Recently, in some comments, we discussed Adam and Eve and the question of whether God’s grace and mercy can be experienced without the Fall—without sin. The suggestion was that apart from sin, God’s grace could not be known. This is not in direct response to the conversation, but just a review of the concept. Let’s take a closer look.
Christians sometimes speak “Christianese,” our own peculiar vocabulary. Take the word justification. We don’t mean “the way the text lies on the page,” “making excuses,” or “showing something to be right.” We usually think of “justified by faith”—as in God declaring the unrighteous righteous on the basis of faith in Christ. But Scripture uses the term more broadly. For example, when Jesus said, “Wisdom is justified by all her children” (Luke 7:35), He wasn’t referring to Wisdom’s faith making her righteous. He meant that what wisdom produces demonstrates that wisdom is right. That’s just one example.
Then we come to grace. We rightly call it “amazing”—God’s unmerited favor toward people who do not deserve it. But we often think almost exclusively of saving grace. Scripture shows there is more.
There is common grace, like God giving sun and rain to both the righteous and the wicked (Matt. 5:45). There is saving grace (Eph. 2:8–9), sanctifying grace (Titus 2:11–12), sustaining grace (2 Cor. 12:9), and serving grace (1 Pet. 4:10). All of these are expressions of God’s favor toward us who have not earned it. None of it is owed. None of it is merited.
I still maintain that the fullest experience of God’s grace is found in His saving grace. The Fall—Adam’s original sin—was truly evil, yet God intended it for good and therefore permitted it (cf. Gen. 50:20; Acts 2:23; Luke 22:22). Grace is most fully realized when we see God’s righteous wrath against “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction” turned into mercy toward “vessels of mercy” (Rom. 9:22-23). Mercy can only be seen where mercy is required. Mercy is the withholding of deserved punishment; it cannot be experienced if no punishment is due. Likewise, we cannot fully grasp God’s love if He never demonstrated His love by sending His Son to die for us—a display that would have been unnecessary if no one had sinned.
So yes, Adam and Eve encountered God’s unmerited favor in Eden. They did not earn His kindness; He freely granted it. And it’s important to remember that. God does not owe us His favor. It is always unmerited. If He chose to eliminate us, He would be within His rights. But He is better than that. He is amazingly gracious.
So often we have words that can have multiple derivations of meanings that can greatly shift a conversation. And when we get those wrong, we can go very wrong. The RCC denies justification by faith alone because of James using justification in one way and Paul using it in another, yet the RCC uses them in the same way. And so you end up going from a faith-based righteousness to a works-based righteousness, all the while using the same words. Sometimes, English is a failure of a language because it so frequently doesn't have the nuance necessary to parse closely related concepts. Though I'm sure that's true if many languages, not because of the language, but because of the language users.
ReplyDeleteSince you brought it up, David, I will mention that, as it happens, the RCC understands grace--the topic of this post--differently from Protestants, too, while using the same word, which, also just like for justification, contributes to their errant doctrine and practice.
DeleteYou might like the articles below:
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/shades-of-grace
https://learn.ligonier.org/qas/do-reformed-protestants-and-roman-catholics-understand-grace-differently
I appreciate this explanation of the various manifestations of God’s gracious love--the greatest of which is His saving grace that bestows eternal life to undeserving sinners. The gospel to which we cling for all eternity is pure grace. Indeed, biblical believers are led to remember our Savior’s sacrifice, to rejoice in the finished work on the cross, and to proclaim Christ’s resurrection and eventual return--all because we personally and graciously have experienced God’s great, great love, grace, and mercy through His Son. “From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.” (John 1:16)
ReplyDeleteP.S. To make clear: At your posts of 7/6/26 and 7/7/26, my comments were focused on a specific statement or two made by David (as I interpreted them--be it accurately or inaccurately); thus my narrow focus. My remarks should not be construed as being in denial of the greater expression of God’s grace (and mercy) following the Fall.
It's okay, Lorna. I tried to make it clear I was not responding to our conversation, but examining the concept. Actually, correcting my own thinking. No reflection on you or our actual conversation.
DeleteYes, that was clear to me, and I did not feel any personal reproof. (I just wanted to make my thinking clear for other readers.) Even so, please be assured that I am always glad when something I say in a comment here influences a future post, whether in affirmation or correction. “Iron sharpens iron.”
DeleteThe word meaning issue in this case becomes more complicated when we add in the translation from one language to another. It seems that we often choose to search for the best translation or assume that the meaning we pour into a word is automatically what the author meant.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, it seems obvious that grace and mercy require us to have fallen or sinned in order to have any real meaning.