Simply put, God’s grace is God’s unmerited favor. It is the gift of God. It includes manifold facets of God’s undeserved pardon and forgiveness, His mercy and His compassion.
For instance, our heart is established and made firm and becomes totally convicted through grace, preventing us from accepting wrong doctrines (Hebrews 13:9). It is grace with God when we suffer wrongfully for righteousness’ sakes (1 Peter 2:19); after all, when we experience wrongful persecution, our reward will be great (Matthew 5:10-12).
We are to grow in the grace of or favor with Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18), as Jesus Himself grew in the Father’s grace or favor (Luke 2:52). And so, John wishes that the grace of Jesus Christ would be with all of those who read and keep what is written in the book of Revelation, and who do His commandments (Revelation 22:7, 14, 21).
Paul adds in Ephesians 6:24 that God’s grace will be given to all those who love Jesus Christ in sincerity, and Christ told us that we love Him if we keep His words and commandments (John 14:15, 23).
God called us out of this world because of His grace—not because of anything we might have done (Romans 11:5-6; compare also Romans 9:11-16). Ephesians 2:8-9 explains that we were and are saved by grace through faith—not because of our works.
We were freely justified by God’s grace—in that God forgave us our sins following our repentance and belief in Christ’s Sacrifice (Romans 3:23-24).
Being justified by His grace, we should become heirs of eternal life (Titus 3:7). 1 Peter 3:7 clarifies that both husband and wife (male and female) are together heirs of the grace of eternal life. And Romans 5:17, 21 adds that after having received an abundance of God’s grace and the gift of righteousness, it is our potential to finally reign and rule under Christ for all eternity.
Understanding that our salvation and eternal life in the Kingdom and Family of God is being made possible through the grace of God, some conclude that therefore they don’t have anything to do in the process—that God does it all for them, and that their way of living has no bearing on their inheritance of eternal life. This is a fatal and terrible error.
Paul asks the question in Romans 6:1, whether we should continue in sin after we have obtained God’s grace of forgiveness. His conclusion is: Absolutely not. He says that we were once slaves of sin, but that we now have become slaves of righteousness. If we were to continue in the practice of sinful conduct, we would have received God’s grace in vain.
Paul warns in Hebrews 12:15 that we must be diligent not to miss out on God’s grace. He cautions us against becoming bitter, implying that living in such a way can lead to the loss of our salvation. In Jude 4, we read of evil ungodly persons who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, thereby denying Christ. They are described as being twice dead, for whom the blackness of darkness is reserved forever.
The message is very clear: God’s grace is not to be taken for granted, neglected or abused. If it is, it may be taken away from us, and we might not inherit eternal life, but suffer eternal condemnation.
In Titus 2:11-12, we read that God’s grace that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that we are to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and that we must instead live soberly, righteously and godly in this present evil world. The German Luther Bible is even clearer, emphasizing that it is the grace of God, which helps and motivates us to forsake ungodliness and to embrace a righteous and godly life.
If we refuse to do so, then we would have surely received God’s grace in vain, and God would NOT allow us to enter His Kingdom as a born-again eternal spirit being and immortal member of the God Family.
Lead Writer; Norbert Link
