What if my sins are no longer covered by the grace of God? What if I have sinned too much or too horribly so as to make forgiveness an impossibility? These are questions sometimes asked by those who are troubled by uncertainty and doubt.
While we cannot exhaust the riches of God’s grace, we must meet the conditions upon which His grace is granted. Faith is the basic, underlying condition which must be met in order to receive God’s grace. Paul says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8–9).
We are saved by grace. Salvation is not earned. Nor is it deserved. It is a free gift (Rm. 6:23).
However, it is a free gift conditioned upon faith. Otherwise, everyone will be saved, regardless of character or conduct—the believer, the unbeliever, the unfaithful—even the most notoriously evil person who has ever lived.
Universal salvation impugns the character of God and makes His word meaningless. If everyone is going to be saved, why concern ourselves with any standards of right and wrong? Why not just “eat, drink, and be merry”? (Lk. 12:19).
As an expression of our faith, obedience is essential to our salvation. The book of Romans is an exposition of what we mean by the “obedience of faith”, an expression Paul uses at both the beginning and the end of his epistle (Rm. 1:5; 16:26).
Faith in Christ not only results in justification and peace before God, it also provides access “into this grace in which we stand…” (Rm. 5:1-2). We stand in grace. There is a solidity to this grace.
It is not as though we are perched on high ground awaiting an inevitable fall. Jesus provides abundant assurance to His faithful followers (Jn. 10:28; Rm. 8:39). Yet, even His assurance is conditioned upon continuing our stand in His grace (2 Pet. 1:10; 1 Jn. 1:7). More next week.
–Glen Elliott–