What is Grace?

[Rex]

We are saved...not from the responsibility of sin...but from sin itself. Those who still sin are yet incomplete in their salvation...and this has eternal consequences.

Psalm 103:10-11

 

[HeRoseFromTheDead]

Where does the Bible teach that Jesus "satisfied the wrath of God by acting as your substitute and receiving your punishment in your place" ????

Substitution, or exchange, is the very definition of the word translated reconciliation (5x) and atonement (once) in the NT.

G2643 καταλλαγή katallage (kat-al-lag-ay') n.
1. an exchange
2. (figuratively) an adjustment, reconciliation
3. (specially) restoration to the divine favor
[from G2644]

G2644 καταλλάσσω katallasso (kat-al-las'-so) v.
1. to change mutually
2. (figuratively) to reconcile
[from G2596 and G236]

G236 ἀλλάσσω allasso (al-las'-so) v.
1. to change, transform, make different
[from G243]

G243 ἄλλος allos (al'-los) adj.
1. "else," i.e. different

The cross was an exchange where we received his righteousness and he received our sins.

The doctrine of Penal Substitution is a doctrine of demons.

What you teach is a doctrine of demons.

We are saved...not from the responsibility of sin...but from sin itself. Those who still sin are yet incomplete in their salvation...and this has eternal consequences.

Really? You haven't been saved from the responsibility of your sins? Riiiiiiiiight...

Every man is incomplete in his salvation until the day he dies.

Scotty If you don't understand the simple doctrine of salvation I have no Idea what it is you teach or believe, all I can say is it's another Gospel.

+1

IMO Dan Scotty is an enemy of the cross and an enemy of the faith of Christ.

 

[Episkopos]

Extravagant sin? If we say we are without sin we deceive ourselves 1 John 1:8 While we were yet sinner he saved us Romans 5:6-9

Were you incomplete in salvation when Jesus forgave your sin, while you were yet a sinner? Why then do you now seek to be justified by keeping the law?

Gal 5
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

And here is that hope in faith we await for, the completed victory,

1 Cor 15:51-58

I'm am not advocating sinning, nor the maturity that the newness of life brings as a result of the changing of our heart and the renewing of our mind. But the reality of the situation is that seeking to be justified by keeping the law or thinking one is has reached the fullness of the salvation yet to come is fooling themselves. God has allowed this world to become a proving or training ground, a proof of His love and forgiveness, we should never lose the motivation of our desire to be holy, and I myself never thirst for the water of life threw the spirit, but rather daily drink that I might continue the race. Hebrews 10:36-39

Hebrews 12:1-29
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus is not a cover for the sinful man...he leads a man to the cross in order that he might become a new creation in Him through being (actually) born again of the Spirit. The sinful man is condemned already...but Gods calls us to come to His Son by forsaking our old condemned lives and be renewed in both heart and mind. God doesn't have ANY preferences in judgment...He is completely impartial. Those who receive grace to become as Jesus Christ will live since they now think and act as Jesus. Those who continue to live as before (regardless of doctrinal stance) will die in their sins.

 

[Rex]

Jesus is not a cover for the sinful man...he leads a man to the cross in order that he might become a new creation in Him through being (actually) born again of the Spirit. The sinful man is condemned already...but Gods calls us to come to His Son by forsaking our old condemned lives and be renewed in both heart and mind. God doesn't have ANY preferences in judgment...He is completely impartial. Those who receive grace to become as Jesus Christ will live since they now think and act as Jesus. Those who continue to live as before (regardless of doctrinal stance) will die in their sins.

Then I'll be honest, just what is it your trying to imply? That after you received the HS you have never sinned?
Please speak clearly and define what it is you're saying. I lined out the part of your original reply simply because I have already posted many scriptures that contradict it. Jesus is the mediator between man and the Father. Apart from Jesus no man will ever come before Him. And I have already posted scripture that indicate NO MAN will be justified by the LAW. So we are not being made perfect that we may be presented before the Father apart from Jesus interceding and dieing for our transgressions.

Gal 3:11
Romans 3:20
Gal 2:16

Are you one that claims and teaches, I keep the whole of the law? If so just say so.
You take every thought into captivity and allow nothing from your mouth that isn't 100% holy? Just as Jesus did?
Romans 2
17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; 18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles "Nations" because of you.”

 

[HeRoseFromTheDead]

Jesus is not a cover for the sinful man...he leads a man to the cross in order that he might become a new creation in Him through being (actually) born again of the Spirit. The sinful man is condemned already...but Gods calls us to come to His Son by forsaking our old condemned lives and be renewed in both heart and mind. God doesn't have ANY preferences in judgment...He is completely impartial. Those who receive grace to become as Jesus Christ will live since they now think and act as Jesus. Those who continue to live as before (regardless of doctrinal stance) will die in their sins.

Please clarify what you mean by sinful man. Do you mean a man with a sinful, Adamic nature, or a man who practices sin?

 

[Episkopos]

Please clarify what you mean by sinful man. Do you mean a man with a sinful, Adamic nature, or a man who practices sin?

One who practices sin DOES have a sinful nature. Just like one who indulges in gambling has a gambling nature. Sinful man is carnal man...a man who walks in his own light (which is darkness) and his own strength.

 

[HeRoseFromTheDead]

One who practices sin DOES have a sinful nature. Just like one who indulges in gambling has a gambling nature. Sinful man is carnal man...a man who walks in his own light (which is darkness) and his own strength.

Does one who has a sinful nature practice sin?

Jesus is not a cover for the sinful man...

It does say in Daniel 9:24 that the messiah would cover iniquities. I can post literal translations if you like from the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint..

 

[Rex]

One who practices sin DOES have a sinful nature. Just like one who indulges in gambling has a gambling nature. Sinful man is carnal man...a man who walks in his own light (which is darkness) and his own strength.

I took the liberty of applying practices sin to your last two replies, does this reflect what you believe?
I don't think it does completely, and you're looking for a way to wiggle off the hot seat. I just couldn't bring myself to believe you intended this next quote below to mean practicing sin, but I am trying to give you the benefit of the doubt with the other references to sin.

We are saved...not from the responsibility of sin.

But you must admit there is a distinction between practicing sin and sin.
It called a change of heart, it is not called being changed into a sinless perfect man. The nature is still there, in every instance of the NT we are told to put off the old man. Note the word WE ARE TOLD the word WE implies, we are responsible to resist we are not released from the nature of our condemned flesh.

Here is where you use the quote, If we are not saved from the responsibility of sin then how is it anyone can receive salvation? By becoming sinless? That doesn't relieve us of the responsibility of sins already committed does it. Nor does the scripture tell us we will become sinless on the contrary it says we must continue to resist sin in the newness of the Spirit.

You must admit that it is the claiming of righteousness WHILE WE PRACTICE SIN SO EXTRAVAGANTLY that leads to bringing shame on Christ and the gospel.


We are saved...not from the responsibility of sin...but from practicing sin itself. Those who still sin are yet incomplete in their salvation...and this has eternal consequences.

Jesus is not a cover for the practicing sinful man...he leads a man to the cross in order that he might become a new creation in Him through being (actually) born again of the Spirit. The sinful man is condemned already...but Gods calls us to come to His Son by forsaking our old condemned lives and be renewed in both heart and mind. God doesn't have ANY preferences in judgment...He is completely impartial. Those who receive grace to become as Jesus Christ will live since they now think and act as Jesus. Those who continue to live as before (regardless of doctrinal stance) will die in their sins.

Paul especially argues in Romans, chapters 6-8, that we have two competing natures, the flesh and the spirit.

 

[spockrates]

.
The Bible doesn't provide an explicit definition of grace; which tells me that
it assumes its audience has enough command of their own language to know
what grace is. So then; in my opinion, if someone has to ask what grace is;
then they are neither mature enough, nor educated enough to read the Bible
on their own.

Buen Camino
/

I resemble that remark!


Yes, I'm afraid I'm showing my ignorance. But I have come to learn, rather than debate. One thing I have learned is asking questions--even simple ones--is the best way to get to know why others more educated than myself believe.

"I have, it seems a tedious way of asking a simple question!"

--Socrates

 

[afaithfulone4u]

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

(Ephesians 2)

Since I can be saved by grace, I'm thinking it's essential to know what grace is! Please tell me: What is grace?

What is grace? Have you ever heard of a grace period? When you have a debt that is due on a certain day, you also have a grace period just in case you need and little more time to get it together. You can also say that God's grace is unmerited favor for we did nothing to deserve it accept Believe.

But the favor is not to just stay as we are, we do come as we are in our sinful state, but we must grow and move forward to allow the Word to cleanse us as we learn of God's ways.
By God's grace we have been given time to hopefully be salvaged, to allow the Spirit to work in us to raise us up to the standard of Christ. We in ourselves could not fulfill the law because just coming out of Egypt, we have no clue of how to think and walk that would please God, we needed to receive the Seed of God which is The Word/The Christ of God to come and be planted in our hearts. The Spirit of God is the only one who is able to help us, that is why the Spirit is referred to as the helper, the comforter. Those who are walking in the Word have put on Christ. Raised up means in standards, integrity, good godly character. No longer wallowing in the dust of the earth as sinners, dogs, animal lust nature, but being exalted up to higher standards in Christ by God's grace for He did not need to do this, but He did because He so loved the world that He was willing to forfeit His Word of the fleshly law being His only Begotten Son to die on the cross and suffer for us and leaving the added laws nailed to the cross, resurrecting His Word/Son back up on the 3rd day as our new covenant Word.

When we come to Christ, our past sins are totally forgiven and erased. This is done so that no man can boast of why they were accepted compared to another's sins, for there is none righteous no not one says God so nobody can say: Well I am a good person..... but YOU, I am surprised to even see you thinking you could ever make it right with God!! No flesh in it's own works can be saved, it is only by faith in Christ to believe and confess to receive him as Lord of your life, And only by the Spirit can one say Jesus is Lord and mean it by following the Word where ever he(the believer) goes, meaning in all his doings.

Rom 3:25
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
KJV
Of course as babes in Christ and all throughout of growing we will stumble from time to time and we still have repentance to get back up and keep moving forward, but we must not willfully sin.

Heb 10:26-27
26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
KJV

 

[KCKID]

I resemble that remark!


Yes, I'm afraid I'm showing my ignorance. But I have come to learn, rather than debate. One thing I have learned is asking questions--even simple ones--is the best way to get to know why others more educated than myself believe.

"I have, it seems a tedious way of asking a simple question!"

--Socrates

And, you will find, even asking simple questions of others 'more educated' than yourself, is that you will get many different answers. The Bible may STATE that its contents are not open to interpretation but the interpretations of the interpreters often leave us scratching our heads . . .

Sometimes, and I might get jumped on here, it's probably best to close up the Bible and simply allow our common sense to kick in! After all, our brain is God-given too, is it not ...?

 

[Rex]

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.


the sheep know the shepherd voice
John 10:27-28

 

[spockrates]

Paul connects grace to the quickening.

Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved
Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Act 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

Col 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
Col 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Col 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

1Pe 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1Pe 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
1Pe 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

The quickening is clearly connected to the death of the old man (Rom 6:4-7). Thus Jesus not only offered Himself up to the Father that His blood remit our past transgression but He also died as an EXAMPLE that WE DIE WITH HIM.

Jesus ransomed us from the "service of sin" thus giving us the opportunity to forsake one master (Satan) in order to server another (Christ). Serving the methodology of Satan leads to ruin whilst serving the methodology of Christ (by abiding in His Spirit) leads to eternal life. Hence the "unmerited gift of God" is eternal life THROUGH Jesus Christ.

The false teachers pervert the way we enter into Christ by presenting a false alternative whereby a sinner never actually "abides in Christ" for they never actually forsake their rebellion which makes it impossible to "receive meekly" the implanted word. The false alternative they offer is the notion of "salvation as forensic" whereby a sinner is reconciled to God when they are STILL IN REBELLION and that the cessation of rebellion occurs AFTER initial salvation in what they teach as "sanctification."

Sanctification in the Bible consists of being initially set apart unto holiness (a servant of righteousness) as well as the ongoing growth (from a babe) in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ (we are instructed). Sanctification IS NOT sinning or rebelling less as many commonly believe. Justification and Sanctification are very closely connected for the faith which God reckons one just by (Rom 4:5) is the same faith by which we are sanctified (hence faith purifies the heart [Act 15:9]).

God bless.

Thank you for that thoughtful response, but have you answered my question? Is grace favor or power?

I am jumping in a little late, as I was not aware of this topic. I don't think grace has been defined yet. It is not God's favor, as some say. The favor is the thing which grace brings to us. On the subject of life and righteousness, in Rom.5:15-18, we find that both of these are gifts. And in the NKJ,and other translations they are called 'free' gifts. Unlike a couple of the doctrines presented above, the bible shows that the sacrifice of Jesus and His resurrection to life are they which have provided these gifts to man. This is also seen in 2Cor.5:19,20. Salvation is God's gift to mankind, to they who are willing to accept it as such: namely a gift. Therefore grace is the giving of a free gift. Faith is the means by which we receive this gift.
Jesus told His disciples "Freely you have received. Freely give".
Several of us have replied to the doctrine presented in reply #45. I will again do so later today after work. It is in opposition to grace. In fact, it opposes the blood sacrifice of Jesus. It opposes faith. Here is a quote from it:

"The above view teaches that a sinner is released from condemnation due to the penal demands of the law being satisfied because Jesus Christ bore the literal punishment due the sinner. In other words, it is taught, Jesus "paid the fine that was owed."

The Bible simply does not teach any such notion anywhere and if you believe it does then the burden is on those who teach this doctrine to produce the scriptural passages which clearly establish this doctrine."

I accept this burden. Start with Rom.5: 15-21. In the meantime, the above post cam along before I had opportunity to read it. "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" NOT the "service" of sin, as you suppose.

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

(Romans 5:15)

Hi, Mac. When Paul writes "God's grace and the gift" I can see how some would interpret this to mean grace and the gift are not one, but two. How about you?

 

[HeRoseFromTheDead]

Thank you for that thoughtful response, but have you answered my question? Is grace favor or power?


But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

(Romans 5:15)

Hi, Mac. When Paul writes "God's grace and the gift" I can see how some would interpret this to mean grace and the gift are not one, but two. How about you?

In that verse I believe the distinction is being made between grace and the gift that flows from it. The gift, of course, being the holy spirit.

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts 2:38

 

[mjrhealth]

When my grand daughter wakes up in the morning, I change her nappy, we have a little play, she lets me knows shes hungry, I make her a bottle I feed her, thats what she expects, from me her grand father, that is grace.
When she teething, and her mouth is giving her trouble, and she is all grisly, and cant settle, we dont get angry at her,we try comfort her give her what she needs. thats grace.
When we feed her too much and she decorates us with her previously eaten dinner, we dont get angry we clean her up and go on, that is grace.
Next time she poohs her self, and we change her, we wont get mad at her, we will clean her up and make her comfortable, thats what good parents do, that is grace.

Any one who says he does not sin is a liar, we all sin even those who are in Christ, sin is condemned to our flesh, our flesh is dead to God, it is unsaveable, and just like little children when we mess up. God just asks us to go to Him so He can clean us up an we can go on with Him, that is grace, but the religious hate the things of God, they want to prove themselves to Him, think they can obtain salvation through there own works, but will always fall short, they have rejected Grace and given themselves over to the flesh, blind men leading blind men.

In all His Love

 

[williemac]

What is grace? Have you ever heard of a grace period? When you have a debt that is due on a certain day, you also have a grace period just in case you need and little more time to get it together. You can also say that God's grace is unmerited favor for we did nothing to deserve it accept Believe.



When we come to Christ, our past sins are totally forgiven and erased. This is done so that no man can boast of why they were accepted compared to another's sins, for there is none righteous no not one says God so nobody can say: Well I am a good person..... but YOU, I am surprised to even see you thinking you could ever make it right with God!! No flesh in it's own works can be saved, it is only by faith in Christ to believe and confess to receive him as Lord of your life, And only by the Spirit can one say Jesus is Lord and mean it by following the Word where ever he(the believer) goes, meaning in all his doings.

Rom 3:25
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
KJV
Of course as babes in Christ and all throughout of growing we will stumble from time to time and we still have repentance to get back up and keep moving forward, but we must not willfully sin.

Heb 10:26-27
26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
KJV

This shows that you have no interest in considering that maybe you are misinterpreting a passage of scripture. I say this because you are repeating passages over and over on different threads, and these have been explained over and over in their context. But these explanations pass over you. You ignore them. Why not address them and validate your position? As it stands, you will not be taken seriously as an interpreter of scripture, or doctrine.
Heb. 10:26 is not subject to your own personal decision about the definition of willful sin. The author used the term. The author gets to tell us what he meant. The last verse in that chapter..." but we are not of those who draw back to perdition but of those who believe to the saving of the soul" . The author went to a lot of trouble to explain how it is that the sacrifice of Jesus was superior to the blood of bulls and goats, how they were not able to make a person perfect, but how His sacrifice does just that...FOREVER (10:14)! Therefore His sacrifice replaced the others. Therefore there no longer remains a sacrifice for those who sin outside of the blood of Jesus...IN UNBELIEF! That is the context of Heb.10.

As for Rom.3:25... let me read in from the NKJ, as well as the next verse. (Jesus) " whom God has set forth as a propitiation by His blood, THROUGH FAITH, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God HAD passed over the sins that were previously committed, (vs26) to demonstrate AT THE PRESENT TIME, His righteousness, THAT HE MIGHT BE JUST AND THE JUSTIFIER OF THE ONE WHO HAS FAITH IN JESUS."

HE PASSED OVER THE SINS COMMITTED PRIOR TO THE SACRIFICE OF JESUS. The next verse compares that to the phrase..."At this present time". These are two time frames in history. They are not the past sins of an individual. But then I doubt you will pay any attention to these passages in their proper context....as usual.

 

[spockrates]

You have hit on the issue here. His Love is shown through the power He gives. He doesn't condone sin because of Jesus' sacrifice. But He is training us to become as obedient as His own Son.

True, and many Protestants who agree with your statement disagree with the idea that grace is the power of God to empower us to obey.

"God does give us power to obey," one might say, "but in no way does this obedience save us from hell." You see, to them there is not only a distinction between grace and power. There is also a distinction between sanctification and salvation.

Many Catholics and Orthodox, on the other hand see sanctification as part of the process of salvation. To them, these are, in effect one and the same.

IMO grace is the attitude or disposition of GOD that he expresses towards us. The holy spirit he gives us through his grace is the power.

Yes, I understand. So how do I figure out if your opinion is correct? Should I compare it to scripture and see if it agrees? Or is there a more reliable way to discern the truth about your opinion?

What is grace? Have you ever heard of a grace period? When you have a debt that is due on a certain day, you also have a grace period just in case you need and little more time to get it together. You can also say that God's grace is unmerited favor for we did nothing to deserve it accept Believe.

But the favor is not to just stay as we are, we do come as we are in our sinful state, but we must grow and move forward to allow the Word to cleanse us as we learn of God's ways.
By God's grace we have been given time to hopefully be salvaged, to allow the Spirit to work in us to raise us up to the standard of Christ. We in ourselves could not fulfill the law because just coming out of Egypt, we have no clue of how to think and walk that would please God, we needed to receive the Seed of God which is The Word/The Christ of God to come and be planted in our hearts. The Spirit of God is the only one who is able to help us, that is why the Spirit is referred to as the helper, the comforter. Those who are walking in the Word have put on Christ. Raised up means in standards, integrity, good godly character. No longer wallowing in the dust of the earth as sinners, dogs, animal lust nature, but being exalted up to higher standards in Christ by God's grace for He did not need to do this, but He did because He so loved the world that He was willing to forfeit His Word of the fleshly law being His only Begotten Son to die on the cross and suffer for us and leaving the added laws nailed to the cross, resurrecting His Word/Son back up on the 3rd day as our new covenant Word.

When we come to Christ, our past sins are totally forgiven and erased. This is done so that no man can boast of why they were accepted compared to another's sins, for there is none righteous no not one says God so nobody can say: Well I am a good person..... but YOU, I am surprised to even see you thinking you could ever make it right with God!! No flesh in it's own works can be saved, it is only by faith in Christ to believe and confess to receive him as Lord of your life, And only by the Spirit can one say Jesus is Lord and mean it by following the Word where ever he(the believer) goes, meaning in all his doings.

Rom 3:25
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
KJV
Of course as babes in Christ and all throughout of growing we will stumble from time to time and we still have repentance to get back up and keep moving forward, but we must not willfully sin.

Heb 10:26-27
26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
KJV

Hi, AFaithful. Are you saying grace is a period of time God gives me to repent of my willful sins?

And, you will find, even asking simple questions of others 'more educated' than yourself, is that you will get many different answers. The Bible may STATE that its contents are not open to interpretation but the interpretations of the interpreters often leave us scratching our heads . . .

Sometimes, and I might get jumped on here, it's probably best to close up the Bible and simply allow our common sense to kick in! After all, our brain is God-given too, is it not ...?

Using common sense sounds sensible to me! Please tell me what is the common sense way of finding the true meaning of saving grace.

 

[HeRoseFromTheDead]

Yes, I understand. So how do I figure out if your opinion is correct? Should I compare it to scripture and see if it agrees? Or is there a more reliable way to discern the truth about your opinion?

You're on your own. You ask too many questions. Time to start digging and do the work yourself.

 

[spockrates]

In that verse I believe the distinction is being made between grace and the gift that flows from it. The gift, of course, being the holy spirit.




Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts 2:38

Yes, you might be right. Still, is it possible that the Holy Spirit--in some mysterious way perhaps beyond comprehension--actually is grace?

If grace is the favor of God, then grace is the love of God, I think. And John tells us:

... God is love.

(1 John 4:8)

Could it be that grace is not only what God gives, but also what God is?

You're on your own. You ask too many questions. Time to start digging and do the work yourself.

How does one work to learn what he does not know without asking questions of those who do know? If you are willing, I have one brief scripture in mind that mentions grace three times. I'd like to hear your opinion of what this one biblical passage means. If you are unwilling, that's OK. I will still appreciate the time you gave to help me out.

 

[HeRoseFromTheDead]

How does one work to learn what he does not know without asking questions of those who do know?

Read, pray, study...

But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. John 14:26

But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. 1 John 2:27