Why Christians Focus on Grace, Not Obedience
God’s grace is sufficient for us (2 Cor 12:9), but our obedience is not sufficient for God. The Bible teaches two categories of people, who are identified by diverse names that describe them. One group has received grace from God, the other has not received it. One group is saved, and the other is damned. For by grace we are saved. It is faith in Jesus Christ that manifests the receipt of the Spirit of grace (Zech 12:10; Rom 10:29). The unbeliever is void of the Spirit (Rom 8:9) because the world cannot receive the Spirit (Jn 14:17). The absence of faith correlates with the absence of the Spirit who grants both repentance (Acts 5:31; 11:18) and faith (Eph 2:8–9; Phil 1:29) to those He causes to be born again of God (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3).
It is the born again who has the Holy Spirit as his or her Teacher (Jn 14:26). when one’s mind is illumined to understand the Scriptures (Lk 24:45), one early lesson is the sinful disobedience of all humanity to God’s Holy Law (Ex 20; Dt 5). All have sinned (Rom 3:23; 5:12), and sin is lawlessness (1 Jn 3:4). Despite God’s imperative command for people to obey His commandments (Lev 26:14–20; Dt 27:10; 28:15, 45; 30:8; Judges 3:4) — all of them (Mt 28:19–20) — both sinners and saints fall short of that glorious standard of righteousness.
Righteousness is the position of right standing before the Holy God. The Law of God is holy, righteous, good, and spiritual (Rom 7:12,14). Men observe that God has set the standard and issued the command to obey, therefore, they presume it must be possible for people to comply. In truth, there is no will nor ability for natural born sinners to obey all that has been commanded (Rom 8:7). The unrighteous natural man is not inclined to seek for God, let alone what God requires of him (Rom 3:10–12).
This void of will or ability does not mean that God lowers the standard of righteousness, nor does He grade on a sliding curve when He judges and punishes sinners. Actually, there is no curve because one man in history kept the standard of the Law to perfection (Mt 5:17). Jesus Christ was fully human like us, yet without sin (2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:15). He set the bar for righteous judgment at 100% compliance to the Law of God.
By His own merits, that is, His own works of obedience, Jesus attained right standing — righteousness before God (Dt 6:25). Failure at even one point of the Law and Jesus would have been guilty of the whole Law (Jas 2:10). Everyone else who was ever conceived biologically possesses sin by inheritance from Adam (Ps 51:5; Rom 5:12), possesses a sin nature (Eph 2:3) and this results in the practice of sinning, if he or she escapes the womb alive (Rom 3:23; Rom 5:12).
For guilty sinners to have right standing before the righteous judgment throne of God requires an exclusive work of God. God must transfer sinners to a new position the Bible calls “in Christ.” By His doing we are in Christ Jesus (1 Cor 30), for it is God who establishes and anoints the saints in the kingdom of His beloved Son (2 Cor 1:21; Col 1:13). Christ Jesus is right before God and God’s elect, redeemed people are right “in Him.” The just One has justified the remnant of unjust (Rom 4:5; 1 Pet 3:18). Christians are declared “not guilty” by their having the imputed righteousness of the Lord, our righteousness (Jer 23:6; 33:16).
Imputed righteousness is an alien righteousness, meaning it is not one’s own. It was achieved by another and imputed to the ledger of the intended beneficiary who had nothing but guilty credits by his works done in the flesh, and which was assessed by God to be nothing but filthy rags (Is 64:6). Being “declared not guilty” and knowing there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus is pure joy to the believer in Jesus (Ps 51:12, 14; Rom 8:1; Gal 5:22).
It was the church at Galatia that was enticed back under the Law by Judaizers, who claimed to be Christians, but who also believed that obedience to the Law of God would produce some kind of favor with God. The Apostle Paul was particularly stern with this audience because of their foolish neglect of the doctrine of salvation, especially as it pertained to the grace of God they received upon receipt of the Spirit of Christ.
Many Christians, who have been nurtured in the faith by the independent fundamentalist movement of the early 20th century, are prone to fall prey to the heretical man-centered notion of works-based sanctification, that is, an obedience to the Law of God or even self-inflicted unbiblical rules with the end goal being a self-designed holiness. Sadly, this pseudo-brand of Christianity manifests in a legalistic regimen, often pressed upon others, to attain an ever-elusive obedience to an even more elusive standard.
Whereas the term “obedience” is frequent in emphasis, the term “grace” is sparse and subject to deficient definitions that keep the man-centered focus in their theology. In short, grace is considered an enablement by the Spirit instead of an actual work of God (Ps 57:2; 138:8; Is 26:12; Phil 2:13). This is the natural default position of those whose hope that their respective version of their own “body of sin” and “body of death” is now enabled by the indwelling Holy Spirit to “keep the Law.” The inevitable result is an arrogant judgmental spirit and pathetic boasting in spiritual accomplishments.
Instead of aligning with the chief of sinners, the Apostle Paul, these who emphasize the Law and obedience in the Christian life and who neglect reference to grace and the Spirit are to be corrected by the Scriptures. The myth of free will must be confronted because of the obvious revelation that men are either slaves to sin or slaves to Christ (Rom 6:6, 16–20; Eph 6:6). The suggestion of “obedience” must meet the inquiry, “How is that working out for you?” Sadly, most Christians are unfamiliar with Ezekiel 36:27, “And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules (ESV).” That’s grace that produces obedience, and all glory is given to God the Spirit.
The honest Christian revels in the confession of his total depravity that Christ might be magnified with exuberant expressions expounding the riches of His glory and grace. Sanctification, as one element of the whole of God’s salvation, is entirely the work of the Holy Spirit (Rom 15:16; 1 Cor 6:11; 1 Thess 5:23; 2 Thess 2:13; 1 Pet 1:2), who employs the Word of God in answer to Jesus' high priestly prayer on our behalf, “Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth (Jn 17:17).”
In conclusion, everyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus and bears the name “Christian” must examine himself to see if his words attribute his conversion to righteousness (right standing) and his spiritual growth as a Christian (sanctification) to his obedience to the Law (Galatians) or to the grace of God. Obedience claims are for the proud Christian, which is an oxymoron. Grace claims are for the humble Christian, who holds the right view and focus upon the Author of our faith (Heb 12:2). Faith in Christ apprehends one’s justification (by blood, grace, and faith) and continues to apprehend a life of holiness, which we live, not of ourselves, but because Christ lives in us (Gal 2:20), willing and doing His good pleasure (Phil 2:13).
The final word on grace versus obedience goes to C. H. Spurgeon, “If we are ever to see a pure and godly England we must have a gospelized England: if we are to put down social evil it must be by the proclamation of the grace of God.
Men must be forgiven by grace, renewed by grace, transformed by grace, sanctified by grace, preserved by grace; and when that comes to pass the golden age will dawn;
but while they are merely taught their duty, and left to do it of themselves in their own strength, it is labour in vain. You may flog a dead horse a long while, but before it will stir you need to put life into it, for else all your flogging will fail.
To teach men to walk who have no feet is poor work, and such is instruction in morals before grace gives a heart to love holiness.
The gospel alone supplies men with motive and strength, and therefore it is to the gospel that we must look as the real reformer of men.” — CH Spurgeon
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
May 31, 2022
