HOW ARE WE SAVED BY GRACE AND WHAT IS THE TRUE MEANING OF GRACE?
Grace is the unmerited pardon from sin. One cannot earn it. We all need to clearly understand what we are being pardoned from and it is sin. What is sin? It is the breaking of God's law. Are Christians saved through grace, and faith with no works?
1 John 3:4 KJV 4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
Sin is the breaking of God's law. Therefore grace is a pardon for our lawlessness. However it is obvious that grace is not a license to sin otherwise why bother to have laws that define right from wrong. The law tells us how to live a righteous Godly life. How to live a life that works but it does not pardon our mistakes.
Romans 3:20 NKJV 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
We cannot justify ourselves and our keeping the law was given to define goodness but not our justification. Some will misunderstand what Paul meant in his letter to the Ephesians and believe that the law is abolished. The believer therefore has no standards of right or wrong except what they want to support. No reasonable person would ever think that Paul was saying because we are saved by grace and not the law we can now murder and steal. It is ridiculous. But some will say that of any law they do not wish to try and keep like the fourth commandment, is done away.
STATING THAT GRACE AND FAITH SUPPORT NO LAW IS RIDICULOUS AND OUTRAGEOUS
Paul clearly is shocked by those who say that his teaching on grace and faith were giving people a license to sin. Paul said it was outrageous. Some were saying that Paul was saying it is good that we sin because God then had to pour out more grace.
Romans 3:8 KJV 8 And not rather, (as we be slanderous reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
Paul preached the value and necessity of grace and was slanderously said to be saying you are giving people a license to sin. Paul is saying no such thing. Further, Paul clarifies what the false accusation is and his blunt answer to it.
Romans 3:30-31 KJV 30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and circumcision through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Paul says God forbid that anyone think that faith in God's grace makes void the law. It clarifies the law and supports it. If no law existed then there would be no need for grace or pardon for breaking it. If no speeding law exists on highway 21 then you cannot break a speeding law. No law no need for grace! Grace confirms God's laws!
Romans 6:1-3 NKJV 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
It is ridiculous to believe that Paul is preaching the law is done away. A believer that is baptized is now dedicated to being dead to sin. We cannot earn our salvation but are saved by grace. Does this mean that a believer should ignore the law and sin?
Romans 6:14-16 NKJV 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
Paul says it is outrageous to think it is OK to steal ,murder, or be a Sabbath breaker.
DO VERSES IN THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS CANCEL THE LAW?
How are Christians “saved by grace”? Does this passage say that works play no part in the life of a Christian? Paul explains that we cannot boast that we earned our salvation. Both our calling and our salvation are gifts from God. We are not inherently more spiritual than those not called at this time. Our faith is also a gift. But once called God expects some good works.
Ephesians 2:10 NKJV 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
What about the other verse in this letter that seems to void the law?
Ephesians 2:14-15 NKJV 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
The Jewish leadership created many ordinances meant to keep people from even getting close to breaking the law actually created a false separation between Jews and gentiles. They misapplied the circumcision law in such a way as to restrict gentiles. Over regulation was the problem. God wants all mankind to be unified in true worship.
THE WORLD WILL BE UNIFIED IN LOVE AND TRUE WORSHIP OF GOD
Jesus came to this world to die for our sins and to proclaim the coming paradise of God. God will unify all mankind in truth and love. God required them to take care of the poor and strangers or foreigners in Israel. They were to love the obedient strangers.
Deuteronomy 10:18-19 NKJV 18 "He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. 19 "Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. Leviticus 19:10
In the near future Christ will return and imprison Satan and unify the world in a glorious kingdom. This is the good news of the gospel of Christ.
Luke 8:1 NKJV 1 Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him,
