The Grace of God
The Grace of God
A guest post by Chad Ramsey.
God’s Holiness and Man’s Sinfulness.
Scripture consistently depicts God as holy. The prophet Habakkuk, for example, described God by stating:
“You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness” (Habakkuk 1:13).
This description fits the idea presented by Abraham’s question: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25).
When God’s holiness is compared to man’s sinfulness, the contrast is stark. It is clear that no matter what man does on his own he cannot remove the stains of sin from his life. As the prophet Isaiah observed: “we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).
Man, if left to his own devices, would truly be hopeless.
God’s Grace to Sinful Man.
Thankfully, God has not left us without hope. Instead, he has bestowed upon humanity his unmerited favor—His amazing grace.
The grace of God is offered to mankind in spite of our shortcomings. In other words, God did not send His Son to the world because men and women were righteous. Rather, He sent Jesus into the world so that we might become partakers of His righteousness (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus Christ died “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8). And it is only through Jesus that we may “have access by faith into this grace in which we stand” (Romans 5:2).
Importantly, the grace of God is inseparably linked to the Son of God (cf. 2 Timothy 2:1). Try as one might, one will look in vain to find salvation apart from the grace of God that is manifested through the redemptive work of Jesus. The apostle Paul made this very connection when he wrote: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24).
The Biblical View of Grace.
The grace of God has been abused in the religious world.
Some have cheapened God’s grace by insinuating that man’s salvation is solely in his own hands. Others have abused God’s grace by implying that it covers even those sins that man is unwilling to repent of.
But in spite of these extremes, Scripture presents a balanced view of God’s saving grace.
It is a grace that is capable of sustaining us (2 Corinthians 12:9).
It is a grace that is capable of saving us (Ephesians 2:1-9).
And it is certainly a grace that has much to teach us (Titus 2:11-14).
No wonder the apostle Peter summarized his first letter by stating: “this is the true grace of God in which you stand” (1 Peter 5:12).
Chad Ramsey preaches for the Gloster Street Church of Christ in Tupelo, Mississippi. You can access their Bible classes and Chad’s sermons on Gloster Street’s YouTube page.
Chad was - and still is - “my preacher” from when I spent my high school and early college years at Gloster Street. I’m thankful to be able to share some of his writings with you.
Amen