What's So Amazing About Grace?

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Furthermore, the concept of grace is the watershed that divides Roman Catholicism from Protestantism, Calvinism from Arminianism, modern liberalism from conservatism. The Roman Catholic Church holds that grace is mediated through its priests and sacraments, while Protestantism generally does not. … Modern liberalism gives an exaggerated place to the abilities of man to decide his own fate and to effect his own salvation entirely apart from God’s grace, while conservatism holds that God’s grace is necessary for salvation. Man is evolving, according to liberalism, into a kind of superman who is coming to the place where he needs no outside help, certainly not the grace of God.… 22 Here Paul reminds us that this message is both a treasure and a trust. And what is this message? It is the message about the Lord Jesus that brings men into a vital relationship with the eternal God of the universe.

What’s So Amazing About Grace - Genius What’s So Amazing About Grace - Genius

But such ideas are contrary to the revelation of God in Scripture. According to the Bible, we all fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Thus, in view of God’s perfect holiness and what sinful people deserve from God (His wrath and eternal judgment) and in view of the futility of our works, grace becomes absolutely amazing. The word amazing means “to effect great wonder, to astonish.” Some synonyms are “mind-boggling, mind-staggering, surprising.” It is no wonder that mankind has trouble with grace because it is simply not something that we expect. It boggles the mind and catches us totally off guard because we naturally think we must do something or have some part in our salvation that will make us worthy. This may take a number of forms—salvation by religious good works, some form of mysticism, some form of religious ritual, or simply by trying to be a good moral person. But Jesus said, Outside the doctrines related to the Person and work of Christ, there is no truth more far-reaching in its implications and no fact more to be defended than that salvation in all its limitless magnitude is secured, so far as human responsibility is concerned, by believing on Christ as Savior. To this one requirement no other obligation may be added without violence to the Scriptures and total disruption of the essential doctrine of salvation by grace alone. Only ignorance or reprehensible inattention to the structure of a right Soteriology will attempt to intrude some form of human works with its supposed merit into that which, if done at all, must, by the very nature of the case, be wrought by God alone and on the principle of sovereign grace. 32 (Emphasis mine.) The True Liberty of Grace Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what principle? Of works? No, but by the principle of faith.

Where, then, do we draw the line? Those who believe we can lose our salvation tend to classify sin as though God overlooks some sins while He judges others. It becomes a matter of degrees and the question arises, “Just how bad must we become before we lose our salvation?” Which sin does us in? What we may think of as sin may be totally out of touch with God’s perspective. I became a servant of this gospel according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the exercise of his power (Eph. 3:7). But then we immediately read, “Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.’” (Isa. 6:6-7, NASB). This coal from off the altar was either from the altar of incense or the altar of burnt offering. Regardless, the coal stood for the full significance of the Temple ritual of cleansing which foreshadowed the person and work of the suffering Messiah. The point is that by God’s grace, God took the initiative to provide salvation and cleansing and, as He did with the prophet, so He has done with us. When the prophet expected judgment, to his great surprise, he experienced God’s amazing grace.

What’s So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey (Review What’s So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey (Review

From a history of great religious pride and self-trust, cruel brutality, and unbelief, Paul was brought to faith in Christ and transformed into a servant and teacher of the gospel of grace. Two of the most profound statements are found in verses 15 and 16, the first of which Paul says is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance, For by speaking high-sounding but empty words they are able to entice, with fleshly desires and with debauchery, people who have just escaped from those who reside in error. 2:19 Although these false teachers promise such people freedom, they themselves are enslaved to immorality. For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved (2 Pet. 2:18-19). For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 2:9 it is not of works, so that no one can boast (Eph. 2:8-9). A beautiful illustration of the amazing aspect of God’s grace is seen in the experience of Isaiah the prophet. As a religious Jew, Isaiah would undoubtedly have been considered a moral and good man. But in Isaiah 6, the prophet recorded a vision he was given in which he saw the Lord high and exalted. The immediate result of this holy scene was the impact on Isaiah’s view of himself and of his nation. He wrote, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” (Isa. 6:5, NASB) Having seen God’s awesome holiness, he could see nothing but his own sinfulness and impossible state—at least from the standpoint of his own worthiness to have fellowship with God. Philip Yancey: I recently came across a quote from the philosopher James K.A. Smith that answers your question better than I could. Here’s what he said in The Christian Century magazine: “As a young Christian philosopher, I wanted to be the confident, heresy-hunting Augustine, vanquishing the pagans with brilliance, fending off the Manichaeans and Pelagians with ironclad arguments. As a middle-aged man, I dream of being Mr. Rogers. When you’re young, it’s easy to confuse strength with dominance; when you’re older, you realize the feat of character it takes to be meek. I used to imagine my calling was to defend the Truth. Now I’m just trying to figure out how to love.”Let me be clear. When you come to Christ, you do not come to give, you come to receive. You do not come to try your best, you come to trust. You do not come just to be saved, but to be rescued. You do not come to be made better (although that does happen), you come to be made alive! You’ve said that your role as an author is to be a storyteller. Why do you think stories are such a powerful way to communicate truth? He is the one who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not based on our works but on his own purpose and grace, granted to us in Christ Jesus before time began, 1:10 but now made visible through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus. He has broken the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2 Tim. 1:9-10). Philip Yancey: The themes are timeless. How can I relate to a holy God? How can I get along with family members on the one hand and enemies on the other hand? What in my life needs forgiving, and whom do I need to forgive? Is there a way through the mess we tend to make of our lives? Circumstances change, but the underlying dilemmas don’t.