GRACE 

Grace is an exquisite word with an appeal all of its own! The hymn writer expresses it well:

Grace! 'tis a charming sound

Harmonious to the ear

Heaven with echo shall resound,

And all the earth shall hear.

The meaning of the word “grace” as used in a variety of ways in the Bible is not dissimilar to that used in today’s common speech. It is worthy of note too that in the Scriptures the word “favours”, used considerably in the Old Testament, is equivalent to the word “grace” in the New Testament. Thus it can be said that grace is favour and favour is grace, and in order to learn the Bible teaching on this great theme equal attention should be given to the passages where these words appear.

Grace means pure unmerited favour and kindness, and cannot be treated as something which can be recompensed. What is done in grace is done graciously and in its relation to God care must be taken to preserve the exact meaning of the word. Even though this is taken as an accurate definition it may still beg the question, “does it give us a firm grasp and clear understanding of what the “grace of God” really means?”

It has to be recognised of course that the nature of God is inscrutable and at its best the human mind falls far short in its understanding of what God is in His essential being. In Rom 11:34, Paul asks, “For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counsellor?”

How blessed we are as the children of God that even though the heights of the knowledge of  God’s nature are unreachable, the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures would teach us something of the breathtaking expanse of God’s redeeming grace.

Peter in 1 Pet 5:10 writes that God is the “God of all grace who hath called us into His eternal glory by Christ Jesus”. The divine disposition of grace is the very essence of God’s nature, seen in every Person of the Godhead.

John in the first chapter of his Gospel describes the Lord Jesus as “full of grace and truth”. The writer of the Hebrew epistle gives the Holy Spirit the title of the “Spirit of grace”. It is through grace that the Godhead in their eternal counsels purposed the great work of redemption so man could be saved from his fallen and helpless condition under sin.

The undertaking of divine grace in man’s salvation can be looked at in a four-fold way:

(1). God saves the sinner by grace. Paul tells us in Eph 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast”. In his letter to Titus it is the same message, “Not by works righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saves us…….that being justified by His grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Through the vicarious death of the Lord Jesus on the cross God has eternally settled the question regarding the sin of the world, past, present, and future. He is now able and willing for as long as He extends His “Day of Grace” to offer by grace a free pardon to the soul that comes to Him for salvation with faith and trust in the Saviour and His atoning work at Calvary.

The hymn writer bears testimony to the transaction:

'Twas grace that wrote my name,

In life’s eternal book.

'Twas grace that gave me to the Lamb

Who all my sorrows took.

(2). God keeps by grace those whom He saves.

The grace of God that saves is the same grace which keeps. If it were no so God’s salvation would have no value whatsoever. How assuring are the words of the Lord Jesus, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand”. Paul was fully persuaded that “He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (2 Tim 1:12). The grace that keeps us is underwritten by God’s power. Peter confirms this 1 Pet 1:5, “who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation”.

(3). God instructs us in grace how we should live in the world.

In Titus 2:11-12, Paul tells us that ”The grace of God brings salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world”.

(4). God  explains that the wonder of His grace will be revealed eternally to those who are saved.

What then is in the mind of God for the people of God? Eph 2:7 gives the precise answer, “That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus”. A glorious prospect!

The last verse of John Newton’s lovely hymn, “Amazing grace” points us to the Day of God:

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,

Bright shining as the sun,

We’ve no fewer days to sing God’s praise,

Than when we first began.

As we journey on to that glorious time may we all prove the triumphs of God’s grace in each of our lives for His Name’s sake. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”, Rom 5:20.