Enabling Grace

Enabling Grace

by David Scott

After walking with God for over 37 years, I’ve heard many exhortations and sermons about grace. It is impossible to correctly explain God’s plan for salvation without mentioning His grace. However, every time I’ve heard anyone talk about grace, they always defined it as “God’s unmerited favor.” The fact that His grace is unmerited can be proven by citing Eph. 2:8&9. Truly, grace is not something we receive from God in payment for our good works. Salvation by grace is a gift. We can do nothing to merit it. God’s favor in bestowing grace is also a factor because it is a gift.

There are many Bible passages, which speak of grace as being something more than unmerited favor, however. All of these references indicate that grace provides us with a power, which enables us to do what the context refers to. Thus, grace is not only amazing, but also enabling.

My attention was first brought to this fact as I read 1 Cor. 15:10 one day several years ago. The apostle Paul wrote, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all (referring to the other apostles), yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” Grace is mentioned three times in this verse. The first time Paul mentioned it, he revealed that it was God’s grace, which enabled him to become everything he was. Thus, grace produces an effect, which enables us to become what God intends for us to become.

The second time Paul mentioned grace in verse 10, he revealed that grace is an enabling power, which God expects us to respond to or it might be in vain. Grace is not automatic. There are things God expects us to do in order to receive its full benefit. That is why Eph. 2:8&9 point out the need for faith to receive God’s grace. What God expects us to do to develop our faith is further revealed in Rom. 10:17 – we must take time to hear what God is saying to us through His word. When Jesus Christ compared faith to a mustard seed, He revealed that faith is something that grows. Thus, God expects us to do everything necessary that will help our faith to mature.

The third time Paul mentioned grace in 1 Cor. 15:10, he revealed how grace provides an enabling power to labor for God. Paul responded so diligently to the grace of God that his labors exceeded those of the other apostles. Yet, he was careful to give God the credit for his accomplishments by pointing out that it was His grace that was working within him. I suspect the reason Paul responded so diligently to God’s grace was because of what Jesus said in Luke 7:47. Jesus pointed out how those, who have been forgiven the most, love Him in response the most. That is why Paul admitted how unworthy he was to be an apostle in 1 Cor. 15:9.

To briefly sum up everything explained above, Paul wrote about the importance of our responsibility to respond to God’s grace so it won’t be given in vain, and he also revealed that grace first enables us to become whatever God calls us to be so that we can then go about doing the works associated with our calling.

Let’s now look at other references to God’s enabling grace. In Acts 4:33, we see how it was God’s grace, which enabled the apostles to give an effective witness of Jesus Christ’s resurrection because of the great power it provided to them. This verse also reveals the purpose of God’s power in our lives is not for self-aggrandizement, but to point others as a faithful witness to Him. Grace and power are, therefore, somewhat synonymous. We can’t have power to witness for Christ without grace.

Rom. 5:2 tells us that by faith we have access into God’s grace, which enables us to stand. Thus, His grace not only provides salvation, but also the ability to stand. The grace of God gets us started in our walk with God and also keeps us going. In Gal. 5:1, Paul told his readers to “stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free…” By comparing this verse with Rom. 5:2, we realize that it is God’s grace that enables us to stand in Christ’s liberty so we don’t become entangled again in a yoke of bondage. It is also appropriate to compare Rom. 5:2 with Eph. 6:10-18 because this context deals with our need to stand against all attacks of the devil and his minions. This passage lists the armor we need to be victorious soldiers of our Lord Jesus Christ, but it is grace that enables us to use our armor to its fullest potential.

Rom. 5:17 adds to what God’s grace enables us to accomplish – “…those who receive abundance of grace…will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” Thus, in order to appropriate the promise of abundant life, which Jesus gave us in John 10:10, we need enabling grace to reign over the attacks of the thief (Satan), who attempts to steal, kill, and destroy. We should be reigning through our Lord Jesus Christ, not merely surviving. Receiving His grace by faith can make reigning in life a reality.

Rom. 5:21 further reveals the importance of righteousness to make reigning in life a reality. Thus, faith appropriates grace, and grace produces righteousness so that these three working together can enable us to reign in life. If you are not experiencing an abundant life, it may not be because your faith is too small. It may be that you haven’t used it to receive the enabling grace you need to walk in righteousness. With all the emphasis on faith in certain religious circles, many are failing to see how closely it must be connected to grace and righteousness. We are also told how important it is for faith to work by love (Gal. 5:6).

Rom. 12:3 reveals that everything Paul had to say to help the church was a result of God’s grace in his life. Apart from God’s enabling grace, Paul had nothing to say. But because he diligently responded to God’s grace, Paul had many important things to say to the church to help them in their relationship with the Lord. Grace enabled Paul to fill his epistle to the Romans with sound doctrine, exhortation, correction, comfort, rebuke, revelation, etc. In verse 6 of this same chapter, Paul explained how our gifts from God differ from one another according to the grace He gives to us. Paul also mentions how grace and faith are linked in the way God expects us to use our gifts. We need both grace and faith to prophecy, minister, teach, exhort, give, lead, show mercy, and love (vss. 6-9). Paul again expressed his need for God’s grace to write to the church in Rome in ch. 15:15.

2 Cor. 9:8 teaches how important it is for us to receive God’s grace in order to have everything we need to accomplish good works. Thus, our sufficiency is also linked to grace. The previous verses show a link between the grace God bestows upon us to the way we express generosity. The verses, which follow, also reveal this link to our liberality. After Paul used 8 verses to show the way grace for sufficiency is linked to the principle of sowing and reaping, he mentions grace again in vs. 14. Thus, the church in Corinth was generous as a result of the grace of God in them.

Grace is linked to God’s strength in 2 Cor. 12:9. Before Paul wrote this passage, he was suffering from some sort of satanic attack that motivated him to plead with God for relief. To prevent Paul from becoming proud (vs. 7), God did not grant the type of relief Paul desired. Instead, God gave him grace to withstand the buffeting. Even though Paul remained weak within himself, he was not weak in God. This type of experience is rather paradoxical. Yet God clearly said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Thus, it is possible for us to experience God’s strength in the midst of our own weakness because of His grace.

I won’t elaborate any further on the many Bible verses, which reveal the power of God’s enabling grace. If you want to study this in greater detail, just look up every reference to grace in any complete concordance. The main point I’m leading up to by pointing out the power in God’s grace is the way it relates to salvation.

The Bible is very clear that salvation results from God’s grace in our lives. But have you ever considered how His grace accomplishes salvation in your life? If grace is nothing more than unmerited favor, it allows you to continue in sin after you receive forgiveness and justification. But such is not the case. God’s grace brings a power with it to change you. That is why Paul so clearly said that everyone in Christ has become a new creature. Regeneration is an act of supernatural power from God. His grace provides the power to recreate you in Christ with a new nature.

The Bible also says that we are changed through the renewing of our minds. One way to overcome sin is to renew your mind with the truths about grace, which I’ve explained above. Col. 3:10 tells us that our new nature “…is renewed in knowledge…” Thus, knowledge about God’s enabling grace is necessary to help us overcome sin, the world, and the devil.

“Now to Him, Who is able to keep you from falling (by His enabling grace), and to present you faultless (also by enabling grace) before the presence of His glory with exceeding great joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.”