Is Your Faith in the Grace Of God?
"...we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this GRACE in which we now stand." (Romans 5:1-2)
Sinners are standing in the "GRACE" of God, regardless of whether they presently know it or believe it. However, only by believing that we have been saved by Grace can we "access" the joy of this "GRACE in which we now stand".
We do not "access" our salvation by faith but the joy in knowing of our salvation. Again, we sinners are saved by the "GRACE" of God because of his "great love", whether we know it now or not. It is a gratuitous "gift"...
"But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!…it is the gift of God..." (Ephesians 2:4-5, 8)
By "access" Paul is referring to how we enter into the knowledge of our salvation. That knowledge comes by "faith" which is simply believing what God has said to us, or done for us.
Paul was "astonished" that some, now most, of those within the concentric circles of Christendom were "deserting" the gospel of grace of God to a gospel of works. If any work, even the work of faith, is required in your doctrine of salvation, it "is really no gospel at all"...
"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the GRACE of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all." (Galatians 1:6-7)
This turning from the gospel of grace has been going on and perfected over the last 2000 years - I say again, any doctrine of salvation which requires works of any kind, is "no gospel at all".
Sinners are standing in the "GRACE" of God, regardless of whether they presently know it or believe it. However, only by believing that we have been saved by Grace can we "access" the joy of this "GRACE in which we now stand".
We do not "access" our salvation by faith but the joy in knowing of our salvation. Again, we sinners are saved by the "GRACE" of God because of his "great love", whether we know it now or not. It is a gratuitous "gift"...
"But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!…it is the gift of God..." (Ephesians 2:4-5, 8)
By "access" Paul is referring to how we enter into the knowledge of our salvation. That knowledge comes by "faith" which is simply believing what God has said to us, or done for us.
Paul was "astonished" that some, now most, of those within the concentric circles of Christendom were "deserting" the gospel of grace of God to a gospel of works. If any work, even the work of faith, is required in your doctrine of salvation, it "is really no gospel at all"...
"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the GRACE of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all." (Galatians 1:6-7)
This turning from the gospel of grace has been going on and perfected over the last 2000 years - I say again, any doctrine of salvation which requires works of any kind, is "no gospel at all".
The gospel of grace that Jesus gave Paul to preach was good news for ALL sinners. Returning to it is the only way to free ourselves from the bondage of religious tradition which has in the past and is now “destroying the word of God...” (Mark 7:13).
"Access" the KNOWLEDGE of your salvation by faith...
"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free...” (John 8:32).
"Access" the KNOWLEDGE of your salvation by faith...
"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free...” (John 8:32).