{"id":8278,"date":"2020-08-10T18:05:58","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T18:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=8278"},"modified":"2024-09-20T21:38:27","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T21:38:27","slug":"the-grace-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=8278","title":{"rendered":"The Grace of God"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 1<\/p><p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">[<strong>Note<\/strong><strong>:\u00a0 <\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our <strong>Brief Articles 2<\/strong>\u00a0 page.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><em>Grace <\/em>may be the most beautiful and significant word in the Bible, for none will be saved except by the grace of God (Eph. 2:8). This word refers to God\u2019s bestowal of undeserved favor upon men. While the concept of God\u2019s grace is so very important, it is also one of the most misunderstood and perverted Bible doctrines. Yet, if one would be saved from the guilt and consequence of sin, he or she must understand it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">Consider the following facts:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Grace is conditional. <\/strong>God chose to bestow it; it is free in the sense that we could never earn it (Rom. 5:18). However, <em>free<\/em>does not mean unconditional. Were this so, none would be lost, for God \u201cwould have all men to be saved\u201d (1 Tim. 2:6)j and He \u201c\u2026is not wishing that any should perish\u2026\u201d (2 Pet. 3:9). That God\u2019s grace will save some and not others (Mat. 7:13\u201314), implies that God\u2019s grace is conditional (John 3:16). These conditions involve our obedience to God (Mat. 7:21\u201323; Heb. 5:9).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Grace does not eliminate law. <\/strong>If grace excludes law, it thereby eliminates sin, for sin does not exist apart from God\u2019s law (Rom. 4:15; 5:13b). Apart from sin, there is no need for grace. Rather than excluding law, Grace implies the existence of law.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Grace does not exclude all works by the sinner. <\/strong>We never can live so that God would be obligated to save us; we cannot earn salvation (Eph. 2:8\u20139; Tit. 3:5). These passages clearly identify the works that <strong>do not <\/strong>save\u2014works of \u201cour own righteousness\u201d in which we could \u201cglory.\u201d Works of another class are necessary for salvation, however\u2014works that involve our obedience to Divine commands. Faith, repentance, and baptism are such \u201cworks\u201d (John 6:28\u201329; Acts 2:38), which save (Gal. 5:6; Jam. 2:20\u201326). Grace includes\/demands such works.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Grace does not coerce. <\/strong>Calvinism insists that sinners whom God has elected for salvation cannot resist His grace, thus depriving the one \u201celected\u201d of his free will. Contrariwise, all men can choose to accept or resist His grace (Mat. 11:28; Mark 16:15\u201316; Rev. 22:17). While God\u2019s grace does not force us, it does instruct us to deny ungodliness and to live righteously (Tit. 3:11\u201312).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Grace does not give license to sin. <\/strong>Some use God\u2019s grace as an excuse to sin (Jude 4)\u2014implied by the false premise that grace excludes law and obedience. While grace frees us from the guilt and consequence of sin, we dare not use it as \u201can occasion of the flesh\u201d (Gal. 5:13, 19\u201321).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">The ultimate expression of God\u2019s grace is Jesus Christ to Whom we must respond in faith and obedience to be saved (Mat. 7:21\u201323; Heb. 5:9; et al.).<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>[NOTE: <\/strong>This article was written for and published in the <em>Denton Record-Chronicle <\/em>February 23, 2007.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Attribution:<\/strong>\u00a0 From <em>thescripturecache.com<\/em>; Dub McClish, owner, curator, and administrator.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 1[Note:\u00a0 This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 2\u00a0 page. Grace may be the most beautiful and significant word in the Bible, for none will be saved except by the grace of God (Eph. 2:8). This word refers to God\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"easywp-readmore\"><a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=8278\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span class=\"easywp-sr-only\">  The Grace of God<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,90,68,137,199,36,18,44,45,173,42,40,38,494,72,328],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baptism","category-calvinism","category-christ-authority","category-deity-of","category-gospel-of","category-faith","category-false-teachersdoctrine","category-grace","category-law","category-law-of","category-obedience","category-plan-of","category-repentance","category-righteousness","category-salvation","category-works","wpcat-37-id","wpcat-90-id","wpcat-68-id","wpcat-137-id","wpcat-199-id","wpcat-36-id","wpcat-18-id","wpcat-44-id","wpcat-45-id","wpcat-173-id","wpcat-42-id","wpcat-40-id","wpcat-38-id","wpcat-494-id","wpcat-72-id","wpcat-328-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8278"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23783,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8278\/revisions\/23783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}