One of the most difficult doctrines for the human mind to comprehend is God’s undeserving grace extended to all of mankind. While no man is worthy of God’s grace because of sin, He chooses to extend this free gift simply because it pleases him (Metzger, 2002). Ephesians 2:8, clearly defines grace as a free gift that cannot be earned, Jesus did the earning on the cross and is consequently all sufficient for our salvation. Another dynamic to God’s free gift is faith, it is by faith that we are born into grace that allows us to boast in His glory (Romans 5:2), not our works. One thing for certain, the theme of salvation, like God, remains the same throughout the Bible. Abraham (Abram) was justified by faith simply because he believed on the Lord (Genesis 15:6) who credited it to his righteousness. King David, in Psalm 32 describes God’s grace and justification being with the one whose transgressions were forgiven and whose sins were covered, blessed is the man whom the Lord counts no inequity. Even Noah was saved by faith and God’s grace (Genesis 6:8).
With faith by the believ...
The Sovereignty and Goodness of God is a primary source document written in the 17th century, by a well-respected, Puritan woman. This book, written in cahoots with Cotton and Increase Mather, puritan ministers, tells the story of her capture by Indians during King Phillip’s War (1675-1676). For three months, Mary Rowlandson, daughter of a rich landowner, mother of three children, wife of a minister, and a pillar of her community lived among “savage” Indians. This document is important for several reasons. First, it gives us insight into the attitudes, extremes, personalities and “norms” of the Puritan people we learn about in terms of their beliefs, and John Calvin’s “house on a hill”. Beyond that, despite the inevitable exaggerations, this book gives us insight into Indian communities, and how they were run and operated during this time.
The Grace That Keeps This World is a novel about a man named Gary Hazen who lives with his wife and two sons in the Adirondack Mountains of New York in a close-knit community. He depends on hunting and working outdoors as a means of survival to take care of his family. He has two sons whose names are Gary David, who is the oldest, and Kevin, who is the youngest. His dream is that his two young sons will follow in his footsteps, becoming avid hunters who work and live off of the land. Gary Hazen’s original dream for his two young sons does not fully become realized. Kevin goes away to college and is unsure of where his future will take him but begins to say he no longer wants to hunt because his girlfriend does not like it which causes conflict between him and his father.
The Grace That Keeps This World, by Tom Bailey, is an enthralling novel about the Hazen family who have lived in Lost Lake their whole lives. In this novel Kevin Hazen, a young man of 19, is searching for where he belongs in the world and in his own family. He wants more for his life than the life of survival that his parents have lived their whole lives. The story of the Hazen family is centered around the first day of deer season. For the Hazens, this hunt is more than just a sport. They use the meat of every deer they shoot to help them survive through the winter.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith… it is a gift of God” (NIV). Grace, according to Merriam Webster Dictionary is defined as “unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification,” (Theopedia) but is more commonly defined as God giving us what we don’t deserve. God’s grace was presented to us in the form of hi only Son, Jesus, dying on the cross so that we could go to heaven. Now that it is understood what grace is and what form the gift of grace came in, the remaining question is who the gift of grace available to. John Calvin and Jacobus Arminius had different views on to whom grace was imparted but only through careful study and examination of scripture can the truth be found.
Grace is arguably the most important idea in the Bible, Christianity, and the universe. Grace is “the love of God shown to the unlovely; the peace of God given to the restless; the unmerited favor of God,” (Holcomb). It’s the idea that humans are granted salvation by God, and that He has the ability
The redemption that mostly played out in the New Testament in a part of the New Covenant found in Jeremiah 31:33, “‘or this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” This covenant is also known as the permanent covenant, because God promised to write it on our hearts, and because God laid out His plans for the coming of Christ. The coming of Jesus was prophesied early in the Bible, and according to Williams Rainey Harper in his journal, Micah 5 told of the coming of Christ. The journal states, “A cornerstone shall be established in Zion; and out of Bethlehem from the line of David shall come a righteous ruler, who shall lead Judah against the Assyrians.” These verses in Micah also solidify the prophecy made by Nathan in 2 Samuel 7. Jesus is the Son of God, and He is from the lineage of David, He was born to atone for the sins of mankind. When Jesus first came to earth, and was declared to be the Son of God people did not believe Him. The Resurrection of Jesus and the Hope of Immortality states, “…significance for believers or for all men is considered to depend logically upon the similarity of Jesus to other men and is weakened in the degree in which he is considered unique as the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity.” While it is sometimes hard to understand, God fulfilled the New Covenant. Jesus died on a cross, so we are forgiven our sins. His blood was the price of our sins. The most well known Bible verse John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” His death promised us an eternal
... Eve are able to feel penitent and pray for forgiveness” (Nutt 225). Milton is also very concerned with the correct process of how man is saved. “…how, through the divine gift of grace, mankind can seek salvation” (Nutt 66).
The Dictionary of the Accademia della Crusca, dating from 16th century Italy, defines grace as "belleza... che rapisce altrui ad amore." Grace is beauty which seduces one unto love. Grace is the prayer before nourishment, it is the passing of power through blood, it is a classical muse, it is a verb, it is liberation, it is a head-ransom, it is a gazelle, it is simplicity, it is complexity, it is sanctifying, it is controversial, it is desired, it is metrical, it is ubiquitous, it is rare, it is actual. "Grace is in all, yet beyond all," quotes a medieval anchoress. According to Castiglione, grace springs from "that virtue opposite to affectation," as an unconscious extension of a certain je ne sais quoi within the soul. Grace is the nature of language, of number, of beat, of silence. Grace is pervasively elusive.
The Doctrine of Salvation (Soteriology). God provides us with everything we need; we see this in Genesis where he provided Adam with everything he needed. Jesus became a man by reincarnation; a verse to support this is John 1:14 “
Looking first to James 1:18 we see who is actually responsible for our salvation. James answers the question, “Was it God or was it me?” The answer of course is that it is always God. One hundred percent of the time God is responsible for our salvation by the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ or as James states it “fulfillment of his own purpose.” Based on that then, through faith in God and trust in the purpose, it is that we receive salvation. Only God can give us new birth by knowing the true condition of the heart that makes the salvation real and true. Allowing us to become born again, regenerated, and the first fruits of His harvest.
Is it possible to understand the gospel message, serve as an officer in a church, be sure of your salvation, and yet still not get into heaven when you die? Matthew, one of the original twelve disciples, answered this question clearly. Yes, on “that day”, many will stand before God and hear Him say, “I know you not; depart from me.” (Matthew 7:23 KJV)
Grace In order to completely understand the theology of grace. you have to take a look at Augustine, Aquinas, Luther. Rahner, Segundo, and Boff, and how they understood what. grace was.
In Romans 10:9 Paul says, “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Salvation is the promise of God for those who receive Christ. Again, in Romans 5:1 Paul speaks of a peace that comes with assurance when he says, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Salvation, in Christianity, is defined as the state of being saved from sin or evil (Merriam-Webster). The word salvation is mentioned in one hundred and fifty-eight different verses in the Bible (The Holy Bible: KJV). It is written in John 3:16 that “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” According to that verse, God loves us so much that he gave the life of his only Son so that we could obtain salvation from the sin and evil within the world. The verse also explains that by believing in God and that God sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins we can have life everlasting in heaven with him. Numerous times salvation and the Christian faith can seem confusing to those who are not Christians. However, as the verse John 3:16 explains, salvation is in actuality simple. Hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of the one true God, repenting of sin, and confessing that Jesus Christ is God’s son who was sent to die on the cross for the sin of all mankind is how we can obtain salvation and have eternal life in heaven.
The first man created on earth was Adam and since he sinned, it was passed down to his descendants. Psalms 51:5 states, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” It is natural to sin because we are sinners by nature. If we are willing to participate in sin all of our lives and choose not to give it up, we will push ourselves further away from God. Since we are born is sin we ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?” to avoid taking action of sin. Willard claims that “it is not sufficient to see us boldly and confidently through a crisis, and can find ourselves driven to despair over powerless tension it will put us through (Willard 9). Our actions are what makes us further or closer to the lord and many of us choose “to withhold our bodies from religion and that can exclude religion from our lives” (Willard 31). God is a forgiving God when we ask for forgiveness of things that we do wrong in sin. People want to transform their life over to God, will be considered to be a different kind of person in which 2 Corinthians 5:17 states, “Old things that have passed away and, behold all things have become new” (Willard 20). God loves us no matter what we do but it is best to give ourselves to