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5 Things The Bible Teaches About Grace

5 Things The Bible Teaches About Grace

Last updated on: July 24, 2015 at 2:18 pm by Jack Wellman

5 Things The Bible Teaches About Grace 2015-07-24T14:18:51-05:00 Jack Wellman

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Grace is the greatest gift ever given to believers and so here are 5 things that the Bible teaches about grace.

A Definition of Grace

Grace was the most extravagant gift ever given to the believer and it was the most expensive one too, yet it is given completely free; without regards to merit or works or status. That’s why grace is so very amazing. I like an acronym for grace; God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense and that’s a very accurate definition of grace. Grace is God’s unmerited favor on undeserving sinners who could never do anything to earn it nor could do anything to deserve it. Paul gives us a great view of the grace of God in Ephesians 2:8-9; “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Knowing human nature, knowing my nature, if I felt my salvation was a result of my own works, believe me, I’d be boasting about it for sure.

Non-Christian Religion

The difference between the religions of the world and Christianity is this; you have to do, do, do, but with Christ it is done! The other religions of the world are based upon works and they can never be sure or satisfied, at the end of their life, whether they’ve ever done enough or not. With Christ, we can know. With the other religions of the world, it is a hope-so but with Christ it is know-so. Here are five things that the Bible teaches about grace.

G.R.A.C.E.

God’s

God gives us the free gift of eternal life. All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23) and the only wages we’ve earned is death but the free gift of God is eternal life (Rom 6:23). It is all about and all from God and not one bit from us and in this way, God receives all the glory.

Riches

Paul writes about the true riches in 2nd Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” because Jesus, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage, rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death– even death on a cross” (Phil 2:6-8)! Jesus, as God, divested Himself by becoming a Man and gave His own life for our sake.

At

It was at the cross where this grace of ours was purchased or as Paul writes “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price” (1st Cor 6:19b-20). Jesus redeemed you and me with His own blood. Nothing could have been costlier for “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:7-8). Our redemption came as a result of Christ’s death.

Christ’s

The price tag for us showed God’s great love for us as “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Jesus “was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Rom 4:25) so we know that “Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom 5:6).

Expense

If you knew someone were being held by kidnappers, they’d demand a ransom and this is exactly what Jesus did for us, for “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt 20:28). Jesus has enabled us to have an all-expense paid trip to the kingdom. We are now set free but it was not free to Him because in order for us to enter the kingdom, he “entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12).

Conclusion

Yes, grace just so amazing because it was God’s riches at Christ’s expense (G.R.A.C.E.) and now we should be eternally thankful for that and display it in our life for God freely gave us His grace; that which we received but did not deserve. That’s why grace is free because no one could afford it anyway. The irony to the world is that they couldn’t ever earn it by all the good works in the world but “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever would believe in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Isn’t that amazing grace?

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon.

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