For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9
When I first started hanging around with Born Again Christians, I didn’t really understand why they used the word “grace” so much. To me, it seemed kind of annoying. They would pray for grace, they would talk about God’s redeeming grace, and they would say goofy things like, “but for the grace of God go I”. I didn’t grasp the concepts when they spoke Christianese.
My parents divorced when I was young. My mother taught English and attended night school to get an advanced degree. To occupy myself, I watched A LOT of television. Since the TV set was black and white, I didn’t think much about whether what I was watching was in color or not. A local UHF channel featured re-runs and old classic movies – probably because they were cheap. I saw A LOT of films from the Golden Age of Hollywood. As such, whenever I heard “grace”, I thought of the actress Grace Kelly. If you’ve seen Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window or To Catch a Thief, then you know that she was the epitome of graceful elegance. To me, “grace” implied graceful. In my mind, Grace Kelly defined grace.
You can see why I didn’t really get what these Christians were talking about. Praying for grace sounded like praying for elegance. “The grace of God” sounds like God is a stylish, sophisticated being who flows majestically in an out of the room. I was cool with the notion that He might grace us with His presence, but I didn’t get that we are saved by grace, unless somehow His elegant manner means that we are blessed by holy, majestic calmness. It took me a while to understand that grace is “unmerited favor”: we don’t deserve God’s love and provision.
Augustine was from a place in North Africa called Hippo. (I know, that sounds weird to me too – since hippopotamus means “river horse”, implying that it was named by someone with poor eyesight.) About 1,500 years ago, Augustine of Hippo was fascinated by the Doctrines of Grace in the Apostle Paul’s writings. Augustine wrote his Confessions to highlight these curious biblical principles. Here’s what he found so interesting: 1) we are each born burdened with sin, 2) God alone determines whom He will bless in spite of our sinfulness, 3) Jesus died for those whom God chose to receive grace, 4) having been chosen, we cannot escape God’s free gift of love, and 5) God ensures that those whom His Son rescued will be with Him forever.
One thousand years after Augustine, Protestants in Holland captured these truths as a memorable acronym: TULIP. Over the past five weeks, I have sought to describe each of these Doctrines of Grace: 1) Total Depravity, 2) Unconditional Election, 3) Limited Atonement, 4) Irresistible Grace, and 5) Perseverance of the Saints. But, let’s be clear, even though Reformed theology can be traced back to teachers from Holland, Switzerland, and Africa, these ancient truths come from God’s Word, given by the Holy Spirit to His prophets in the Old and New Testaments.
If you know that Jesus was born miraculously to a virgin in order to live an ordinary life, to die on the cross, and to rise again as Lord and Savior, then you have experienced God’s grace. This must be true because, on your own, as a fallen knucklehead, there is no way that you could have understood or lived up to God’s standards. I know that I could not have made it on my own. I am forever grateful to have come to know God’s grace. Maybe it just seems like Christianese, but if you know God’s amazing grace, if you have received His free gift, then worship Him this Lord’s Day.
