The word “grace” is one that is bandied about the church considerably; often without good understanding. It has become one of those words that everyone thinks they understand, but few can actually define. If someone attempts to define it, they usually quote: “Mercy is not receiving what we should and grace is receiving that which we should not.” While that definition sounds good, it doesn’t really clarify things much without an explanation.
In that quote, the mercy part is talking about believers not receiving the punishment for their sins. That’s a major part of what salvation is all about. Jesus paid the price for our sins, by going to the cross. Therefore, we receive mercy, instead of punishment for our sins.
Grace, in that quote, is the complementary part of mercy, in that God gives us something we don’t deserve, specifically referring to salvation and the right to go to heaven that salvation gives us. None of us deserve to go to heaven based upon our own righteousness. It is when we receive Jesus’ righteousness that we receive that right. But then, that begs the question, just what is righteousness?
Part of the problem here is that we’re dealing with concepts which were originally written in a different language, Ancient Greek. It has been said of that language that the Greeks could say more with a word, than other people could say with a sentence in their language. Whether or not that is true, it is true that many words found in the New Testament have a much deeper meaning than their translation in English leads us to believe. Righteousness, for example, doesn’t just mean that we are good people or that we are right; but rather, that we are in right standing with God.
Likewise, the word translated as “salvation” contains much more than salvation from our sins. While the Greek word translated as salvation does mean salvation from our sins, the broader meaning is that we are saved from whatever we need saving from.
When we look at the word “grace” in the Bible, the first thing we need to realize is that the meaning is much broader than just that we receive something we don’t deserve. While we do receive things from God all the time that we don’t deserve; that definition alone is not enough. In order to live a victorious life, we need to broaden our understanding of grace and receive all that it is.
The Apostle Paul obviously thought much of the importance of grace, as he started all his epistles with the greeting:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ – 1 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:2; Galatians 1:3; et al
This alone should be enough to show that grace is more than just about receiving something from God. If it wasn’t, why would Paul use it in his greeting, instead of using words like “faith” and “anointing?” He must have understood grace to be more important.
Grace is a manifestation of God’s power. It is a spiritual power. Granted, it’s a different type of power than the anointing power that we normally think of; but it’s still His power. We see that He used it in empowering Jesus’ disciples.
And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. – Acts 4:33
While it would be possible to take this verse as speaking only about a blessing; that would be selling the verse short. There is nothing in the New Testament or in church history to indicate that the apostles received an abundance of blessings from God. All of them, save John, died as martyrs. That doesn’t sound like a blessed life. Therefore, there must be more to this, than just receiving a blessing. Especially in this verse, where it talks about “great grace.” That clearly speaks of an abundance of grace. The secret to what this grace is comes out in a conversation that Paul had with God.
And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. – 2 Corinthians 12:7
There are those who have preached this verse as if the grace God was referring to was the power for Paul to get rid of his “thorn in the flesh” on his own. But that spiritual power would be faith, not grace. Grace and faith aren’t synonyms and to try and make them into that is losing the benefit of what grace truly is.
It doesn’t really matter what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was; it was bothering him enough that he went to the Lord in prayer about it three times, asking for the Lord to remove it. But rather than remove it for him, the Lord responded, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
There are several important points here, all of which help us to understand what grace is. First, God spoke to Paul about His strength being made perfect in weakness. In other words, it is in the midst of the problems that the thorn in the flesh that Paul was experiencing, that he would also experience the greatest part of God’s strength. Paul himself affirmed this, saying “Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
If we accept God saying that his power is made perfect in weakness, then the next step is to accept that the power God was offering was His grace. We can see that, in that God Himself said, “My grace is sufficient for you.” He didn’t talk about any other manifestation of His power; He talked about grace.
This was God’s answer to Paul’s suffering, rather than taking that suffering from him. That seems antithetical to our normal understanding of prayer, where we pray and expect God to remove a problem from us. But in reality, what Paul needed and what we need is to overcome the problem. That can mean eliminating the problem; but it doesn’t have to mean that.
If we were to take Paul’s thorn in the flesh to mean something besides a physical problem, then the idea of overcoming without eliminating the problem makes more sense. Without accusing Paul of anything, what if he had a problem with lust and that was his thorn in the flesh. He prays to God, asking God to remove that problem. Should God remove his manhood to take away the problem? Should God take away his eyes, so that he can’t see women? By no means. If that were the sort of thorn in the flesh that Paul was battling, then God would need to give him the ability to overcome it.
Paul himself tells us that he struggles with his flesh, without mentioning any particular sin:
But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells, for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. – Romans 7:17-20
There are a few things that we can surmise from understanding that God’s grace isn’t about getting rid of whatever thorn one might have in their flesh. These are especially true if we don’t think of the thorn as a physical ailment. The first thing is that overcoming a thorn in the flesh isn’t necessarily eliminating it. The thorn can still exist; but we can have mastery over it. In addition to that, we can understand that it is not necessary to defeat the thorn. If we have mastery over it, then it doesn’t have to be defeated. Our strength, or more correctly God’s strength in us, keeps that thorn from being a problem. Finally, we can understand that when we overcome that thorn, even though it is still there, it doesn’t have to affect us in any way. This is the lesson that God was teaching Paul.
Paul got the lesson so strongly that his response was along the lines of saying he would take joy in that thorn, because in his own personal weakness, Christ would be made strong in him. Through that, he would be strong.
Putting that another way, grace is the power of God which comes in, when we allow it, to make up for where we are weak. It’s the power we can count on, when we reach the end of ourselves, to finish His good work in and through us. That makes grace an incredibly powerful tool for our lives.
Okay, so how can we apply this understanding of grace to our lives?
Overcoming Sin
The first way we can apply this understanding of grace is in overcoming sin and any other weakness in our lives and character. People talk all the time about their inability to avoid sin, using the comedian Flip Wilson’s line all the time, saying, “The devil made me do it.”
We all tend to think of using God’s grace to seek forgiveness after we’ve sinned. Yet if we depend on God’s grace to empower us to overcome that sin, we don’t need to ask for God’s mercy. Since God’s mercy can impart strength to endure and overcome, we are not required to fall into that sin, when we are tempted. We can overcome the sin, rather than have to ask for mercy.
It is important, in this light, to understand that God’s desire is to remake us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. If Jesus wouldn’t fall into sin, then that should be our goal too.
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. – Romans 8:29
I know of no verse which says that Jesus depended on God’s grace to avoid sin; but He “was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Since He “did nothing of Himself but only what He saw the Father doing” (John 5:19), it is clear that He was not depending on His own power, but rather that of His Heavenly Father. We too can depend on Him to keep us out of sin.
God doesn’t expect us to be strong enough to resist sin on our own; He knows that we are weak. That’s what He was saying to Paul, when He said “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Yet with God’s grace, we don’t need to sin.
The problem is, there are many Christians who try to see just how close they can get to sin, without falling in. This isn’t depending on God’s grace; it’s acting in foolishness. We would be better off to be like Job, who “eschewed evil” (Job 1:1). That literally means that he ran from it. We don’t need to see how close we can get to sin, as there is nothing of value to gain there. Rather, we need to see how far we can stay from it, where we are in the center of God’s will.
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. – Romans 6:14
This verse makes it clear; we don’t have to fall under sin, for we are no longer under the law. Rather, we are under grace, which allows us to dominate sin in our own lives. That is the greatest power that grace can give us.
Fulfilling God’s Will
God asks more of us than just to avoid sin. There are actually more commandments in the Bible which command us to do things, than there are which command us not to do things. Yet we have at least as much trouble doing those things which God commands us to do, as we do in keeping ourselves from doing those things He commands us not to.
This is especially true when it comes to the ministry, although it is not limited to only there. God calls people to the ministry all the time, who feel unprepared for the ministry He has called them to. Even going to seminary isn’t enough preparation for most of what God calls us to do.
Once again, God is not expecting us to succeed based on our own strength; but rather, to depend on His. “His strength is made perfect in weakness.” He is not seeking capable vessels, but rather willing ones. If we are willing, then He will make us capable through His grace.
There are many examples of this in the Bible, where God told people to do things that they were not capable of doing on their own. Perhaps one of the best of these examples was when Peter walked on the water to meet Jesus.
And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. – Matthew 14:28-29
There was no way that Peter could have walked on the water, without God’s power operating through him. That’s clearly God’s grace empowering him. As long as he kept focused on Jesus and on doing what Jesus had said, he was able to walk on the water. But once he took his eyes off of Jesus, seeing the wind and waves, his fisherman mind took over, telling him that he couldn’t do what he was clearly doing. Because he lost his faith, the grace of God was unable to work through him.
Even so, Peter experienced God’s grace in a way that nobody else has ever done. There is no other case recorded in history, where someone walked on the water. Perhaps that’s at least in part because that need has never existed, but even so, that doesn’t diminish the power of God’s grace operating in Peter in that moment.
Another great example of God’s grace empowering someone is the life and ministry of Sampson. We always see Sampson depicted as a huge man, with massive muscles. Yet if he had been like that, what he did wouldn’t have been so amazing. We expect strong men to do strong men’s tricks. But if Sampson had looked like a 90-pound weakling and still done the things that scripture records, it would be remarkable. That would be something that would be recorded in the Bible, giving credit to God.
How could Sampson have done the things that he did, if he was that 90-pound weakling? Through the grace of God and only through the grace of God. That’s why, even though the book of Judges doesn’t give a description of Sampson, it is likely that he didn’t look like a bodybuilder.
Everything that God wants to do through us, is manifested by His grace. We even see this, clearly stated, in the Gifts of the Spirit that Paul wrote to the Corinthian church about.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophecy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberty; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. – Romans 12:6-8
Notice that while faith is mentioned, the gifts operate because of the grace given to individuals. Faith allows us to use those gifts, but faith doesn’t give them to us. Rather, this verse makes it clear that faith and grace work together, hand in hand to accomplish God’s will. Faith’s part is in our asking and grace’s part is in God giving. Finally, “God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). While this verse is stated in the context of giving, it also says, “sufficiency in all things.” In other words, it is not limited just to giving; but rather, grace applies to all things. Let us begin to use it that way.