Sola Gratia

Sola Gratia by Grace Alone

Mankind is in search of spiritual truth. On one hand, human effort has brought about great and beneficial achievements in this world. On the other hand, human effort has actually served to be the greatest barrier and enemy of the concept we call - THE GRACE OF GOD.

I. What is grace?

Undeserved blessing freely bestowed on mankind by God.

According to the Bible, grace is one of the characteristics that describes who the God of the Bible is. The apostle Peter described God as:

The God of all grace (1 Peter 5:10)

At the time leading up to the Reformation, the grace, love, and kindness of God were not concepts that were commonly taught in the churches. Instead, there was a heavy emphasis on what man had to do to earn God’s love.

Martin Luther, a 16th century monk, spent much of his earlier life as a monk spending hours in confession, but never feeling forgiven. When he was assigned to teach the book of Romans, which he had never read before, his eyes fell on these life-changing words in Romans 1:17

The righteous one will live by faith.

He realized that righteousness comes to us by faith, in which ‘we work nothing, we render nothing, unto God, but only we receive and allow another to work for us'.

II. Why do I need grace?

The Bible says that we are not living in the way that we were designed to live, and we are aware of our limitations, shortcomings and faults. We were designed to live in a more gracious, kind, gentle way in a perfect world, but something went wrong.

This is how the Bible describes our condition:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. We all once lived among them gratifying the passions of our flesh or human nature. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

Words have no meaning until they are set in a particular context. It is the same with grace; until we set it in the context of the behavior and attitude that Paul has described in the verses above, we cannot know, understand or appreciate the value of grace.

Our human condition required or demanded an act of grace from God, if a new relationship between mankind and God was going to be made possible.

‘But God, who is rich in mercy and love’, acted in grace to us all who do not deserve grace. He didn’t leave us separated from His presence. His love, expressed in grace, motivated God to provide a way for us to enjoy a new, personal relationship with Him.

An exchange took place on the cross of Christ. Paul wrote:

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2. Corinthians 5:21)

Christ actually became sin for us, and we actually became the righteousness of Christ. The one who accepts Christ’s sacrifice for sin receives the righteousness of Christ. That is God’s grace for us in action.

III. What are the dynamics of grace?

We need to understand clearly that God is under no obligation or necessity to act with grace. Grace by its very nature and definition cannot be earned.

Paul wrote:

For by grace you have been saved through faith - and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8)

We don’t contribute to our own salvation.

Christ paid the price for my rebellion against the creator God who made me.

Our rebellion can be expressed in different ways:

1. Defiant statement that God does not exist, that this world as we know it happened by chance.

2. Expression of indifference: I just want to live my own life my own way. I will leave God alone and I want him to leave me alone.

3. Misguided tolerance that says, ‘it doesn’t matter what God you worship as long as you are sincere’.

All of these rebellious attitudes and more, challenge and deny the God who is described in the Bible. It is my rebellion against God, in whichever form it takes, that has separated me from God and requires that God acts graciously toward me if that relationship is to be restored to His original plan.

IV. Is grace for unbelievers or believers?

Many believers have understood that salvation comes to us by the grace of God, that we don’t deserve it; that it is a gift. It has sometimes been said that Christians preach grace to unbelievers, but law to believers. As Christians, we are often told to live under a set of rules to maintain our salvation by our good works. This behavior has been described as a ‘treadwheel of performance’ and is a works emphasis.

God’s action of grace to unbelievers does not end when we first become believers by faith. As Christians, we have in our daily lives God’s grace until the day we die.

The young believers at Galatia struggled with this question:

Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh by keeping the law? (Galatians 3:2-3)

We are not only forgiven, but we become members of a new family with God as our Father and Jesus as our brother and co-heir.

V. Conclusion, Application

1. God’s grace is a gift He is offering to all. His gracious gift is that He was willing to sacrifice His own Son, to pay the price of our wrong-doings so that we could have a personal, living relationship with Him, the God of all that is.

2. As followers of Jesus will we humble ourselves to admit and confess that without the power of God in us we can never please or earn His love. .

3. Growing in grace means to continually grow in our understanding of God’s grace, to become progressively more aware of our own continued spiritual bankruptcy.

4. Living by grace means we understand that God’s blessing on our lives is not conditioned by our obedience or disobedience but by the perfect obedience of Christ. It means that out of a grateful response to the grace of God, we seek to understand His will and to obey Him, not to be blessed, but because we have been blessed.