Scripture Reading: Ephesians 2:1-10
One manifestation of God's goodness is sometimes called 'common grace,' which is given to all people. Another manifestation of God's goodness is what is sometimes called 'special (or specific) grace.' This is the saving grace of God. God grants the favor of saving grace on those whom He gives to the Son (cf. Jn 6:37; 17:2,6).
The closest one-word definition of grace is ‘gift’ or ‘favor’. Because of our sinful nature, before God awakened our hearts, we were dead in sins (Eph 2:1,5). We were unresponsive to God … in fact we were willfully rebellious against Him. And we would have remained in that state had not God breathed life into our souls, making us alive together in Christ (2:5). This is grace. Being completely unworthy of God’s favor and utterly unable to present ourselves to God in an acceptable way, God still stirred our hearts and opened our eyes and awakened us to life. Like Lydia in Acts 16:14, God opened our hearts to respond to the gospel. Salvation is all from grace.
The human response to God’s grace is faith. Salvation is by grace through faith. This means that God’s grace is the source of salvation and faith is the means of salvation. Grace is the fountainhead and faith is the conduit carrying the water. Saving faith is not just agreement with the facts about God and Jesus Christ … it is to rest in God … to hope in Him … to abandon oneself to Him. It is not simply a matter of the head, but of the heart.
When it comes to divine grace in salvation, we are met with a mystery. On the one hand, Jesus said, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (Jn 6:44). On the other hand, Jesus said, ". . . whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." (Jn 3:18). This mystery views inability on one hand and accountability on the other hand.
The Bible teaches both the utter inability of sinful people to come to Christ on their own (cf. Jn 6:44;65; Rom 6:9; 1 Cor 2:14; 12:3), and the full accountability of every person to God (cf. Ecc 12:14; Rom 2:5,6; 14:12; 1 Pet 4:5).
When it grips our hearts that hell is a real place and that we really deserve to die there for all eternity, then the fact that God saved us from that penalty by His grace is utterly overwhelming. It smashes our pride to pieces and honors God completely. For what part of our salvation do we deserve praise? None. It is all from grace.
