A gracEmail subscriber writes: "Over recent months I have felt the Holy Spirit leading me to study 'means of grace.' Are there God-given means of grace -- things we can do that will release grace to us? Is this a scriptural idea?" * * * If we think of "grace" as salvation and fellowship with God, there is finally only one "means of grace." That is faith -- trust in God, dependence on him and his unmerited kindness. Grace is a gift, and it can only be enjoyed by receiving it. In this most basic sense, we have access by faith into God's grace (Rom. 5:2). We are part of God's creation and we … [Read more...]

Several gracEmail subscribers ask, if our obedience does not save us, what we do with all the scriptural admonitions to obey God and to be busy with good deeds. * * * We take them seriously and at face value, keeping in mind the relationship they point out between our own activity and God's acceptance of us. The gospel tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and that he accomplished that by Christ's physical body through death (2 Cor. 5:19;Col. 1:21-23). The gospel is (literally) "the good news of your salvation" (Eph. 1:13) and it announces "the hope laid up for you … [Read more...]

A wise and mature Christian teacher recently commented, "I am concerned that in running from legalism, we don't become totally antinomian." * * * By "legalism," my friend meant the notion that we can obtain God's favor through our own record of obedience. "Antinomian" is a double-jointed word from two Greek words meaning "against law," and it refers to that error which twists God's mercy into a license to sin. Both errors are as old as the New Testament. Some first-century Jews tried to make circumcision and observing the Torah conditions of salvation (Acts 15), and some Gentiles tried to … [Read more...]

A gracEmail reader in the West writes, "If we don't live under law but under grace, then what about God's commands? Somehow law, rule and command all seem like synonyms to me. I feel beaten down, struggling to feel worthy. I also can't find an official list of God's commands and everyone I talk to has a different list." * * * Laws, rules and commands are quite necessary to an ordered life and a peaceful society. God's commands are "holy, just and good" (Rom. 7:12). But they can be misused and abused. Laws were never intended as a stairway to heaven -- for every one of us eventually stumbles … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber asks what responsibilities we might have if we are saved totally by God's grace. * * * Indeed we are saved totally by God's grace -- we do not deserve any part of it. The gospel is the "word of his grace" (Acts 14:3; 20:32). Yet "responsibility" is a good word for our activities, for everything we do is in response to what God has done already. We dare not receive God's grace in vain (2 Cor. 6:1-2). Nor dare we ever rely on our own performance for right standing with God, which frustrates his grace (Gal. 2:20). Anyone who professes to trust in Christ for salvation, … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber asks: "How do verses such as 1 Peter 1:22 (you purify your souls through obeying the truth); 2 Peter 1:10 (make your calling and election sure); Acts 2:40 (save yourselves from this perverse generation) and Matthew 7:13, 21 (not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" to Jesus will be saved but those who do the Father's will) fit in with salvation by grace through faith?" * * * The key to these verses and others like them is to remember that grace calls for a response, and that God empowers those who are truly saved to make such a response as the fruit of their faith. We thus … [Read more...]

We call ourselves Jesus' disciples, but what does that really mean? Solid character that can withstand life's storms develops daily by hearing Jesus and doing what he says (Matt. 7:24-37). Using the Sermon on the Mount as a summary of Jesus' ethical teaching (Matt. 5-7), such obedience involves particulars like the following: Be happy when judged falsely for doing right (5:11-12). Let the Jesus-light shine through your good deeds so others will praise God (5:16). Treasure what lasts and have lasting treasure (6:19-24).Trust God and don't worry (6:25-34). Instead, ask, seek and knock, for God … [Read more...]