4 Things Saving Grace Is and 4 Things Saving Grace Is Not

Paul needed to take care of this one directly. If we preach and proclaim grace, this query will all the time rear its ugly head. In Romans 6:1-2 Paul said, “What shall we embrace, then? Shall we go on sinning in order that grace may increase? By no means! We are those that have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” He needed to ask these questions because some silly person thought that saving grace was like getting a passport to the land of debauchery.

I can understand why some might get a little bit confused here when a hero like Martin Luther said something like this:

If you might be a preacher of mercy, don’t preach an imaginary but true mercy. If the mercy is true, it’s essential to bear the reality, not an imaginary sin. God doesn’t save those that are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong [or sin boldly], but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who’s the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we’re here, for this life just isn’t a spot where justice resides. We, nevertheless, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13), are looking forward to a latest heaven and a latest earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God’s glory, now we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even when we were to kill or commit adultery 1000’s of times every day. Do you’re thinking that such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard for you might be quite a sinner.[1]

Telling someone that committing adultery or killing someone a thousand times a day and still not being separated from mercy might lend itself to believing that grace gives you a license to do what you wish. But that’s actually not Luther’s point. His point was to exalt the ability of saving grace. As we are going to see later, relatively than inspiring sin, grasping a paragraph like this may do the alternative—not less than if you happen to truly receive saving grace.