves but on the grace of God!