What is Grace? (Part 6)

In the previous article, we concluded that the Christian may so sin as to fall from grace, but many Christians struggle with sin and want to be assured of their salvation. They wonder whether a person is constantly falling out of and getting back into God’s grace. They want to know whether committing a sin will instantly cause them to lose salvation, or does God’s grace apply in such cases? In Romans 6:1-2, the apostle Paul says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid.” His point is that the Christian does not habitually practice sin so as to abuse grace, but the implication of this is that for those who are not, God’s grace covers the sins that they commit, but how does that work? 

The faithful Christian knows that an attitude of repentance is an ongoing necessity in his relationship with God. Many Christians in the New Testament sinned, but that did not mean they were immediately lost. Instead, they were urged to repent. Many Christians at Corinth, for example, were evidently involved in many sins even after they became Christians. Paul wrote to them and urged them to stop. Evidently, they did. In a second letter he said: “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:9-10). Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation. The Christian who sins has God’s grace as he continues in a penitent attitude confessing his sins to God (1 John 1:9). If he rebels against God, however, he will not be forgiven. We will talk about that in the next article.

God bless you, and I love you.

Kevin Cauley