Have I Fallen From Grace? (by Tom)

Lately I have been thinking a lot about grace and while doing some research on it I came upon a verse that I have read multiple times before but which, this time, I saw in a totally different light. During a word search for grace in the NIV I found that in the New Testament alone it shows up in 114 verses. It was also during this search that I found the verse that put me in a quandary, I'll get to that verse shortly, but first would like to ask “What is grace?”

These are some of the definitions from Strong's Concordance for the Greek word charis (G5485) which is translated grace or favour:

1) grace
a) that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech
2) good will, loving-kindness, favour
a) of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues
3) what is due to grace
a) the spiritual condition of one governed by the power of divine grace
b) the token or proof of grace, benefit

If we look at Ephesians 2:8 we find a scripture which is at core of our beliefs as Christians “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

From this verse we see that grace is a gift from God. It is free, it costs us nothing but acceptance. Once it has been accepted it cannot be lost. I can find no place in the Bible that says that a person can lose God's grace but I do believe that, just as we must accept it, we must also choose to use it.

Grace provides our forgiveness from our sins, it is how we are saved but I would like to look at the second definition from above. “...turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith...and kindles them to the exercise of Christian virtues.”

Often times, when we talk about grace we can become focused on portions of scriptures such as the second half of Romans 5:20 “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more” This is a comforting portion of scripture and God's word is true. When I sin, grace increases more than my sin. I am forgiven of my sin, if I ask for that forgiveness. When I repent, He is faithful and just to forgive me and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Grace does cover sin. But there is more to it than that.

This brings us to the verse I mentioned earlier, one that has stirred up a lot in my mind. Luke 2:40 “And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.” This verse is in direct reference to Jesus and the Greek word used in this verse is charis which was the definition presented above. It is also the same word that is translated as favour (favor in US English) in the following verse “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Luke 2:52 I would now like to ask, “If grace is just for forgiveness of sins, then why did Jesus need it?”

From these scriptures we see that Jesus was endowed with charis (grace or favor) from God. I will ask again, why did Jesus need God's grace? It must be for more than just forgiveness. Jesus lived a sinless life therefore, He did not need forgiveness. But, if Jesus did not need God's grace, God would not have given it to Him. God does not waste anything, He does not give or endow something that is not needed. Jesus, God's son, God in the form of a man, who had no sin, needed grace.

I quoted a portion of Romans 5:20 earlier. I would like to dig a little deeper into the verses around it and see the full context of this verse. If we go to the next chapter we see Romans 6:1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? So, while grace does give us forgiveness of sins it does not give us infinite permission to keep on sinning. Romans 6 goes on to say that we are dead to sin and starting in vs.15 it says “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” Not only are we forgiven of our sins but through God's grace we are no longer slaves to sin.

I believe that many have a tendency to use grace as an enabler that allows them to continue to sin. God's grace does break the curse of the law, that is it frees us from the law of sin and death. But it cannot be used as an excuse to cover up sin.

I understand that I am on a fine line here, a tightrope so to speak. I am not trying to be legalistic, but I am trying to get past an extreme liberal mindset. One that says that it is OK to live life in whatever way you want because God's grace will take care of it. The Apostle Paul said “By no means!” can we do that.

God's grace is an enabler, better yet, an empowerer (I don't think that is a word but it should be), but not in the manner that it allows us to do whatever we want. It was given to Jesus while He walked this earth to empower Him to live a sinless life so that He could go to the cross for us. In John 1:16 “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." God gave His son grace and His son gave grace to us. We are given the same grace that was given to Jesus, therefore the same empowerment to overcome sin. If God gave it to His son, He must have needed it. If Jesus needed it how much more do I need it? Think about it, Jesus needed the same grace that I need. He just chose to use it at all times. I have a tendency to turn it on and off whenever I feel like it.

This can, and often does, lead to legalism. People say that you must be able to abide by all the laws just as Jesus did. They then try to bring condemnation into people's lives when they aren't able to live up to those standards. To prove that this mindset is also incorrect let's look again at the Apostle Paul who said that what he wanted to do he could not do and what he didn't want to do he did, and that it was the sin that dwells in him (Romans 7:16-20 my paraphrase). He later stated that he was the chief of all sinners. And in 1 John 1:8 “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” So if we claim to be without sin not only are we lying but we are making God out to be a liar.

As long as we are on this earth in our natural bodies we will have sin in our lives. However, we cannot allow ourselves to succumb to the thought that we can't fight to live like He would want us to. That brings us back to the second part of the definition from above, “...kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.” Along these lines Paul says, in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me." God is telling Paul, and through Paul He is telling us, that His grace is enough to carry us through any circumstance in our lives. It is not us that is able to live a Godly life. It is His grace in us that empowers us to live a life worthy of our calling. Why? Because, in our weaknesses, our sinful, unworthy, lowly lives His power is made perfect! So that we cannot boast about how great we are but that His light shines through us.

At this point I would like to address the title of this post. I talked about this in answer to a comment made about my post “Has the Holy Spirit Left Me?” (January 2010) The Bible says that grace is a gift. It is given to us by God. It cannot be lost. I have heard the statement “I have fallen from grace.” Which is often meant as “my sin was so bad that God has taken His grace away from me.” Galatians 5:4 says “You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” In this passage Paul is saying that when we try to justify ourselves by the law we are stepping out from under grace. We are choosing not to use the gift that God has given us. Grace is the only way we can be justified. Neither the law, nor our works will ever be able to justify us. So, according to this verse the only way one can fall from grace is to choose not to live under it.

What often happens in our lives is that when we sin Satan has an open door into our lives. He steps in with the only weapon he has, his lies. He begins to fill our minds with condemnation. He attempts to convince us that, because our sin was so bad, God won't forgive us unless we do something to make it up to Him. We then begin to strive to make it right in God's eyes. At this point we have begun to “try to justify ourselves by the law.” God has not taken His grace from us, we have chosen to try to earn His forgiveness instead of asking for it. It is not the sin that causes a person to “fall from grace” it is the person's attempt to fix it by living “better”. At which point someone might say “I promise, I will never do anything like that again. Not only that but I will go to church more, I will read my Bible more.” Not that there is anything wrong with doing those things, we all should be doing them, but they can't be done out of a motivation to earn God's grace. Nothing we can do will ever make Him love us any more or any less than when He gave His son for us. How long is it going to take to realize that.

Just remember, His grace is sufficient because in my weaknesses His power is made perfect.