Grace

What it means

Grace is the free and unmerited favor of God toward sinners who deserve only His judgment, the kindness He shows not because of anything in us but according to His own purpose and love. It stands in deliberate contrast to works, for if salvation were by works it would no longer be grace (Romans 11:6); it is precisely while we were dead in our trespasses that God, being rich in mercy, made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5). By grace we are justified as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24), and this grace reigns through righteousness to bring eternal life (Romans 5:21). Yet grace is no license to sin; the same grace that saves also trains us to renounce ungodliness and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age (Titus 2:11-12). All of it flows from Jesus Christ, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Him (John 1:17), and His grace is sufficient, made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).