Sola Gratia | #TheSolae
The storm howled, its violent winds straining at the already ripped sails and whistling through the broken hull of the ship. John was at the helm of the ship, trying all he could to steer the course of the ship away from the calamity, holding on to the feeble hope he and his fellow sailors had left in surviving the onslaught.
He likened the wreck of the ship to his own life; becoming a sailor at the age of 11, dealing with some of the coarsest, most depraved human beings in the world (hence the origin of the term, cursing like a sailor) and engaging in debauchery that shocked everyone he met or interacted with. He had sunk so low to a point he even became a servant to West African slaves after being deserted by one of his captains. He participated in slave trade, treating them with little to no dignity, and even allowing his juniors to do the same as he.
As the ship rolled and swayed in the waves, he remembered the teachings his mother had impressed upon him as a child, teachings he had rejected all his life. He despaired, feeling as one who had fallen beyond all hope of salvation from the God he had heard of so many years ago. A New Testament passage came to mind as he wallowed in his despair;
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Luke 11:13, NIV
“Would he still answer, even if I have lived a life full of sin and wickedness?” he wondered.
He miraculously survived the storm, and began to make deliberate efforts afterwards to turn away from his past life and focus on the Christ he had written off. He disciplined himself to read the Bible as often as he could, pray and seek the comfort from other known Christians. Although he still continued in slave trade, those under him noticed a change in him; he was kinder to the slaves, and gracious to those he dealt with. Something was wringing his heart, and all could see it as plain as day.
John went on to become a preacher, a husband, and eventually an slave-trade abolitionist. Close to the end of his life, he said to his friends, “My memory has faded, but two things I know and I’m sure of; that I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great saviour.” Today, one of the greatest, most beloved hymns is attributed to him.
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound!
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now I’m found;
Was blind, but now I see!
John Newton
Grace. It’s a word we hear so often in singing and in Christian circles, but how often do we take time to ponder upon the word and its meaning?
Simply defined, grace means ‘unmerited favour’. A good deed done towards someone that is not based on what they have done or will do. To illustrate, you could buy a nice, warm blanket and offer it to the first homeless person you meet outside the store you bought it from. The guy, you most probably don’t know. Maybe you willnever meet him again afterwards. He hasn’t done anything prior to deserve getting the blanket from you, and most likely will do nothing afterwards to warrant why you gave him the blanket. A feeble example, but you (hopefully) get the point.
The Reformers, in their quest to bring a change to the Catholic system by referring them back to Scripture as the base authority, discovered grace as a truth that the church had indeed preached, but slightly added to and was liable to cause uncertainty in a believer’s life.
The Catholic church, even till this day, taught that that one is indeed saved by grace. However, the teaching rejects the word alone, which is what the Reformers advocated for. The Catholic view of how one is saved is as such; you are accepted in the eyes of God by grace and the works that follow after salvation, and that these works actually do merit your entry into heaven. The Reformers insisted, according to Scripture, it is by grace alone that we are saved; works come after as a result of the change that is brought about by God in the life of the believer.
Several portions of Scripture serve to show that it is grace alone that saves us. Paul asks the Corinthian church (and us as well) if what they have (their giftings upon salvation and salvation itself) were not given freely to them, and why then they boast as if these things were given to them as a reward for things done [1st Corinthians 4:7]. He poses the same thought to the Romans [Romans 11:35]; what can we give to God that would be enough to pay back for all that He has done? Think for a moment; what can we give to God, the great Creator and infinite ruler of everything and all things, that isn’t already His?
Perhaps the richest and most quoted source on grace alone is the second chapter of Ephesians. We were (and/or are) dead in and to sin, so deeply and fully into the sinful way of life that in the eyes of God we were as good as dead. Condemned by Adam’s disobedience, the sin nature now is present in every person born that makes us follow the desires of our bodies, the pleasures of the world and the will of the devil. God being holy and unable to stand sin actually pronounced judgement upon us; a full outpouring of His wrath upon all sinfulness that would have to be effected. No escape, no way out… or so it would seem.
We were deserving of death, but Jesus comes onto the scene, and willingly lays down His life and dies in the the most horrible way possible. In. Our. Place.
What could we have possibly done in our dead state to merit our salvation from the wrath to come? In all honesty, what? The painful truth; NOTHING. Zero. Zilch. Nada. All this is God’s own work. If it were ours, well… who wouldn’t boast about how they built a worldclass hospital, staffed it with all the medical specialists in the world and offered free treatment to all the sick who came regardless of age, race and background, and on that, they were granted access to heaven?
We are hardwired to think we deserve the good we are given, and man, we love to think that we will go to heaven because we deserve to be there for one reason or another. But we don’t. We do not, my dear ones. It’s hard to even write this down, but it is the truth.
So then what makes grace so amazing, as we often sing? It shows us how broken and fallen we are, yes, but it shows us how full of love and mercy God is. We deserved death; He gave us life and life in full. We deserved to bear the full weight of being separated fully from God; He offered a way through which we can be reconciled to Him. We deserved an eternity of suffering, pain and agony; He has given us the key to perfect peace, rest and joy. Two diametric opposites of the coin called grace.
The Reformers relished this truth; that even though they were great sinners, their God and Saviour was greater. Nothing they (and we) have done prior has merited our salvation, and interestingly, nothing we will do will add even more merit to it. The quick thing that comes to mind is, so I can do whatever I want and get away with it because it doesn’t change the fact that I am saved? Umm, no. What grace should do in the life of a believer who is in awe of what God has done so freely and abundantly is prompt them to seek more of who this God is, and carve a desire to obey Him and serve Him and love Him even more.
Think of it this way, if you received a gift (hmm, say a phone, for lack of a better example) from someone you did not know, wouldn’t the first thing in mind be to find out who that person is? Once that is done, and you realise they gave you the phone ‘just because’, wouldn’t that spark a form of admiration for that person? You would immediately conclude, that is a good person, so gracious and kind. A very feeble example, again, but I hope it clarifies my earlier point somehow.
Grace alone is what saves us. The abundant, excess and overflowing graciousness of God, shown through the giving of His Son. Not what we have done, or will do, or are doing.
This was one of the most pride-crushing articles I have had to write in a while; having to understand grace in its depth was harder than I thought, and harder still will be my attempts to fully understand it as I walk this journey of faith. However, it is worth every step, and my prayer is that grace, as Newton wrote, shall lead us all home; to God and our eternal rest.
As usual, some articles I found quite helpful during the writing of this…