Grace

                  An old acrostic explains grace as “God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.” A more common definition is “unmerited favor.” Both are helpful in expressing the Bible’s wide-ranging use of a term central to its gospel message.

                  One of the reasons grace pervades so much of Scripture is that it is essential to the character of God. His own description of himself (Ex. 34:6–7) includes the attribute of graciousness, and no description of God is repeated more often in the Bible (e.g., Num. 14:18; Neh. 9:31; Ps. 86:5; 15; Joel 2:13). Not only is grace rooted in God’s character, but it is also expressed in his actions toward all he has made (Ps. 145:8–9). Where God is, grace exists in abundant supply.

                  God Provides What We Cannot

                  Because grace is a provision of God’s riches, it is necessarily something that blesses God’s people beyond their own means. Grace evidences some aspect of divine provision.

                  Scripture discloses God’s provision for people in a variety of ways, but it is important to understand that his gracious character is not fully presented in one snapshot. The nature of grace unfolds over biblical history. In its simplest expression, grace is evident whenever God feeds the hungry, grants rest to the weary, gives strength to the weak, provides family to an orphan, sends funds to the destitute, forgives a sinner, loves the unlovely, releases a slave, rescues the captive, and so forth. In each of these, God provides a blessing people cannot provide for themselves (Isa. 40:29–31; 2 Cor. 12:9–10; Heb. 11:34).

                    The grace of God in these small, personal vignettes also sweeps in large scale across biblical history. Grace works across millennia as God provides his people with his unfailing love, faithful Word, needed leaders, repeated rescues, fatherly discipline, release from slavery, return from exile, relief from famine, maintenance of a remnant, willingness to forgive, providential deliverance, electing covenants, messianic promises, and so forth. Each provision is beyond humanity’s ability, supply, or deserving. So, by these historical provisions, God not only defines his nature but also points toward the greater grace all people need him to provide (Rom. 15:4, 8–13).

                  God Provides What He Requires

                  By his grace God not only provides what his people need; he also provides what his kingdom requires. He is not merely gracious by nature; he is also holy. In order for his people to be united to him in spirit and for eternity, they must also be holy. God specifically says to them, “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:16; cf. Lev. 19:2). This is a requirement far beyond the supply of humans sinful by nature (Rom. 5:12–13). We can no more make ourselves holy than a man could clean a white shirt with muddy hands. So, by his grace, God provides what he requires.

                  Holiness

                  God provides the holiness he requires of his people by the sacrificial gift of his Son (Rom. 5:6–10). That is why God’s riches are at Christ’s expense. Because our sinful nature keeps us from meeting the requirements of holiness, God determined to provide his Son in sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins. In order to maintain his justice, God could not simply disregard the sin of humanity that dishonors him, damages others, and degrades us. But if we were to pay the just penalty for our sin, hell would be our recompense.

                  God graciously provides another destiny for his people by allowing Christ’s perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sin. In essence, God paid the fine his own justice required for our transgression (Rom. 3:26). As a consequence, we can be in a relationship with him, since he provides what he requires (1 John 4:9–10). With sin’s penalty fully paid, God’s people stand justified before him. They possess the holy status he requires by virtue of the sacrifice he provided (Gal. 2:20; 1 John 3:1).

                    God thus graciously both pays the penalty for his people and provides to them the benefits of that payment. Christ’s sacrifice for sin is not forced upon all humanity. Neither is it earned by some superhuman accomplishment (Titus 3:5). Again, grace provides what we need but cannot provide for ourselves.

                  Faith

                  Since grace cannot be earned and is not deserved, it can be claimed only by faith (Rom. 3:21–23). Those who believe Christ’s sacrifice provides the penalty for their sin trust God to forgive and bless them solely on the basis of Jesus’ work on their behalf (Gal. 2:16). They rest on the truth of the sufficiency of his sacrifice and receive his righteous status as their sole claim to holiness (Rom. 5:2; Col. 3:4).

                  But from where does this faith come? In their sinful state, all humans are dead in their transgressions and sin (Eph. 2:1). They have no spiritual ability to express the faith God requires. So, again, God provides what he requires (Eph. 2:4–5). He puts his Holy Spirit in our hearts to make them alive to the truths of the gospel, as well as willing and able to rest in and receive it (Rom. 8:3–6). He instills within us the faith we must express to have the holy status he requires (Eph. 2:8–9).

                  Power

                  God requires holiness not just in status but in life (2 Cor. 6:14–18). He calls his people to live and grow in ways that honor him and bless others (Rom. 12:1–2; Eph. 5:1–2; 2 Pet. 3:18). But we remain remarkably human, with weak wills, divided hearts, and distracted minds. So how do we live as God requires? Again, he provides what he requires (1 Cor. 1:30). He puts the same Spirit in us that raised Jesus from the dead so that the resurrection power of the Savior indwells our mortal bodies (Rom. 8:5–11; 1 John 4:4). We no longer are slaves to sin, and it no longer has dominion over us (Rom. 6:6, 14).

                  Motivation

                  But what, then, enables and encourages us to act on the power and liberty we have to serve God? The answer, again, is grace. The grace that saves and empowers us creates affections in us (2 Cor. 5:14; 2 Pet. 1:3–4) to displace the worldly desires that would lure us into sin (John 3:19; James 1:13–14). God provides the life of holiness he requires by giving us the willingness and the ability to serve him (Titus 2:11–12).

                    Perseverance

                  Finally, as the old song says, “’Tis grace will lead us home.” In our own strength, we could never maintain the affections and devotion that would secure our path to heaven. So God also provides what he requires eternally: a bond that extends into glory (1 Pet. 1:13). He requires our hearts to remain firmly set on him, and he provides the means for that to occur by securing us to himself (Rom. 8:28–30, 38–39).

                  Everything Necessary

                  Mystery remains in the divine equations of how God provides what we are responsible to express in faith, faithfulness, and perseverance. But there is no mystery in the reality that all of these are beyond us if God does not provide grace for the holiness, faith, and life he requires (Heb. 4:16; 1 Pet. 1:10).