The grace of God Part 1
A.W. Tozer has described the grace of God as follows.
‘His goodness directed toward human debt and demerit. It is by His grace that God imputes merit where none previously existed and declares no debt to be where one had been before. Grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines Him to bestow benefits upon the undeserving.’ [1]
God has an inherent inclination to pity the wretched, spare the guilty, welcome the outcast, and bring into favour those who were before under deserved disapproval. Grace makes it possible to save us sinful persons and not only this but to makes us to sit in heavenly places as we see the exceeding riches of God’s kindness to us.
Modern definition
“Grace,” according to the dictionary, is the unmerited favour of God toward humanity. The word “grace” is used over 170 times in the New Testament alone. Grace is not bought. It is a free gift of almighty God to needy humanity. Billy Graham EA.
God’s grace flows out to the believers through the channel of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen.
The Pauline epistles of the New Testament extol the power of grace in our redemption but always with the conjunction of God’s grace with God’s crucified Son e.g. in…
Ephesians 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.
John 1:17 17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Tozer urges us not to make the mistake of trying to make this verse stand by itself by suggesting that Moses knew only law and Jesus Christ knows only grace. The law was given to men through Moses, but it did not originate with Moses. It had existed in the heart of God from before the foundation of the world. On Mount Sinai it became the legal code for the nation of Israel; but the moral principles it embodies are eternal. There never was a time when the law did not represent the will of God for humanity nor a time when the violation of it did not bring its own penalty, though God was patient and sometimes “winked” at wrongdoing because of the ignorance of the people.
Paul’s careful arguments in the third and fifth chapters of his Epistle to the Romans support the above conclusion. The source of Christian morality is the love of Christ, not the law of Moses; nevertheless there has been no removal of the principles of morality contained in the law. No privileged class exists exempt from that righteousness which the law enjoins.
The Old Testament is indeed a book of law, but not of law only.
Before the great flood Noah “found grace in the eyes of the Lord,”
Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
and after the law was given God said to Moses, “Thou hast found grace in my sight.”
Exodus 33:17 And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.
What else can we expect from God-the God of grace? Grace is an integral attribute of His Holy Being.
The heroes of the old testament needed the same grace that we need today. No person has ever been saved except by grace and there is no path back to God except through the goodness and grace of God. Grace only comes to us through Jesus Christ which worked prospectively in the old testament and prospectively in the new testament.
God’s grace like all his attributes is infinite and eternal and where our sin abounds God’s grace abounds much more. Hallelujah!
God’s grace allows us to lift our heads up to God seeking his forgiveness, mercy, help etc.
Prayer
Father God, we bless you and praise that your amazing grace expressed through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ has provided a way for sinful people like us to be reconciled to you, the Holy God.
We continually acknowledge your grace in every area of our lives.
Thankyou Father
Amen
[1] A.W. Tozer The knowledge of the Holy: Chapter 19
In Part 2 we consider the idea of grace before judgement
.