GRACE OF GOD
(A) In the OT we already find the pure goodness of God who loves the sinner, and who longs not for his death, but for his conversion and his life (Ez. 18:23).
On the basis of the law, man could only be justified by works, and this was impossible (Gal. 3:10, 12). This is the reason why the Lord suggests from the outset that he has chosen Israel without any merit on their part (Deut. 7: 7-8; 9: 4-5).
He says: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious,” because he is “merciful and merciful; slow to anger, and abounding in mercy and truth” (Ex. 33:19; 34:6-7).
By the bloody sacrifices that prefigured the Cross, the remission and purification of sins was provisionally associated with those who believed (Heb. 9:22; Ex. 12:13; Lev. 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 16: 30, etc.).
The psalmist could also celebrate the grace that gave him salvation (Ps. 32:1-5). If God kept the memory of iniquities, no one could stand; but in Him is found forgiveness, mercy and redemption in abundance (Ps. 130:3, 4, 7-8). And the believer cries out: “Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we hope in you” (Ps. 33:22).
(B) Grace came through Jesus Christ, while the Law was given through Moses (John 1:17). “For the grace of God has appeared for salvation to all men” (Tit. 2:11).
The OT could only promise or anticipate that which the living and visible manifestation of the grace of God in Jesus Christ was going to make real and definitive.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sakes he became poor, although he was rich, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).
(C) It is on the Cross that saving grace shines. The coming of the Lord to earth was not enough. Grace is not a mere effect of the mercy of a God willing out of his goodness to grant full forgiveness.
His absolute holiness and justice had to be satisfied at the same time as his love: for this the atoning sacrifice of Calvary was necessary. Jesus descended “so that by the grace of God he might taste death for all” (Heb. 2:9).
“All have sinned…being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” It is He who became “a propitiation through faith in his blood” (Rom. 3:23-25).
(D) Grace can only be received by faith. We are “justified freely by his grace…; It is by faith, so that it may be by grace… And if by grace, it is no longer by works; otherwise grace is no longer grace” (Rom. 3:24; 4:16; 11:6).
This is the great doctrine of salvation by faith alone, without works or personal merits to achieve it, and which the Reformers so clearly brought to light.
Let’s go back to Paul: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
To God “we have access by faith into this grace” (Rom. 5:2). It is for this reason that salvation is mentioned as a gift of grace on several occasions (Rom. 5:15,16; Eph. 2:8; 3:7; 4:7; etc.).
What more is necessary to do, to receive a gift so magnanimously offered, than to accept it “with thanksgiving”? It is also essential to accept it humbly by faith, because God resists the proud, and gives thanks to the humble (1 Pet. 5:5; Luke 18:11-14).
(E) The effects of grace on us. They are wonderful and complete, to the point that it can be said of grace that it is the Lord himself acting for our salvation. Grace gives us full forgiveness of sins:
“When sin abounded, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:20).
“He made you alive together with him (Christ), forgiving you all your sins” (Col. 2:13).
We are “justified by his grace” (Tit. 3:7).
“We believe that by the grace of the Lord Jesus we will be saved” (Acts 15:11).
“It is a good thing to establish the heart in grace” (Heb. 13:9), which gives us eternal consolation and a good hope (2 Thes. 2:16).
God surrounds the righteous with his favor as with a shield (Ps. 5:12).
Those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:17, cp. v. 21).
This grace or favor “lasts a lifetime” (Ps. 30:5).
Such benefits are so numerous that the believer could not wish for anything more. This is the reason for the apostolic desire “that grace… be with you,” which is found 31 times in the Epistles and Revelation.
The summary of the gospel message is the testimony that the Lord and his people give to “the word of his grace” (Acts 14:3; cp. Acts 20:32). He who sees souls saved can say that he has seen the grace of God (Acts 11:23).
New converts were persuaded “to persevere in the grace of God” (Acts 13:43).
If this is so, to refuse a gift like this is to reject God himself.
Thus, you can:
fail to obtain the grace of God (Heb. 12:15),
or receive it in vain (2 Cor. 6:1),
transform it into dissolution (Jude 4; Rom. 6:1),
fall from it (Gal. 5:4).
However, you can also:
grow in grace (2 Pet. 3:18),
be filled with it (Acts 6:8), to such a point that God can always say to us: “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor. 12:9). “Thus he achieves his goal, which is to show in the ages to come the abundant riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus… to the praise of the glory of his grace” (Eph. . 2:7; 1:6).