It seems to me that changes in our lives are less like the once for all metamorphosis of a caterpillar and more akin to what happens in spring. The days get gradually warmer but are sometimes interrupted by snow – when it should be going away! Change is a difficult process, and there is always the danger that we may undo the changes that God is trying to perform in our hearts and our worldview.
This is the fourth and final article in a series considering the role of grace.
We have established that grace is where salvation begins. That our need of salvation from sin cannot be answered without God’s free gift through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. This is the only way we can be free from sin and made whole, having been washed clean before our God (Titus 3:3-7).
We then recognized that grace as a foundation does not undermine the high calling to godly character we received. Instead, it encourages us to give ourselves as living sacrifices, putting off worldly ways and embracing the transforming power of Jesus in our daily choices and actions. Grace does not give us licence to stay the same, it is the powerhouse underneath our continued desire to change – in view of God’s mercies (Romans 12:1-2).
Most recently we turned to the need for obedience in our relationship with God, even though it is underpinned by grace. Obedience to the gospel of Jesus takes the form of repentance and baptism in which we act out death to ourselves (down into the water) and are raised to walk in newness of life in Christ. Having been completely obedient to the Father, Jesus died and was buried in our place. He was raised to glory at the right hand of God, having glorified God in his life on earth. He therefore calls us to accept his grace by living in obedience to the Father, and in that way, glorifying God in our lives. (Romans 6:1-14).
In this article we’ll examine the danger of regressive change applied to the important role of grace in the life of a follower of Christ. Is grace a one time event that resets the scales and now we can only rely upon our own record? To put it another way, as Paul says in part of the passage we will examine today “After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?”
Let’s look at Galatians 3:1-14 as we seek to understand the continuing foundation and need for grace.
A common theme explored in movies and novels is the tragedy of forgotten identity. Who are we when we have forgotten where we came from? How can we put the pieces back together? The great danger is that vice and obsession with the world may lead us to forget our good aims and actually undermine them instead. If we forget that our relationship with God is built entirely upon Christ’s saving work and begin to act as if we are good enough on our own and superior to others, we actually deny our need for salvation and distort the gospel.
It is for that reason that Paul’s language at the start of Galatians 3 is both harsh and blunt. How foolish of you Galatians! Certainly we have all felt Paul’s frustration when people should know better than they are acting! Perhaps we have all, at times, been the cause of such frustration in others. Paul’s warnings ring all too true today. Distractions from within and doctrinal distortions from without can shift our focus and bewitch us into accepting ‘another gospel’. Satan is still sowing seeds of doubt – as he did in the garden, and pretending to be our friend.
The central truth of the gospel is that Jesus was crucified for our sins. Salvation is a gift and it calls us to take up our cross and follow Jesus. This defines our relationship with God. This was the heart of the teaching that Paul delivered when he came on his first missionary journey to Psidian Antioch (in Acts 13). Sin was a problem of such weightiness, that only the death of Jesus was sufficient to remove it. So while we were lost and without God in the world, “God so loved the world”.
In Galatians chapter 2:20-21, the apostle Paul wrote:
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”
Paul explained that ‘living by faith’ ‘does not nullify the grace of God. It does not deny that Christ died for our sins or that righteousness is now ours because we are ‘in Christ’. We put Christ on when we were baptized into him. And life ‘in Christ’ is now a matter of faith expressing itself in obedience.
Paul further recognizes the greatness of what was done for us by examining the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was received not through perfect law keeping, for we are obviously not perfect! God’s grace through the power of Jesus on the cross allows the Spirit to dwell in us as we are washed clean in Jesus’ saving blood. We are brought into a relationship with God not as junior members with restricted benefits, not as prospective projects that may be worth further investment, but full fledged and fully funded. God embraces us in grace, gives us his Son’s righteousness, comes to live within us, and brings us into the very height of relationship. There is certainly a sense in which we build upon our salvation, but we do not top what God has done and we certainly do not replace it or move past it. For us to pursue faithfulness and obedience is not to undo what God has done or to make it obsolete, but rather to honor it and respond with gratitude and devotion for the one who has loved us first.
The Galatians are wrestling with a very human and persisting struggle – the desire to be the heroes in our own story, to live by pride of success rather than by trusting God and depending on the work of Christ. Paul points back to the relationship God made with Abraham and includes us in this pattern. God responded to Abraham’s faith and credited him with righteousness. Because Abraham believed God and obeyed Him, God accepted him and made a covenant with him.
God supplied the promises and Abraham accepted. Abraham could not and did not demand anything. The initiative belonged to God who wanted to bless the whole world. So the gospel of Jesus is not a deviation from what God promised, but the very thing he had in mind in the begining. In this way Paul calls the Galatians, and those who are ‘in Christ’ – children of Abraham. Children of God by faith, who follow in the same pattern. Believing by faith (both in assent and action) and being made right by God’s gift. Jesus is the fulfillment of this pattern and we share in the same blessing that Abraham received. Pointing back and including us in this pattern makes it clear that this has always been God’s way of reaching out to rescue people from the problem of sin. All of God’s covenants are underwrit by the reality of God’s saving grace. And all call for a response of obedient faith.
The alternate pattern of dependance on the law-keeping to justify us and put God in our debt fails in a number of ways.
God wants us to repond to his grace with humility and to yield to the work of the Holy Spirit. Paul explores this later in the letter, as he considers the ways of the flesh and the ways of the Spirit.
Those who opposed and persecuted Paul on his first missionary journey were jealous of the progress of the gospel and especially among the gentiles. Even those who accepted the gospel found it hard to treat their Gentile brethren as fellow Christians. Many wanted to impose ‘works of the law’ upon the Gentiles, threatening to destroy the unity created by the Spirit of God.
So Paul reminded them that the law (of Moses) had never had the power to save anyone. But it did have the power to convict and condemn. All law-breaking is sin. Thus the ‘law’ had condemned all who sinned. We see this played out in the biblical story time and again.
In the garden pf Eden, Adam and Eve fail to live by faith. They disobeyed God and were punished. They were cut off from God and life was defined by pain and struggle and ultimately death.
Righteousness demands perfection. Anything less is not good enough. It’s not enough to have good intentions or to do our best. So everyone who tries to earn their own righteousness by the law is cursed. No one keeps the law perfectly, and no amount of obedience after we sin, is able to remove our sin.
This is where we come back to the wonderful promise of God. That promise was offered first through Abraham and has extended to all the world. Christ has taken away the curse. Because of him we do not have to try to complete the impossible task of earning our own salvation. We have it as a free gift – grace that God gives to us when we live in faith. This is how we have the Spirit of God in us, by faith in Jesus Christ.
These might seem like fine distinctions and not worth making a fuss about. Both approaches to God seem to stress obedience and maintain a high view of morality. In both, believers might fast, and pray, and give to God (as Jesus teaches about in the sermon on the mount). But the underlying motivation and truth structures, are truly ‘different’ and Paul says that they result in very different outcomes. If we forget that we have been saved by grace, and continue to be saved…our relationship with God is fundamentally changed. God has not rescued us only to leave us on our own. The solution for sins past is the same as for sins present and future.
We did not begin by God’s grace, only to continue on our own. Salvation is not now in our hands instead of God’s. It is grace that has saved us and grace that continues to do so. We accept God’s grace by faith and obedience, and this continues to the end of our ‘Christian walk’ with God. God’s forgiveness is daily. Christ died for our sins, once for all, but we have not, once for all…quit sinning. We need God’s forgiveness – as long as we live. Any denial of this truth is ‘another gospel’ and doctrinal desertion. It is snatches defeat from the ‘jaws of victory’ and is the greatest tragedy of all.
In a works-based righteousness we will enviably swing between two radically unhealthy extremes. We will feel pride when we are doing well, look down on those who we think should be doing better, put ourselves on a higher plane and be puffed up in sinful pride. We are tempted to radically defend that which justifies our lifestyle, even to the extent of damaging others. On the other hand we will feel utter and complete defeat and hopelessness when we fail. There is after all nowhere to turn when you rely on yourself completely. How do you come to grips with your own sin? How do you forgive yourself? How do you let go of your mistake? It leads us to a desperate and dangerous corner where we are prone to lash out at those around us.
A life spent trying to earn salvation leads to a worldview that values a person no higher than their actions. How then do you love and respect a Christian whose faith is weak and who rarely seems to walk with God?
This is not the kind of love that the bible teaches nor is it like the love of Jesus. Love comes to those who don’t deserve it for it does not move on the basis of merit. Each person is a loved creation of God for whom Christ died. And every person should have a chance to know God and to accept salvation. How can we get over division and worldly attitudes toward each other if we do not love all people, all the time, because of what God has done for us?
By God’s grace, he has created us anew in Christ. Accepting this, empowers us and makes us ready for life and godly living. We don’t have to live our lives in fear and distress, or running after that which we cannot attain on our own. We never have to worry whether or not our lives are good enough to deserve to be saved. They are not good enough, and yet we are saved because the life of Jesus Christ was given on our behalf. We have the ability to both be victorious in our Christian walk, conquerors over sin, and for that very reason, remain completely humble.
Paul writes to the Corinthian church in 2nd Corinthians 2:14
“But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.”
What a defining and counter worldly image – that we are captivated by Christ and prisoners in his glory filled triumph parade. Not that this victory is something that we have earned, but it is something we are allowed to partake in, to share in. This doesn’t puff us up, but should guide us to share the gift we have with others. In Christ’s gift we find the definition, and motivation for what love needs to be in our lives. We love each other because of the love we have from God – we love each other after that pattern. We love each other unconditionally, even though we are sinners and even when we hurt each other. We do this because Christ loved us first. He died for us to purchase our salvation despite our rebellion and ill-treatment of Him.
As Christians, we are saved by grace through faith and obedience. We have been called to a life of obedience, motivated by faith and guided by the word of God. It remains possible however for us to become misguided so that we begin to trust in obedience and not in God. Obedience is a necessary means to an end, but ought never become the object of our trust. God’s finished work in Jesus Christ has saved us. Our trust is in God as is our faith. Obedience is how we express that trust, and only in this sense does it ‘save us’.
For us, the stakes could not be higher. How we understand our salvation and act upon it…affects our own relationship with God and our ability to love and honor each other. Jesus has paid it all for us and provided all we need. Let us continue to trust in him, to live by faith in his promises, and honor him with a life marked by gratitude, humility, obedience, and trust.
Stratford, ON
In this series, we have been taking an indepth look at one of the most foundational elements of our faith – the nature of grace.
We began by establishing that the grace of God is where salvation begins. Sinners cannot undo a single sin nor is sin outweighed by righteous deeds. Redemption from sin is a gift that God is able to give since Jesus died to atone for our sins.
We then considered how grace moves us to embrace godly change. It calls us to grow up into the image of God with thankfulness and humility. It is never an excuse for apathy or stagnation.
In this article, we will consider the virtue of obedience and how it follows the path set out by God’s grace…giving special attention to Romans 6.
Obedience in A Permissive and Freedom-loving Culture
Perhaps more than anything else, we value personal freedom. We live in a ‘free country’ that for the most part allows us to do as we please. We avoid anarchy by obeying the law and secure domestic peace for the common good. It is a social contract – an agreement between equals, that otherwise stays out of our personal lives.
The grace of God is not like that. It is not a relationship between peers. Grace is a divine offer of peace with God. It is a gift that cost God everything and while it is free to us, it is not free. We must accept God’s terms of peace in order to be saved and to remain saved. Freedom in Christ is not freedom from God. It is freedom from sin which puts us in God’s debt. And it is freedom to truly be the new persons that we have become.
Not surprisingly, our culture thinks that grace and obedience are mutually exclusive. If we are saved by grace, then there is no role for obedience. And if obedience is required, then grace is not that gracious. It is false advertising – bait on the hook, before making the switch. A gift with obligations is no gift at all.
May it Never Be!
In Romans 6 the apostle Paul explains, how the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ lays a foundation for Christian living. He unpacks the relationship between grace and obedience, showing just how wrong it is to ask ‘why not sin even more…so that grace may abound?”. If you think that that is a serious question, your salvation is in trouble.
The grace of God incentivices obedience. It motivates us to grow up and into – the kind of goodness that qualified Jesus to save us. God’s grace and our obedience are partners. They do not work at cross-purposes.
This is clearly seen in the method that God has by which we accept his grace. Jesus instructed his disciples to call believers to repentance. They had to change their hearts and the direction of their lives before being united with Jesus in baptism. God requires us to renounce sin and all intentions to sin, before embracing Him. We must plan and purpose to love God by obeying him. And the Christian life so begun, must pursue more of the same.
Grace Comes Through Death
In Romans 6, two deaths are joined together. Jesus died for our sins and rose to live a new post-resurrection life. His death was once for all. He died once and is a sacrifice sufficient to forgive all sins for all time.
When we accept the gift of salvation by being buried with Christ in baptism, we die with Him. This event in our lives bring us into spiritual contact with our Lord’s death on the cross. Our sins are taken away and we come up out of the water to live a new resurrected life. We did not die physically, but spiritually. And then we came to life spiritually – and God intends for this new spiritual life to go on without end.
At our baptism, we were indwelt by the Spirit of God so that in the resurrection, God might claim our bodies as well and join them to our redeemed spirits. In Christ, God has redeemed the whole person. When sin entered the world, our spirits were the first to die, followed by our bodies. When we accept the grace of God, our spirits are the first to come back to life, followed in the resurrection by our bodies.
It turns out that we can either be alive to God or alive to sin. This is an absolute choice. When we were baptized into Christ, we came alive to God and died to sin. Our new life in Christ calls us to put to sin death along with our desire to sin. His grace has set us on a godly path which has broken all connections with sin. Sin is no longer a part of who we are or what we do. When we repented, we changed direction entirely and when we were baptized into Christ, we came alive to Him.
Now this does not mean that when we said ‘yes’ to God’s grace, that we somehow earned salvation. God is able to offer salvation because Jesus died to atone for our sins. We access salvation by dying with Christ in baptism and rising to live a new spiritual life. But only his sacrifice can remove our sins. And having been set free, we are to live free…free from the power of sin and from the second death which would have separated us forever from God.
Grace Comes Through Resurrection
As we have already hinted, we have been born again to start our news spiritual lives – joined to Jesus. As he rose from the grave, we rose with him. He has lifted our spirits to the resurrection side of life so that we need never to die again. This new life is characterized by freedom from sin. It is a life lived for the glory of God and marked by communion with God. It always seeks to do His will. It is real life and it is forever.
The notion then that grace promotes sinful behavior, is fundamentally flawed. No one can accept God’s grace and cling to sin. No one can be united with Christ in a death like His without dying to sin. And no one who truly rises to live life anew, sets his heart once again on sin. Wilful disobedience renounces God’s grace. So Paul says “may it never be”.
Offer Yourselves to God
We embrace new life in Christ by doing two things. We put off sin – day by day. And we offer ourselves in obedience, to God. Having put off sin to become saved, we keep on doing it because we are saved. We have become blameless through the blood of Jesus, who wants to keep us that way.
He empowers us to do what is right and forgives us when we do not. As we grow up into the image of Christ, our lives become more and more like His. God set us apart when we were baptized into Christ so that we can live ‘set apart lives’. Life sanctified by the blood of Christ must be filled with godly choices and kept on course by humility and repentance.
So, we put off sin, when we put on Christ. And He rules in place of sin to preserve our freedom. Submission to Christ is a daily choice – that keeps on getting easier. The more that we want what He wants, the more free we become. The more we thirst for righteousness, the more right things God gives us to do. And when His will will becomes ours completely, we shall be free to do all that we wish. This is true freedom: free from sin with the power of divine righteousness at work within us.
The Gift of Obedience
God never intended for us to twist grace into a license to sin. The very essence of the gospel proclaims that we have died to sin in order to experience the blessings of Christ’s sacrifice. We are raised to a new life by a new master. So we cannot take hold of grace with one hand and sin with the other.
The Christian life demands that we die to sin in order to live fully for God. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it: “The demand for absolute liberty brings men to the depths of slavery.” True freedom is found not in indulging sinful desires, but in surrendering to God’s will.
We pause then to recognize that God’s plans for us, are indeed good! Obedience to our Father is no burden. God loves us and this is how we love Him back. An obedient life is a thankful one. It is new life and so much better than the one we left behind.
After God delivered Israel out of bondage in Egypt, they forgot about how bad life had been. They wanted their old lives back and accused God of breaking his promises.
May it never be.
May we never look back except to thank God for how far we have come. He has saved us from sin and saved us for Himself. Thank God for obedience to the one who lives forever, for this is life indeed.
We are a people saved by grace. Grace is the foundation of our salvation and our relationship with God. And grace is also the driving force behind how we live as followers of Christ. Romans 12:1-2 provides profound insight into how grace transforms our daily character, reshaping our thoughts, actions, and purpose.
In a previous article we considered how grace is the beginning of salvation. As sinners, we cannot rely upon acts of righteousness to heal our broken relationship with God. God is not at liberty to ignore our sins and only pay attention to the good things that we do. In addition to that, a sense of self-righteousness causes us to fall into one of two traps: either pride or despair. Pride makes us feel superior to others, while despair crushes us under the weight of our shortcomings. Neither solves the problem of sin or leads to the abundant life that God intends for us. Our sin needs an answer – which we find in grace.
The Bible teaches us to rely on God’s grace. It is rooted in the saving work of Jesus Christ and not in our own efforts. It humbles us because the blessings of God flow from His mercy, and not our merit. At the same time, it lifts us, for we stand righteous before God through the perfection of Christ, even as we continue to struggle with sin.
Paul writes in Romans 12:1 that our salvation, rooted in God’s mercy, compels us to live differently. We must ensure that the nature of our salvation informs the way in which we respond. We need ‘the how’ of our salvation to speak to our hearts in a way that directs our lives. Just like someone who just experienced a near miss on the highway might check their seatbelt, we need to let the truth of our salvation through grace, shape our actions and identity.
Paul makes this argument to Peter in Galatians 2. Peter was “not acting in line with the truth of the gospel” by limiting his interactions with gentile Christians. His actions were saying that to really be saved you not only needed Jesus, but also the Jewish law and customs. Paul’s response is resolute: “I do not set aside the grace of God!” The apostle Peter needed to be reminded of this, and so do we.
It is ‘in view of God’s mercies’ that Paul challenges the church to pursue a life of sacrifice and transformation. Paul has, rather painstakingly, laid out the nature of salvation throughout his letter to the Romans – that sinful man has been rescued by the work of Jesus. He concluded chapter 11 aksing: “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from Him and to Him and through Him are all things.” God’s greatness in grace towards us is now the basis for how Paul will challenge us to live.
A Living Sacrifice
Paul’s call in Romans 12:1 is clear: “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” The response to grace is a life wholly given to God. Unlike the physical sacrifices of the Old Testament, this is a living sacrifice—an ongoing, daily offering of our time, resources, and abilities for God’s glory. This is an uncomfortable call in a world that preaches freedom of the individual as the greatest good. Living this way means yielding our desires to God’s will.
The word used to describe our service is ‘spiritual’. It speaks of a depth beyond the physical and identifies a whole class of things that we put upon the altar. The word spiritual also can be taken as ‘rational’ – giving ourselves to God in this way is what makes sense! It’s not about repayment or earning favor, but about expressing gratitude. This kind of worship is both spiritual and rational. When we grasp the magnitude of God’s mercy—His willingness to sacrifice His Son for us—the true and proper response is overwhelming gratitude. This gratitude overflows into every aspect of our lives, transforming how we think, act, and relate to others.
In Romans 12:2, Paul explains what it looks like to live as a living sacrifice: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The world’s patterns—selfishness, greed, pride, and sin—are evident. Living by grace calls us to something higher.
Transformation involves a continual renewal of our minds. This renewal happens as we immerse ourselves in the truth of the gospel, allowing it to shape our perspective. The more we reflect on God’s grace, the more it transforms us. As Paul says, this transformation enables us to “test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing, and perfect will.” In other words, living by grace allows us to align our lives with God’s purposes and to experience His blessings.
Striving to grow in this transformation is a lifelong calling. It is supported by discipleship, spiritual disciplines, and Christian fellowship. As we try and envision how grace begins to shape us, let me suggest four aspects of our lives that we might explore. Grace transforms our relationship with God, it changes how we view ourselves, how we understand the church, and the way in which we relate to others in the world.
John 3:16 reminds us of God’s incredible love: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Understanding this love changes everything. God’s willingness to sacrifice so much for us shows how generous He is in His grace. The need for God to sacrifice His own perfect son reveals how serious he is about sin and how serious sin actually is.
When we grasp the depth of God’s love, we can only respond with praise and trust. His grace assures us that He cares deeply for us, enabling us to cast our worries on Him and live in peace.
Ephesians 2:8-10 teaches us that “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.”
Grace humbles us, reminding us that salvation is a gift, not something we’ve earned. This humility brings peace. When we stop striving for perfection, we can forgive ourselves for past mistakes and accept God’s love. Grace also motivates us to use our talents for God’s glory, knowing that our lives have purpose in His plan.
1 Peter 2:9-10 describes the church as “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.” The church is precious to God, purchased with the blood of Christ. This perspective challenges us to value and cherish the church as God does.
Loving the church means building it up through acts of service and encouraging fellow believers. It means fostering unity and prioritizing relationships within the body of Christ. When we love the church, we proclaim God’s praises to the world.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 reveals God’s desire for all people to be saved. Grace compels us to see others as God sees them: valuable and loved. It motivates us to share the gospel and live as witnesses of Christ’s love.
Living by grace means extending love, patience, and forgiveness to others. It means choosing kindness even when it’s difficult, knowing that God’s grace has covered our own imperfections.
Grace transforms every area of our lives. It calls us to worship through service, to renew our minds through the gospel, and to love others as God loves us. The more we understand God’s grace, the more we’re drawn into deeper gratitude and obedience.
In the end, grace isn’t just a doctrine; it’s a way of life. It’s the reason that we can stand before God. It is the power of God behind our transformation, and the foundation of our hope. As we live by grace, may our lives become a living testimony to the goodness and mercy of our wonderful God.
Martin Luther is quoted as saying “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his life on it a thousand times.” What we believe in (faith) will largely determine the directions we take and choices we make. Believing in God’s grace prepares us for life in the way nothing else can. Grace has a profound impact on the Christian life and has a powerful role in our salvation. I’d like to examine in this article the difference between a religion focused on human effort and a gospel centred on God’s unmerited favor, drawing from Titus 3:3-7 as a primary passage.
Two Approaches to God
There are two fundamental ways to understand our relationship with God. The first, which we might call “religion,” is centred on human effort. It operates on a principle of conditional acceptance: “If I obey, then God will bless me.” This approach emphasizes personal actions, believing that through sufficient obedience, good deeds, and adherence to rituals, one can earn God’s favor and eternal life. This system is often driven by fear, insecurity, and a desire to control one’s standing before God. This system often looks down
In the second approach, the “gospel,” begins with God and focuses on His initiative. It understands the relationship as: “God has blessed me, therefore I obey.” This perspective embraces grace as the core of our connection with God. Obedience is not a means to earn God’s love but a response to it, a joyful expression of gratitude for the blessings already received. The motivation here is not fear but a deep, heartfelt joy for what God has freely given.
Charles Spurgeon’s illustration of the gardener and the king, vividly portrays this difference. A gardener, out of genuine love and respect, presents the king with a magnificent carrot. The king, recognizing the gardener’s sincere heart, bestows upon him a generous gift of land. Later, a nobleman, motivated by self-interest, presents the king with a prized stallion, expecting a greater reward. The king accepts the gift but offers nothing in return. He explains that the gardener gave the carrot as a genuine act of love, while the nobleman gave the horse to gain something for himself.
This analogy highlights the contrast between giving out of gratitude and giving to earn something. Both approaches can sometimes look similar – both will highlight doing good and trying to be righteous. But when we look closer we see that basing our relationship with God on our own efforts, we make it about ourselves. Our prayers become focused on our needs, our self-worth becomes tied to our performance, leading to either pride in our perceived piety or despair in our inevitable failures. We become prone to idolatry, clinging to things like talents, moral achievements, or social status for security and acceptance. We find ways to tear down those better than us and look down on those we deem worse.
In contrast, a life grounded in grace centres on God. Prayers become expressions of praise and communion, self-worth is found in Christ, and a balance of humility and confidence emerges. While good things like family, work, and spiritual disciplines remain important, they do not become ultimate, we learn not to let them become idols. We recognize that we have already received everything freely from God.
Biblical Examples of Approaching God by Grace
Several biblical passages further illustrate this contrast. In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee, confident in his own righteousness, boasts of his religious practices. The tax collector, aware of his sinfulness, humbly asks for mercy. Jesus declares that the tax collector, not the Pharisee, went home justified before God.
The parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15) offers another compelling example. Both sons were alienated from their father, though in different ways. The younger son sought control of his inheritance through disobedience, while the older son attempted to earn his father’s approval through dutiful obedience, harbouring resentment and a sense of entitlement. Both ultimately missed the true nature of their father’s love and grace.
1 John 4:7-11 emphasizes that love originates from God. It highlights that God’s love for us preceded our love for Him, demonstrated by sending His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. This underscores the core of the gospel: God’s initiative in extending grace to us.
Our Sinful Condition and the Gift of Salvation – Titus 3:3-7
Titus 3:3-7 provides a powerful depiction of our state before encountering God’s grace. Paul reminds Titus and the church of their past lives, a stark portrayal of human nature apart from Christ. The people of Crete were known for their immorality, but Paul includes himself in this description, acknowledging the universal human condition of sinfulness.
The Bible consistently presents humanity as flawed, imperfect, and in need of redemption. Sin is not merely a series of isolated mistakes but a deep-seated pattern of living that is destructive and enslaving. Paul describes this state as “foolish,” lacking spiritual understanding; “disobedient,” knowingly rejecting God’s will; “deceived,” led astray by lies; “slaves,” controlled by sinful passions; and characterized by “hatred,” both hating and being hated.
This unflinching portrayal of sin underscores the depth of our need for salvation. It reminds us that no one is exempt from the grip of sin and that apart from God’s grace, we are all lost.
Now we get to see the transformative power of God’s grace. The passage introduces a crucial “but”—”But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared.” This marks a turning point, highlighting that a right relationship with God begins with His action, not ours. God’s goodness and kindness preceded any human effort. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Salvation is not based on our merit but on God’s unmerited favor. Grace, by definition, is undeserved. God’s love is not contingent on our worthiness but is freely given even to the ugly, the broken, and the lost.
This salvation comes through a “washing,” which we understand as baptism, which symbolizes our union with Christ in His death and resurrection. Baptism is not a work that earns our salvation but a point of encounter with Christ, a symbolic participation in His sacrifice and His work. It is a powerful symbol because it is something done ‘to me’ as much as ‘by me’, reflecting the passive nature of receiving grace. We choose to respond to God’s initiative, but our choice alone cannot overcome sin; it is only through God’s grace that we are saved and declared righteous. It is where we find the combination of our desire to submit and follow, and God’s powerful grace that transformation and salvation abound.
Through this washing, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, who indwells us, strengthens us, and guides us as we live for God. The Spirit is poured out “richly” upon us, signifying an abundant and transformative presence. This process involves washing, renewing, and regeneration, all centred on Jesus Christ, our Savior. His sacrifice paid the price for our brokenness, offering us life not because of our actions or beliefs but because of God’s gracious character.
This salvation extends into the future, promising an eternal inheritance, a full realization of God’s promises in this life and the life to come.
Daring Confidence in God’s Grace
In three follow up articles I would like to examine the questions of (1) how grace leads us into a life of obedience, (2) the danger of abusing God’s grace, and (3) the foolish but human pattern of abandoning the grace that saves us and turning again to legalism.
The foundation of our relationship with God (how it is possible for us to be his children, to receive his promises, to have the hope of life) comes not from what we have done but by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. We must begin by accepting that. We need to humbly know that Jesus did for us what we could never do for ourselves. That we have awesome gifts because of that grace – the gift of cleansing of our sins, the gift of regeneration, the gift of the Spirit of God, and the gift of eternal life – all by the grace of God. Let us live never forgetting that God has treated us this way – while we were lost in sin, he chose to bestow grace upon us, to love us, to die for us, so that we could have the opportunity to choose to put him on in baptism and enter that grace. Praise God for his grace that saves us, and Lord give us the strength to put to death the pride by which we live our lives when we claim, in deed or in word, that we paid the price. We are washed, renewed, and saved by the powerful grace that comes through the blood of Jesus our savior. Praise God!
Stratford ON
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