Grace

1. The nature of grace

   1. “The kindness and the love...of our Savior God appeared”; “God so loved...that He gave” (Titus 3:4; John 3:16).

The law is according to God’s righteousness, holiness, and goodness. Grace is according to God’s love. The manifestation of God’s love is grace. In His love, He gave His only begotten Son to accomplish redemption. Therefore, grace is the manifestation of God’s love. When God’s love is manifested, it is grace.

1. 2. “The surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7).

God’s grace is His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Kindness comes out of love. The love of God causes Him to be kind toward us. When this kindness reaches us, it is grace.

1. 3. “Now to the one who works, his wages are not accounted according to grace, but according to what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes” (Rom. 4:4-5).

God gives grace to us freely because of His love. We do not need to do anything. If we needed to do anything, what we received would be according to wages, to work, not grace. Wages are earned by working; they are not free. Grace is gained freely through faith. We do not need to work or exert any effort. Whatever is obtained through effort is not according to grace. We do not need to pay a price for grace, because it is given to us freely by God.

1. 4. “If by grace, it is no longer out of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace” (Rom. 11:6)

God’s grace has no connection to man’s works or actions. Whatever is by grace is not out of works. Works cannot be mixed with grace. Once something is out of works, that is, once works are involved, grace is no longer grace. Since grace is given freely by God, it cannot be earned by works or actions.

1. 5. “By the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace unto me did not turn out to be in vain...I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I but the grace of God which is with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).

2. The existence and giving of grace

   1. “His grace,...which He caused to abound to us... according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself” (Eph. 1:6, 8-9).

God’s grace is given to us according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself. According to the context of these verses, good pleasure refers to what God purposed before the foundation the world (v. 4). God purposed to give us grace before the foundation of the world. His intention was not an accident, nor is it temporary. Before the foundation of the world, God determined to give us grace. Grace was not added alongside, like the law. The law was added along the way; grace has always existed. God deals with us by grace because this is according to His original intention in eternity. Grace is not like the law, which God used only along the way in time.

2. 2. “Grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the times of the ages” (2 Tim. 1:9).

The grace of God was given to us before the times of the ages, that is, in eternity. We received the grace of God before the times of the ages even began.

2. 3. “When the kindness and the love to man of our Savior God appeared”; “Grace...now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus” (Titus 3:4; 2 Tim. 1:9-10).

Although the grace of God was given to us in eternity, it was manifested in time when our Lord Jesus came to accomplish redemption, enabling us to know, obtain, and enjoy grace.

2. 4. “The grace of God...has appeared” (Titus 2:11).

The grace of God appeared when the Lord Jesus came through incarnation to accomplish redemption. Now man can gain and enjoy grace in reality.

3. The means for giving grace

   1. “Grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 1:9 see also Eph. 1:6).

The grace of God was given to us in Christ Jesus, unlike the law, which was given to man apart from Christ. The law was added by God apart from Christ. Grace was planned by God in Christ and was given by God in Christ. God’s giving of grace in eternity and our obtaining of grace in time were both accomplished in Christ.

3. 2. “Grace...came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

      1. The law was given through Moses, but grace came through Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus is God who became a man, so grace came through God Himself when He became a man. Since the law is not God’s heart’s desire for us, it is not of central importance to Him. Consequently, He gave it to man through angels and a man, Moses. However, grace is fully related to God’s heart’s desire, and He considers it to be very important. Consequently, He came Himself to give it to us.

      2. God expended great effort to bring the grace that He purposed to give. He was incarnated, born as a man, went to the cross to die for man, resurrected from the dead, and became the Spirit to enter into man so that grace could be realized, obtained, and enjoyed by man. This was His purpose in coming in the person of Jesus Christ. Grace came when Jesus Christ came to man.

   3. “His grace, which He caused to abound to us in all wisdom and prudence, making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself” (Eph. 1:7-9).

God gives grace to us in all wisdom and prudence. He considered, planned, and arranged. In order to give Himself to us as grace, God made a plan, which He accomplished through creation and redemption, and then arranged a proper environment for us, including people and events, so that grace would abound to us. God did everything for us according to His wisdom and prudence so that His grace would abound to us. His giving of grace was according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself. This is quite different from His giving of the law to man.

4. The purpose for giving grace

   1. “God so loved”; “In love”; “His great love with which He loved us” (John 3:16; Eph. 1:4; 2:4).

God gives us grace because He loves us. This fulfills the desire of His heart and brings us to the goal of His love for us.

4. 2. “Making known to us the mystery of His will...unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him” (Eph. 1:9-10 see also 3:9-11).

God has given us grace in order to accomplish the mystery of His will to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, so that Christ would be the center and Head, expressing God’s multifarious wisdom and shaming Satan and his angels.

5. The principle of grace

   1. “Now to the one who works, his wages are not accounted according to grace, but according to what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted as righteousness” (Rom. 4:4-5).

Grace does not require works or actions; grace is based on faith. We do not need to work or act; we only need to believe. This is the principle of grace and the declaration of grace.

5. 2. “If by grace, it is no longer out of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace” (Rom. 11:6).

The law is completely a matter of works; grace is completely apart from works. Once we pay attention to works, we are not under grace but under the law. The law is out of works and under the principle of works; grace is out of faith and under the principle of faith.

6. The power of grace

   1. “The grace of God, bringing salvation to all men”; “Saved us...according to His own purpose and grace” (Titus 2:11; 2 Tim. 1:9 see also Eph. 2:8).

The law is weak and impotent. It could not accomplish anything because of the weakness of the flesh. Grace is strong and powerful; it accomplishes everything for us. The initial accomplishment of grace is to save us. We are all saved by grace.

6. 2. “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7).

Grace also causes us to be redeemed and our sins to be forgiven.

6. 3. “Justified by His grace” (Titus 3:7 see also Rom. 3:24).

God cannot justify us based on any of our works of the law. Through grace He justifies us. Grace is stronger than the law. It can do what the law cannot in relation to our justification.

6. 4. “Grace, with which He graced us in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6).

The law cannot result in our being graced in God. Only grace can cause us to be graced in the Beloved, that is, to be graced in our Lord Jesus.

6. 5. “By His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7).

Because of grace, we are no longer enemies of God; instead, we are heirs of God, inheriting the eternal life.

6. 6. “Into this grace in which we stand and boast because of the hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:2).

Grace enables us to leave sadness and hopelessness behind and to be boastful in the hope of obtaining God’s glory. We are boasting and hopeful, not sorrowful and hopeless, because grace brings us into the glory of God so that we can become glorious people.

6. 7. “The word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who have been sanctified” (Acts 20:32).

Grace not only saves us but also builds us up so that we would gain God’s glorious inheritance with all His sanctified ones.

6. 8. “Sin will not lord it over you, for you are not under the law but under grace” (Rom. 6:14).

We can be freed from the authority of sin because of the work of grace in us. Grace causes us to be released from the authority of sin so that we are no longer slaves to sin.

6. 9. “Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help” (Heb. 4:16).

We can come forward to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace for timely help. Timely help can also be translated as “constant help.”

6. 10. “Much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ”; “So also grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:17, 21).

       1. The grace within us is strong, and it causes us to reign in the life of God. Its strength to overcome is not limited. With its strength, which comes from God’s life, grace exercises authority and rules over everything, causing everything to be in subjection to us.

       2. The grace that we receive is Jesus Christ our Lord, who is living and powerful. Grace reigns over everything in order that we might abundantly obtain God’s eternal life, the life of God in our Lord Jesus Christ.

   11. “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor. 12:9)

The Lord’s grace is sufficient for us. This sufficient grace is His powerful resurrection life within us, which is able to bear all our responsibilities and bring us through any environment.

6. 12. “By the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace unto me did not turn out to be in vain, but, on the contrary, I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I but the grace of God which is with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).

The grace of God can increase our human capacity, as it did in Paul. He says, “By the grace of God I am what I am” and “I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I but the grace of God which is with me.” If we compare his words yet not I but the grace of God with his words in Galatians 2:20, it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ, we can realize that the grace of God is just Christ. This confirms the definition of grace. The grace of God in truth is just Christ, who is God Himself. Grace is the powerful life of God within us. Therefore, the grace of God is as strong as Christ, and the grace of God is as powerful as God and the life of God. The grace of God enables us to do what others cannot because of its strength and power.

7. Believers not being under law but under grace

   1. “You are not under the law but under grace” (Rom. 6:14).

New Testament believers are not under law but under grace. Therefore, we should not return to the law to live under the law and to keep the letter of the ordinances of the law. We should live under grace, following God and His life within us to live and act.

7. 2. “We have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter” (Rom. 7:6, see also v. 4; Gal. 2:19).

We have died through Christ to the law, so we have been discharged from the law to serve the Lord in newness of spirit, not in oldness of letter. If we serve the Lord in oldness of letter, we are living under the law. We must serve the Lord according to the Spirit and the life in our spirit in order to live under grace. Thus, we should not care for the letter of the law but only for the Spirit and life in the Spirit. We live to God in spirit because we have died to the law.

7. 3. “We are no longer under a child-conductor” (Gal. 3:25).

The law is a child-conductor to lead us to Christ so that we may live under grace. Since we have entered into Christ and are under grace, we are no longer under the child-conductor, so we should not live under the law. Therefore, any thought or action of returning to live under the law is a great mistake. In the New Testament age any teaching that tells people to live under the law is a confusion of the truth and is heresy. Believers should not receive such teachings.

7. 4. “We have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand” (Rom. 5:2).

We have entered into grace by faith, so we should not return to the law. We should stand in grace and continuously live in grace.

8. The law of the believers

   1. “I will impart My laws into their mind, and on their hearts I will inscribe them” (Heb. 8:10 see also 10:16).

Although believers are not under the law, this does not mean that they are not under any restrictions and can be completely lawless. Although God’s salvation frees believers from an outward observation of the law of letters, He puts the law of life into the believers and inscribes it on their hearts. The outward law of letters is composed of ordinances apart from God and separate from God. Thus, it is dead, weak, and impotent. The inward law of life is spiritual; it is in God and cannot be separated from God. Therefore, it is living, strong, and powerful. The outward law of letters depends on the strength of man’s natural self. The inward law of life is fulfilled by living in God, and it relies on the power of His life. God does not want us to live under the law of letters; He wants us to live according to the law of life. The law of life in us regulates us in every matter, giving us an inward knowledge of what God wants to do and what He does not want to do. While we do not have any responsibility to follow the outward law of letters, we must be responsive to the inward law of life.

8. 2. “The law of the Spirit of life” (Rom. 8:2).

The law that God puts into the believers is His life. This life is in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enters into us and brings God’s life into us as an inward law. Since this life is in the Holy Spirit, the law of this life is also in the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the law of life is the law of the Spirit of life. This inward law is active and keen; it has the capacity to regulate us in everything. It causes us to know God’s will and enables us to live out God’s will in a living and strong way. This is the law that we should follow and pursue today.

8. 3. “According to the spirit...The mind set on the spirit” (Rom. 8:4, 6 see also Gal. 5:16).

The Holy Spirit in us is a living law. We need to follow Him and set our mind on Him and live.

8. 4. “Follow in His steps” (1 Pet. 2:21 see also 1 John 2:6; John 13:15).

Today we not only have the Holy Spirit inwardly as our law, but we also have the Lord’s steps as our model. We should follow the Holy Spirit and the Lord’s steps in our actions. We should do things according to the Lord’s pattern.

8. 5. “Be therefore imitators of God”; “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Eph. 5:1; Matt. 5:48).

Our highest law and principle is God Himself. He wants us to be perfect as He is perfect. We are His children with His life. Based on His life, our living can match Him.

8. 6. “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).

Whatever we do must be to the glory of God. This is a law and a principle in our living. Whatever we do must glorify God.

8. 7. “I am not without law to God but within law to Christ” (1 Cor. 9:21).

Although we have left the law of letters, we are not without law before God. In Christ, we have a greater, higher law, which is the life of God, the Holy Spirit of God, God Himself, and the glory of God as our law. Anything that causes us to touch the presence of God and to fellowship with God is permissible according to the law of life. Anything that does not bring us to God is not permissible according to the law of life.