Grace Alone (Sola Gratia)

Why grace alone? What role does it play in the life of the believer?

(Continued from Introduction to the Five Solas)

Grace is often easier to define than faith. Although I have to admit, when I actually sat down to write this piece, I had trouble making the distinction between grace and faith. Which makes it all the stranger we call it the “Five Solas” because it really feels like none of them are actually alone. They work as a unit, but each part is distinct. Not unlike the Trinity.

Grace as a concept is more prevalent in everyday life. We ask for it, but we assume faith is just ubiquitous. When we want others to be lenient regarding our mistakes, we ask them for grace. We need more time to finish a project. We to grades to be on a curve. A dancer is graceful. A woman can walk with grace. A benefactor can be gracious.

On the other hand, grace can be difficult to give to others because it means we have to sacrifice something. If the person we’re counting on is late, we could miss a deadline, or worse, a movie. If a child breaks a beloved heirloom, we can get mad, or we can remember the child is more important and also a child. Still, we’ve lost something and how much grace we extend is often inversely proportional to the value of what we lost.

When someone has wronged us, grace can be impossible to grant. How can you extend any kind of mercy at all when someone has hurt you? If a spouse cheats on us, or a friend betrays us, we lose something we can never get back. How can we extend grace when there’s no way they can make up for what they’ve done?

Therein lies the difference between our version of grace and God’s.

Define Grace

The grace of God goes further than our own. God’s grace is not conditional, or proportional. It comes with a great personal sacrifice as God subjected Himself to humiliation and death¹There’s an argument going around saying, “Even if Jesus died and rose again, he was only beaten for a few hours and rose again about 36 hours after that. Is that really a sacrifice if God is eternal?” My answer to this is quite simple, “Okay, you do it. Submit yourself to the same punishment, die, and rise again from the grave. I’ll wait.”, even death on a cross.²In the ancient world the Romans used crucifixion as a means of capital punishment. To the Hebrews, being hanged, even on a cross, means you are cursed (Deuteronomy 21:23) Even before we realize we’ve done anything wrong, much less asked for any kind of forgiveness, Jesus sacrificed himself, for us, because of God’s grace.

There’s a simple term in Latin to define grace; Favor Dei. I know, I said simple and then referenced Latin. It simply means: the favor, or good will, of God toward those who are utterly unworthy of His blessings. It is God’s gift of forgiveness for our sins once and for all (Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 5:8, Hebrews 10:10).

Why do we need God’s grace?

Thanks to sin entering the world in Genesis 3, death came into the world, because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Sin taints all humans. We know this because we all die.

Sin is disobedience against God and His law. We have all sinned (Romans 3:23) and so we are all guilty. To do die in sin is to be separated from God forever. Separation from God means no light, no love, no joy, only darkness and misery. It’s hell and we need God’s grace, not just to avoid hell, but to be with God.

But there’s good news.

Christ willingly laid down His life for us and our sin (John 10:18). He rose again to bring us a new life (John 10:28). Christ’s makes us reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). Jesus did this without us even asking for it (Romans 5:8). That is the ultimate definition of grace and shows our need for it; God, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, forgives us all our sin, once and for all before we even ask.

What does grace alone mean?

God’s gift of grace does not require anything on our part. We do not earn it. In this respect, grace is alone.

You can immediately see in this passage it mentions more than grace. It is by grace through faith. While it is grace alone that saves us, it is through faith we receive it. Faith, by the way, is also a gift.

Doing something to earn grace does not come out of the blue. Under the old covenant, sacrifices were made to atone for sin. Unfortunately, these sacrifices had to be repeated annually (Hebrews 10:1) because the blood of animals was imperfect and could not forgive sins completely (Hebrews 10:4).

Jesus tells the sacrifices under the old covenant pointed to Him. His sacrifice is perfect and makes us perfect once and for all (Hebrews 10:14). No need to repeat it year after year. Therefore, we no longer work for God’s grace, in fact, adding any kind of work to diminishes and Jesus’ sacrifice.

I would say don’t even try to do good works to earn grace, but some would take that as license to not do good works at all. This is a huge misunderstanding. We do not earn God’s favor, but we still do good works because it’s the right thing to do.

What is the difference between grace and faith?

God saves us by grace and gives us faith as the way to believe in Him and His salvation. While faith is the assurance of what God will do, grace is our assurance of what God has done. We do not have to question our salvation. Thanks be to God; our assurance of salvation is in God’s hands and not ours. We don’t have to worry if we said the right prayer the right way, or have enough understanding.

This doesn’t mean grace is in the past and faith is in the future. They are both present tense because we are always growing in faith, thanks to God’s grace. In other words, we believe more and know God better, because He is constantly pouring Himself into us.

What are the objections to grace alone?

There really aren’t any objections to grace alone, but there are disagreements on its application³For a quick breakdown of the various views on grace, here’s an article from the Lutheran Witness: Views on Grace. Catholics and Protestants read Ephesians 2:8-9 and agree we are saved by grace through faith and not by works. Disagreement enters in on how we receive and maintain it.

Catholics believe in infused grace⁴For further information on the Catholic view, here’s a place to start: Infused Grace from Catholic Answers while Lutherans⁵The LCMS website has a more detailed article on the Lutheran view of grace alone and imputed grace. and Protestants⁶For an explanation of the Protestant view on imputed grace see Why Does Christ’s Righteousness Need to be Imputed to Us? on GotQuestions.org believe in imputed grace. It’s a big subject, but to break it down: Imputed grace is once for all and infused grace is accumulated over time. The main difficulty is in the accumulation. If it’s by works then we have a problem and this is the very problem Martin Luther and the other reformers had with it.

Lutherans and Protestants differ on how grace is received, but it’s more subtle. While Lutherans and Evangelicals agree we are not saved by works, Evangelicals believe one must make a decision to be saved. In order to make this decision you have to reason out your need for salvation and then accept Christ’s work on the cross. As Lutherans we object to even this because if I have to understand salvation to receive it, how do I know if I’ve understood correctly? If I have to accept salvation to receive it, I’m completing, and therefore adding to, what Jesus has done.

As I said, both arguments go far deeper than what I’m explaining here, but this is the condensed version of the disagreement.

The simply profound nature of grace

Don’t complicate God’s grace. It’s profound and cosmic, but it’s also God’s gift. We sinned and He saved us. If you’re wondering about your salvation Scripture reminds us; Baptism joins us with Christ’s death and resurrection.

Baptism also links grace to faith.

In baptism, we put on Christ.

Keep it simple. By grace we have been saved and in baptism we are joined with Christ in death and resurrection. We are free. Live as free people (1 Peter 2:16). Live a life worthy of the gospel (Philippians 1:27). Don’t waste what God has given. Do some good.

Footnotes

• 1
  There’s an argument going around saying, “Even if Jesus died and rose again, he was only beaten for a few hours and rose again about 36 hours after that. Is that really a sacrifice if God is eternal?” My answer to this is quite simple, “Okay, you do it. Submit yourself to the same punishment, die, and rise again from the grave. I’ll wait.”
• 2
  In the ancient world the Romans used crucifixion as a means of capital punishment. To the Hebrews, being hanged, even on a cross, means you are cursed (Deuteronomy 21:23)
• 3
  For a quick breakdown of the various views on grace, here’s an article from the Lutheran Witness: Views on Grace
• 4
  For further information on the Catholic view, here’s a place to start: Infused Grace from Catholic Answers
• 5
  The LCMS website has a more detailed article on the Lutheran view of grace alone and imputed grace.
• 6
  For an explanation of the Protestant view on imputed grace see Why Does Christ’s Righteousness Need to be Imputed to Us? on GotQuestions.org