The Meaning of Grace

Grace to You.org ^ | 1997 | John MacArthur, Grace Community Church

[metmom]

“‘The Lord, the Lord God, [is] compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth’” (Exodus 34:6).

God’s grace is His undeserved favor shown to sinners.

God’s grace has always been a focus of praise for believers. Today’s verse is quoted several times in the Psalms and elsewhere in Scripture (for example, Neh. 9:17, 31; Ps. 86:15; 103:8; 145:8). Paul is grateful for God’s abundant grace in 1 Timothy 1:14, and John writes, “For of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace” (John 1:16). Today some of our favorite hymns are “Amazing Grace,” “Marvelous Grace of Our Loving Lord,” and “Wonderful Grace of Jesus.”

What exactly is grace? It is simply God’s free, undeserved, and unearned favor. It is a gift given by God not because we are worthy of it, but only because God, out of His great love, wants to give it.

Grace is evident to Christians in two main ways. The first is electing, or saving, grace. God “has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity” (2 Tim. 1:9). “By grace [we] have been saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). This is God’s grace to sinners, for “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:20).

Another grace in our lives is enabling, or sustaining, grace. We didn’t just receive grace to be saved; we now live in grace. It is the grace of God that enables us to live the Christian life. When Paul asked that some debilitating “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7) be removed, the Lord told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (v. 9). Paul elsewhere says, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).

Remember, we have earned neither saving nor sustaining grace. Nothing we can do can make us worthy of one more bit of grace. God says, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious” (Ex. 33:19). This truth should make us all more grateful because He saved us and sustains us despite our sin. It should also make us humble because we have no worthiness to boast about (Eph. 2:9).

Suggestions for Prayer

Thank God for His grace in saving and sustaining you.

For Further Study

Read Genesis 9:8-19.

How did God extend grace to Noah and his family? What was the visible sign or symbol?

[MHGinTN]

This is a blatant lie, Priest: "With his doctrine of justification by faith alone, Martin Luther brought in a new kind of Christianity unlike anything that had gone before."

That you are unable to see why thatr is a lie is understandable, since you have completely missed the Teaching by JESUS. His numerous assertions that when one believes on the One Whom God sent for our salvation that one is Graced with ETERNAL LIFE. Then the New Testament passages which state it is by faith we are saved, not of works lest any Priest, er man boast. So, you are serving the father of lies posting such a blatant lie. ... And the truly sad part is, you are completely uncomprehending of whom you are serving with such deceit.

[MHGinTN]

Since The Truth is not in you, how would you know if we are offering to you truth for the saving of your immortal soul?

[ealgeone]

All man can do, ran the new teaching, is to trust in the mercy of God and believe with firm confidence that God has received him into his favor. As the Augsburg Confession, puts it, “Men are freely justified for Christ’s sake through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake.”

Seems like Paul addressed this.

1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

8For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Ephesians 2: 1-10 NASB

[ealgeone]

Do you wear one of the scapulars as told to do so by the apparition claiming to be Mary?

Do you believe the 15 promises of the Rosary made by the apparition?

This is part of the "tradition" catholics claim has been passed down from the time of the Apostles.

This is why "tradition" as an authoritative source is rejected by Christianity.

[ADSUM]

I and all Catholics as members of the Body of Christ have the authority of the Catholic Church passed down through the Apostles and their successors and authorized by Jesus Christ and guaranteed by the Holy Spirit.

As stated in a previous post, non Catholic scholar Newman’s research. Newman was not a Catholic when he started the book, but his research convinced him of the truth of the Catholic faith, and as the book was finished he converted. Fundamentalist leaders make no effort to trace their version of Christianity century by century.

What do you have? Personal opinion.

Perhaps you should examine the dogma of the Catholic Church more thoroughly for the Truth and for your benefit. I realize when one is 71 years old, then it can be difficult to change. You have tried to challenge me to accept your truth and I have tried to challenge you to see the wisdom of the Catholic doctrine.

[ealgeone]

Whoa there...you and all Catholics have authority? We’ve been told only the priests do. Are you a priest??

[BlueDragon]

... but his research convinced him...
...What do you have? Personal opinion.

Newman is allowed an opinion, you have opinions.

What about when this;

Perhaps you should examine the dogma of the Catholic Church more thoroughly for the Truth and for your benefit.

has been done (already) and the results of the examination be not as supportive of a few 'dogma' in particular?

Sorry mister, or sister, or whoever you are -- you simply cannot get away with accusing others of having merely and only "personal opinions" (if aspect of "mere" was included though unstated within your screed) when opinions contrary to your own and Newman's are based upon evidence as it more truly is (compared to how it's often massaged/manipulated/cherry picked by RCC apologists) when it is your own opinion and Newman's also that things are as commonly advertised (advertised by promoters of various and sundry RCC claims towards their own [Roman Catholic's] alleged unique 'authority' to have introduced doctrine and dogma not found within the texts of Holy Writ, and not present either within the first few centuries of existence of Christianity.

Newman, and a few of those in his own era all but invented that kind of idea, adopting that while still attempting to successfully assert "unchanging", and "as instituted by Christ" etc., at the same time.

Singular papacy, as that is known by the Church of Rome? What's not pure invention about it is distortion of what was more properly "instituted" among the early centuries 'Church'.

Marionism to the extents that has been expanded from beginnings of need for recognition of her (Mary) being the virgin prophesied that would give birth to Messiah? Pure inventions overlaid truths serving to much distort and introduce significant change (theologically speaking) to the underlying truths.

We (myself and millions of others who have examined these things --in detail--) could go on somewhat further, but for now, that is enough.

It is not from standpoint of "personal opinion" alone that there is opposition to particular doctrines and dogma of the RCC (if but limited to particular key aspects of those same).

In this, your (failure of a hunting dog) dog is barking right back at you, each time it yaps while running around the same (and wrong) "tree"...

[MHGinTN]

My Lord and Savior is gentle. I have been in His family for more than forty years, and He is still changing me. I offer the following in all humility, so please read it all.

That I don't tolerate your Catholic dogmas should not be construed as not tolerating you. [ Ego amicus tibi, quia Deus te diligit et vult salvare animam tuam. ] HOWEVER, as a Priest you have fellow human beings in your sphere of influence. If I tolerated the false dogmas I would be violating the teaching God's Spirit has graciously given to me the last forty years. Eternal destinies are in the balance.

You imagine that I am giving you my opinion. Yet you toss out the opinion of Newman as if he is somehow authorized to substantiate the Catholic dogmas which he now adheres to, which my studies of Scripture have exposed as not from God. You dismiss my 'opinions' because they do not support your empowerment in your religion. You approve of Newman's opinions because they substantiate the empowerment scheme at the heart of Catholic Priesthood.

Let me be perfectly clear, Newman is wrong and he is not serving The Christ with his 'opinions'. He endorses striving to obtain salvation. God offers Salvation to those who have done what the Israelites did when Moses raised up the snake in the desert ... they believed God's Promise and were immediately healed of the snake bite poison. Newman has, however, been given great succor by the org to which you both swear fealty. I do not believe his motives are godly.

I continue to contend for THE FAITH because you are institutionalizing fellow human beings with what I am convinced is non-Christian dogma sourced in the demonic.

If I have learned from God's Spirit (and He has shown me on more than one occasion that it is He Who is at work) I would be in disobedience to ignore the demonic twisting of Jesus's Gospel.

You cannot earn Grace; if you could earn Grace it would cease to be Grace and become wages. You cannot receive Grace by agreeing with sources which are not from God's Spirit.

The Human Race is fast approaching a point in History when a great delusion will take over men's minds and they will believe a lie. This great lie will be fed to the humans alive on the planet at the time after The Rapture, through great signs and wonders, signs and apparitions which will make Fatima pale in comparison. Your org will leap to conclusions regarding source of these 'signs', calling them God's Miracles. They will be demonic in origin.

AFTER the Rapture of the REAL CHURCH, the body of believers in Jesus as their Savior and Lord down through the ages, the Bible tells us that even with Christians gone a number so great no man in Jesus's day could have numbered them will get saved and show up in Heaven for the Marriage feast. They will be saved by the same simple means Christians are born from above today, by the same mechanism which cured the snake-bite poison long ago in the desert: they will turn their will to believe the Promise of God manifested in The Grace of God in Christ. THEY WILL BE SAVED BY FAITH ALONE. God in His mercy will honor His Promise to spiritually save those who call out to Him in the name of The One He sent for their salvation, even as the astonishing proof of the Rapture is the source of these awakening to Faith in His Truth.

The Bride will be outta here, but a number so great no man could number them will follow during the Tribulation. We know John could identify 200 million (as stated in The Revelation), so the number must be much bigger than 200 million.

As you now manifest faith in rituals and striving to obtain eternal life, you will not likely be taken in the Rapture. Too many of your flock will also be left behind. I plead with you to be counted among the ones who are swept to Heaven during the first half of the Tribulation, and bring along those in your flock for whom you are now responsible. Do not be among those who will try to argue that you have done this or that in His name so you are due eternal life. Get saved by faith alone in His Promise, which Honors Him, His Grace, and the Salvific glory of Jesus The Christ.

[ADSUM]

The only reason you and I have the New Testament canon is because of the trustworthy teaching authority of the Catholic Church.

[Mark17]

Catholics talk about getting to heaven and finding out when they die if they made it.

I think, if someone waits till they die, to see if they are going to Heaven or Hell, I would say, that is close to an iron clad guarantee that they will end up in Hell, Then what will they do? It will a lot easier to get into Hell, than it will be to get out.

[ealgeone]

The only reason you and I have the New Testament canon is because of the trustworthy teaching authority of the Catholic Church.

If you mean the ekklesia, that is the body of believers in Christ, then yes.

If you mean the RCC, then no. Or else they would have incorporated the writings that would have supported their beliefs.

That they didn't are telling.

btw...still awaiting your answers to several questions I asked of you.

If you don't want to understand I can understand why.

But I am curious if you're a priest or not.

I only know of one on these threads and let me tell you. I hope the RCC has better ones.

[Mark17]

The simple answer is the Holy Spirit led me from it.

Good answer BB. That pretty much sums up the reasons I left the catholic church too. I wanted to go to Heaven, and, after learning the truth about true Biblical Christianity, I gladly and most willingly left the catholic church, NEVER to return. I believe it is a false religion. Whatever people may think of that statement, is on them. I make NO apologies.
Why would anyone give up the glorious truth of the simplicity that is in Jesus, to go back to a religion of dead works? No swimming of the Tiber for me.

[ADSUM]

Your comment: “We (myself and millions of others who have examined these things —in detail—) could go on somewhat further, but for now, that is enough.”

“you simply cannot get away with accusing others of having merely and only “personal opinions””

You are certainly entitled to believe whatever your heart desires (freedom of religion) and there are 30,000 different protestant religions so you have lots of options. It is still your personal opinion that may be shared with many others. Please explain how it is not a personal opinion?

What is your authority other than personal opinion that you understand the Truth of the teachings of Jesus, the Apostles and their successors?

Newman was an example of a non Catholic that went back and studied the teachings of the Catholic Church each century and determined them to be truthful. Yes it was his personal opinion and he acted on his research by converting to Catholicism.

[Elsie]

Your assumptions don’t meet the test of Truth.

---

The way it's written:

 

Galatians 4:4-5

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

 

The way Rome teaches it:

 

Galatians 4:4-5

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a....

 

Co-Redemptrix, 
Ark of the Covenant,
Cause of Our Joy,

Cause of our Salvation ,
Comfort of the Afflicted,
Destroyer of Heresy,
Ever-virgin ,
Favoured Daughter of the Father,
Gate of Heaven,
God-bearer,
Health of the Sick,
Help of Christians,
Holy Mary,
Holy Mother of God,
Holy Virgin of Virgins,
House of Gold,
Joy of the Just,
Majesty,
Mirror of Justice,
Morning Star,
Most Holy,
Mother Admirable,
Mother Inviolate,
Mother Most Amiable,
Mother Most Chaste,
Mother Most Pure,
Mother of Christ,
Mother of Divine Grace,
Mother of God,
Mother of Good Counsel,
Mother of Mercy,
Mother of Orphans,
Mother of Our Creator,
Mother of Our Redeemer,
Mother of Sorrows,
Mother of the Church,
Mother of the Poor,
Mother of the Word,
Mother Thrice Admirable,
Mother Undefiled,
Mystical Rose,
Nova Eva (the New Eve),
Our Lady of Compassion,
Our Lady of Confidence,
Our Lady of Victory,
Our Lady, Star of the Sea,
Our Mother of Perpetual Help,
Queen Assumed Into Heaven,
Queen Conceived Without Original Sin,
Queen of All Saints,
Queen of Angels,
Queen of Apostles,
Queen of Confessors,
Queen of Families,
Queen of Heaven,
Queen of Martyrs,
Queen of Patriarchs,
Queen of Peace,
Queen of Prophets,
Queen of the Most Holy Rosary,
Queen of Virgins,
Ravisher of Hearts,
Refuge of Sinners,
Seat of Wisdom,
She Who Shows the Way,
Singular Vessel of Devotion,
Spiritual Vessel,
Spouse of the Holy Spirit,
Tabernacle of the Lord,
Temple of the Most Holy Trinity,
Throne of Wisdom,
Tower of David,
Tower of Ivory,
Treasure House of God's Graces,
Untier of Knots,
Vessel of Honor,
Virgin God-bearer,
Virgin Most Faithful,
Virgin Most Merciful,
Virgin Most Powerful,
Virgin Most Prudent,
Virgin Most Renowned,
Virgin Most Venerable          born under the law, ⁵ to HELP redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship; and,  sooner or later;  not spend TOO much time in Purgatory.

 

[Elsie]

What do you have? Personal opinion.

When we ALL know that CATHOLIC opinion is what counts in this world!

[Elsie]

The only reason you and I have the New Testament canon is because of the trustworthy teaching authority of the Catholic Church.

Oh?

Like what is shown in the LAST book that Rome decided was canon?

The one that SHOWS the horrible Catholic TEACHING that the seven churches in Asia were following?

[metmom]

With his doctrine of justification by faith alone, Martin Luther brought in a new kind of Christianity unlike anything that had gone before.

No, it was taught by Jesus Himself.

John 3:14-18 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 6:40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

And there in lies the biggest problem with Catholicism.

Faith is not an intellectual exercise.

Man cannot come to know God through intellectual prowess.

1 Corinthians 1:18-31 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 2:1-16 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

[ealgeone]

Interesting Paul doesn’t refer to her as the sinless woman. But nor do any of the NT writers.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

"He instructs us to “stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter”

No. Paul instructed the Thessalonians to hold to the traditions taught by "us."

Paul did not instruct us to follow those traditions.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

"For Luther it was instead an affective virtue, a sentiment of confidence in God’s favor. Religious feelings supplanted doctrinal orthodoxy and allowed emotional experiences to run riot at the expense of reason."

This is of course, a false characterization of Luther's teaching.

Luther's teaching on this topic is squarely fixed on God's Revealed Word. It uses reason to apprehend God's amazing gift. The one who is saved has placed his faith in the Savior, as revealed in this inspired Word.

Feelings may or may not follow. They are irrelevant to faith.