Salvation By Grace Alone

In Christianity salvation is by grace alone. Many other religions involve works, or following some set of rituals or rules. Ephesians  2:8-9 says, “By grace you have been saved through faith. This is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  Works, rules, or rituals, don’t save any person. Besides, who is to grudge whether or not another person has done enough to be saved?

Salvation is not based on what one does to appease God. Nor is it based upon one’s justification by works, as is stated in Galatians 2:16. “…a person is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ…because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”

Furthermore, Ephesians 2:21 uses strong language when the Apostle Paul writes, ”I do not nullify the grace of God,  for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose”(emphasis mine). There would be no need for Jesus to die on the cross if salvation could be obtained through any human means. No matter what we do, we can never earn our salvation “because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God “(Romans 3:23).

Not only are we saved by grace alone, anything other than the Gospel of Grace is deceptive. Any doctrine added to grace or subtracting from it is false teaching. A good example of this is a Canadian clergyman who is saying that the word “savior” should be deleted from Christian teaching, replacing it with the word, “guide.”  Another example is a well known pastor in the United States who recently stated that because Jesus died between two criminals, he stands in the middle, politically, between left and right! These two examples minimize the necessity for a Savior and the cross.

We are sinners saved by grace alone. Salvation is also not based on being religious or living a good moral life. Even the best person in the world is saved only by the grace of God. I am reminded of the words of a hymn sung long ago:

”Only a sinner saved by grace, only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story, to God be the glory. I’m only a sinner saved by grace.”

We are saved by grace through faith on what Jesus has done for us through his death and resurrection. He is the only Savior. It is by his grace alone that we can have eternal salvation.

”The measure of God’s love for us is shown by two things. One is the degree of his sacrifice is saving us from the penalty of our sin. The other is the degree of unworthiness that we had when he saved us.” (“Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die”, John Piper, Crossway Books, 2006, page 28)