Grace alone: A pillar of Great Reformation

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, ESV).

“Amazing Grace, I like the sound, That saved a deserving person

like me.

“I wasn’t lost, didn’t need to be found, ’Twas a little nearsighted, but now I see.”

With apologies to John Newton, this is the song of the modern church. Grace is something to say before you eat, not a deep doctrine of Christianity that testifies to the radical nature of sin and the miracle of salvation. Grace is one of many doctrines of the Great Reformation that merits a fresh look.

Grace is God’s unmerited favor towards sinners. Therefore, salvation cannot be earned.

God does not save people because they are good. God does not save people because they do something good. Salvation comes not by any energy spent performing church rituals or civic duty. God does not save people because they think good things about themselves. God saves people because He is good, because He decided to do something good to save people, then He decided upon the people He would save (reference Ephesians 1:4; John 15:16). So if you are one of the people God chose to save, you are saved by grace, and by grace alone. You didn’t deserve it, you didn’t earn it, God simply gave salvation to you by grace.

Now be warned that no corner of Christianity will deny the need for grace. But there is a sinister counterfeit gospel that is passed through cults and churches that declares that salvation is a combination of grace plus works. It may be grace plus baptism, or grace plus other church rituals, or simply God’s grace plus your own goodness. Like a teaspoon of strychnine in a glass of milk, tampering with the pure doctrine of grace can kill you, eternally. Salvation is by grace, alone.

Grace is God’s unconditional love towards sinners. Therefore, salvation cannot be lost.

“Once saved always saved” is not a good way to put this. This statement has been used by people who make a public confession of faith in Christ, then go out and live a lost life. They want their heavenly cake while they eat the sinful fruits of earth at the same time and grace doesn’t work that way. “Eternal security” is another shallow way to express the depths of God’s grace. It is accurate, but not active. The old way of stating this idea was “the perseverance of the saints.” In other words, if God saved you by grace and made you a saint (literally “sanctified one”), you will remain a saint until you are taken up into Heaven.

This latter phrase is true to the nature of God. It is true to the meaning of scripture. What do you think words like “never perish … eternal life” (reference John 3:16) and “no condemnation” (Romans 8:1) mean? God says what He means and means what He says. Salvation is not based on what man does, it is based on what God does. And God saves, permanently. If there is nothing you did to earn God’s salvation, there is nothing you can do to lose it. But there’s one thing more:

Grace is God’s undeniable change in a Christian’s life. Therefore, salvation cannot be hidden.

I do not believe in salvation by works, but I believe in a salvation that works. When God saves someone by grace, something happens. The recipient of grace is a changed person. The heart is changed. Your love is for God and the things of God. And who you love and what you love determine who you spend time with and what you do.

I think it is very possible to act like you are saved when you are really lost. The world and the church are both full of hypocrites. But it is rather difficult to act like you are lost when you are really saved. Grace is greater than that. When it explodes in your life, it changes life’s habits and alters life’s course.

God’s grace is truly amazing, saving and everlasting. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And with grace, you’ll never be alone. Sola Gratia!