There is no division of doctrine that is not related in some way or another—often vitally—to the concept of grace. Inspiration, sin, salvation, Christian living, even future things are but a few examples of related doctrines.

Review: What’s So Amazing About Grace?, by - 9Marks Book Review: What’s So Amazing About Grace?, by - 9Marks

It only takes a minute to create your own Bible Gateway free personal account and you’ll immediately upgrade your Bible Gateway experience. Do it right now! And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2:2 in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, 2:3 among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest… (Eph. 2:1-3). But God Has Provided Righteousness by Even though many may have good deeds and claim a relationship with Christ, unless they have turned from trusting in their own works to faith in Christ alone, they are under the condemnation of the Law as Law breakers. All people break God’s moral law and fall short of God’s righteousness unless they turn to His provision of righteousness by grace through faith in Christ, as Paul shows us in Romans 3. Doing the will of the Father (vs. 21) starts with personal trust in Jesus as our one and only means of salvation. Apart from grace, we are all on the same road. Some people just slide into the ditch and stay for a while. Others slide in, drag others in with them, and set up house. Let us suppose that you have two corpses. Is one more dead than another? Does one need a bigger miracle to be restored to life? Fact is, the good person who lives next to you and the criminal you read about in the newspaper are essentially in the same predicament—both need the life that only God can give. 26For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. 2:12 It trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 2:13 as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 2:14 He gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, who are eager to do good. 2:15 So communicate these things with the sort of exhortation or rebuke that carries full authority. There are those who view the loss of a believer’s salvation to be a real possibility for those who fail in a consistent walk with Christ. The questions that come to my mind when I hear this are: Just how consistent must one be to lose their salvation? What sin, or how many sins cause the loss of salvation? Sin—any sin—falls short of the perfect holiness of God. Every person, regardless of their maturity or relationship with the Lord, is far from perfect by God’s standard. We all have things in our lives that fall short of God’s glory, i.e., we are never without personal sin, though some may be unknown. In the introduction to What’s So Amazing About Grace? you close by saying “I would far rather convey grace than explain it.” What do you mean by that? So then, no matter how much better one person may appear to be over another, in comparison to God’s holiness, he falls short of His holiness and stands guilty with all the world.

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

In What’s So Amazing About Grace? I retell that story, setting it in Traverse City, Michigan with a young woman featured as the prodigal. I’ve tried writing parables, and it’s hard work! Yet Jesus spun off parable after parable, seemingly off-the-cuff, and they speak poignantly to us some two thousand years later.Paul states a basic principle in these verses. A worker’s reward or wage is due to him because of his work. A gift, or that which is given on the basis of grace, is totally separate from any form of obligation on the part of the receiver. Justification is given to the one who does not work but believes in the one who justifies. When did Christ die for the ungodly? When they were helpless. The book of Romans teaches us that this is not the state of a few, but of all mankind. All have sinned—the immoral, moral, and religious alike no matter how hard they may work at being good (Rom. 3:9-10, 23). All are dead in sin and without any ability to save themselves (Eph. 2:1f). 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 But are these people accurate about who needs grace? It depends on the standard by which we judge our true condition. Every human being needs God’s grace to the limit no matter how good we may appear to be when compared to others. Naturally, it is better to be a moral person, a good neighbor and citizen, and a decent husband and father than to be guilty of the things mentioned above, but as will be shown from our study, we all are in desperate spiritual condition and in need of God’s grace. When compared to a holy God, we are all wretched sinners in desperate need of His grace. All the World Needs Grace Because