Grace, Grace, God’s Grace
Grace that is greater than all our sin
The world tells us to bow to its dictates. God’s grace is free. Watch our Truth in Two to find out why (full text below).
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Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Snappy Goat
FULL TEXT
In a comedy classic Seinfeld episode, Elaine is looking for a job. Her possible employer discusses with Elaine the elusive concept of “grace.” Elaine says, “I like to think I have a little grace,” to which her interviewer responds, “You can’t have a little grace. Either you have grace or you don’t.” Elaine, wanting the job, concedes she has no grace. But the woman behind the desk presses the issue. “And you can’t acquire grace. Grace is not something you pick up at the market.”
As a theologian, I couldn’t agree more: either you have grace or you don’t. But not in the same way the Seinfeld characters imagine. Grace is an undeserved gift given by God alone, rescuing us from sin. Grace is not something of our own doing, it is not a result of human work, as Paul explains In Ephesians 2. God’s gift of grace means can’t measure up, pay back, add to, or fall from, grace. Grace means I cannot do anything to achieve God’s favor or do good on my own.
Our culture, on the other hand, replaces grace with moralism – doing good on my own. Moralism means I achieve stature or standing in society. I depend on human works to show that I am accepted by those around me. And the culture will tell me what the moral order is. If my culture commands that sexual identity means I can claim to be anything or anyone I want to be, then I must measure up to that cultural standard: a moralism set by other human authorities that expect my obeisance. If I do not obey, I fall from grace, from the moral order of the day.
But I cannot fall from God’s grace. Why? Because grace is a God-given, undeserved gift. I will never be able to measure up to the moral code of my culture. Why? Because the standard, the line, will always be moved depending on who is in charge. No, I’m with Seinfeld. Either you have grace or you don’t. You can’t acquire grace. Moralism will always cost. God’s grace is free. For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally grateful for God’s grace.