Romans 4:4 – now to him that works the reward is not counted as grace, but as debt, but to him that works not but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.
In trying to define grace or explain what grace is all about, I discovered that another way to explain and drive home the point is to also look at it from what appears to be the opposite. Grace as defined means unmerited favour but favour that is merited is no longer favour. In other words, if you have to work for it or required to do something to get it, then it is no longer grace. This was exactly what Paul the Apostle of grace highlighted in the above scripture to the Romans while trying to debunk their stronghold of trying to attain righteousness of God by observing the law.
The law as it was delivered to Moses by God was to bring man to the point where he can attain righteousness and continue to flow in the blessings of the Lord through the keeping of the law but unfortunately no one was able to attain this. Romans 3:10 as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one: Under the dispensation of the law it is required that all the laws must be obeyed and once you fail in one, you fall in all. James 2:10. Apart from the 10 commandments, there are well over 600 other laws under the Mosaic laws that must be observed. Will you then blame the people of the Old Testament for not being able to attain to righteousness via the law?
Under the dispensation of the law, God was also bound by the same old covenant because He is a covenant keeping God. If the covenant requires that man must play a part before God can play his part, then God is obliged to abide even though he wants to Love and bless man, He is restrained because of the terms of the covenant. God found himself in a position where he cannot do what he wants to do because man cannot keep his own terms of the covenant. So what did he do? He had to remove the old and established a new covenant leaving man out of the equation and replacing him with Jesus. This brings us to the dispensation of grace.
Jesus Christ the mediator of the new covenant was brought into the equation to replace man by fulfilling all the laws thereby liberating man from the bondage of the law of sin and death such that every man that believes and accept His lordship enjoys the grace of not having to go through the observance of the law to attain righteousness but becomes justified freely by grace through faith. God on the other hand is now free under this new arrangement to extend his love and blessing to man without the constraints of the terms of the old covenant. Friend this is Grace! We have been justified freely by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. It is not about what we did but about what Jesus did. Not of works but a gift so we have no bragging right at all.
Under the dispensation of the law, you have the blessings as a reward for obeying the law, and you have curses as a consequent of not obeying the law (Deuteronomy 28:1- 15) but under this new dispensation of grace all we have is the blessing because Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law Galatians 3: 13. Under the old law, Gods action is largely dependent on man’s action or inaction but under the new, Gods action is largely dependent on what Christ did. No wonder Paul said I am what I am by the grace of God. This is a good knowledge but for us to adequately enjoy this grace we must accept and walk in this truth. We all have access to this grace through faith. We are no longer operating under the law but under grace. It is free for all who will accept it, the same grace that got you saved will get you that healing, that breakthrough, and all that you’ll ever need. We therefore need to get used to this and not try to use the condition of the old to operate in the new. That will only end in frustration.
Grace means unmerited favour, preferential treatment, being privileged and preferred over others. That is exactly the promise of God for you this year. Just receive it. Forget about your qualification, forget about whether you missed it last year or you messed up, your work is not a criteria but His grace qualifies you. God is for you and not against you, His grace is sufficient enough to carry you through, if there is anything you need to do this year, just make sure you latch to his grace and he will carry you through. Your days of struggles are over! Have a grace full year!
For further study
Romans 6:14, Ephesians 2:8-9, Hebrews 8:7-9, Galatians 3:13
Declaration for today
The grace of God will sort me out and settle me this year in Jesus name
Questions for to reflect on
Do you know that Grace is superior to the Law?
Have you been trying to live by observing the law?
Do you know sin came as result of the law?
Comments & Testimonials