All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
Passive Grace and Active Grace, Part III
And so, we see that the grace of God involves both a passive aspect and an active aspect. And while the distinction is not always clear it is important for us to understand both aspects and not to focus on one aspect only while ignoring the other. For instance, by His grace, God accepts us as we are and He forgives us our sins. This is passive grace and may not necessarily require change in us for us to receive it. Neither does it necessarily produce change in us.
Forgiving an offender or an enemy does not necessarily change or make the person behave differently. But the grace of God does not stop at its passive point in a believer’s life. The grace of God also actively transforms us to behave differently. Some believers in Christ relish only in the passive grace of God. They see the grace of God as only forgiving and bearing with them in their constant failures through their weaknesses. This is true about the grace of God. But there is also grace to cause us to operate in the strength of the Lord in spite of our weaknesses. A friend usually points out to me: “God loves us the way we are, but too much to leave us there."
By grace, God also actively changes the old creation into a new creation, the sinner into a saint, the son of disobedience into a son of God. Salvation by grace involves both passive and active grace. The atoning work of Christ involves passive grace and the sanctifying, transforming, and empowering work of the Spirit in us involves active grace.
We have so far in our discussions dwelt mainly with the grace of God towards us in our sinful state, in our weaknesses and infirmities, in our state of spiritual death, controlled by the body of this death. We are now moving on to examine the grace of God in its active form, producing God’s righteousness in us, quickening us from death into life, and empowering us with the perfect strength of the Lord to offset our weaknesses and infirmities.
Passive grace and active grace are simply two aspects or operations of the grace of God. By grace, God designed and implemented the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ while we were yet sinners and in enmity against. By grace, He applies the benefits of the plan of salvation into our lives and transforms us from helpless sinners into powerful saints through Jesus Christ.
Father, we thank you for your infinite grace towards us in Christ Jesus whereby you could have loved us as we are, but too much to leave us in our former condition. Help us to receive the fullness of your grace by which you not only accept us in our sinfulness and weakness, but also transform us imparting into us your righteousness and strength in Christ Jesus to do your will. Amen.
Forgiving an offender or an enemy does not necessarily change or make the person behave differently. But the grace of God does not stop at its passive point in a believer’s life. The grace of God also actively transforms us to behave differently. Some believers in Christ relish only in the passive grace of God. They see the grace of God as only forgiving and bearing with them in their constant failures through their weaknesses. This is true about the grace of God. But there is also grace to cause us to operate in the strength of the Lord in spite of our weaknesses. A friend usually points out to me: “God loves us the way we are, but too much to leave us there."
By grace, God also actively changes the old creation into a new creation, the sinner into a saint, the son of disobedience into a son of God. Salvation by grace involves both passive and active grace. The atoning work of Christ involves passive grace and the sanctifying, transforming, and empowering work of the Spirit in us involves active grace.
We have so far in our discussions dwelt mainly with the grace of God towards us in our sinful state, in our weaknesses and infirmities, in our state of spiritual death, controlled by the body of this death. We are now moving on to examine the grace of God in its active form, producing God’s righteousness in us, quickening us from death into life, and empowering us with the perfect strength of the Lord to offset our weaknesses and infirmities.
Passive grace and active grace are simply two aspects or operations of the grace of God. By grace, God designed and implemented the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ while we were yet sinners and in enmity against. By grace, He applies the benefits of the plan of salvation into our lives and transforms us from helpless sinners into powerful saints through Jesus Christ.
Father, we thank you for your infinite grace towards us in Christ Jesus whereby you could have loved us as we are, but too much to leave us in our former condition. Help us to receive the fullness of your grace by which you not only accept us in our sinfulness and weakness, but also transform us imparting into us your righteousness and strength in Christ Jesus to do your will. Amen.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by mary jamieson on
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hi its good to know that other christians are being transformed into his likeness and can help others when they are struggleing and not knowing what is happening i have a good friend who comes and always encourages me and says god is bringing you closer to him away from your old self. It is good when i know because i am then aware and can work with the holyspirit and not have fear. not knowing what is happening causes a block with the work of the holyspirit and i find i cant work with him but struggle and sometimes fall bless you all and may we all be stenghtend in the inner being by the HOLYSPIRIT MARY
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Permalink Reply by PoiemaDei on
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Amen, Mary. If God at all saw that we could have made it on our own with just a little more trying on our part, He would not have had to provide such a plan of salvation that required the life of His Son in order to minister to us by His grace. It is our helplessness He saw in His mercy why He has covenanted to deal with us by grace.
We need to be patient and forgiving to others who are struggling because they have not learnt to let the strength of Christ be their strength. Instead of condemning them we must point them to the grace of God where they can find the help they need to overcome.
Too much focus is placed upon ourselves and our efforts in a lot of Christian teachings rather than on what God Himself can do and is doing by grace in our lives. So Christianity becomes a life of self-striving and those who seem victorious are regarded as champions with some kind of self ability others who seem to be failing do not have or have not developed or learned.
But, according to the Scriptures, no flesh shall glory in the Presence of God. For in the end whatever we accomplish will demonstrate His grace and kindness towards us. If we must learn anything about Christian living, let us learn of God meekness and humility to depend upon His grace. He gives grace to the humble. God bless you. -
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Permalink Reply by DEE Lighted on
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Your discussions are very enlightening. I can relate to what you have disclosed concerning passive and active grace. I find myself lately turning to those that I have looked to for spiritual guidance asking about 'where' I am at this time in my life. I myself would say that I am in an 'active' grace period while trying to learn to use the gifts that I appear to have. I must admit I'm just a bit afraid... and I know that's not the right word, but I just don't know what to expect.
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Don't worry about being afraid if it is a sense of helplessness and humility. Just do not run way in fear.
The point to remember is that weakness does not have to produce failure. I htink some Christians misunderstand Paul's testimony of his weakness and have read failure into it. But actually in his weakness and helplessness, he found the grace of God to help him in his need and as a result was able to experience the strength of the Lord in a perfect manner to deal victoriously with his challenges. This is active grace. -
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Thanks so much, Ian. Your contribution here is very helpful.
Unless we recognize that the grace of God, while it accepts us as we are, and will always be available in this age to forgive us, if we sin, does not leave us as we are to sin again and again that grace may abound. God gives grace to enable us to cease sinning and do the will of God.
We realize the purpose of salvation was to deal with the root cause of man's wretched condition of being under the dominion of sin and death. If it was merely to accept us and cover our sins, the Old Covenant would have been adequate. But under the New Covenant of grace God provides grace in Christ to both forgive us and actively take away our sins and tranform us into a new creature capable of relying on or trusting Him to please Him fully. When it is written the just shall live by faith, the faith there is reliance on God's ability to enable us to live justly and righteously.
Many of us are victims of a distorted Gospel that fails to present the grace of God as able to empower us to please God fully. This distorted Gospel presents well the love, mercy and grace of God towards sinners, but does not inspire faith in the grace of God to transform sinners into saints. In fact, that is usually left to our efforts. And so, we are told to keep trying our best, with expected failures. It's all about us and our self-righteous efforts, as though God is passively standing by waiting to punish us and forgive when we fail and reward us when we succeed. There is no doubt here is forgiveness for us if we fail. But then is that all the reason why Christ died? Is it not to put away sin and destroy our old nature of sin?
Romans 6:1-4:
1: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2: God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3: Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4: Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Like Paul did, we must come to realize that our human weakness and infirmirties do not have to lead to our failures before God. If we can grasp the truth of the availablity of sufficient grace which imparts the strength of Christ in us to take care of our weakness, we will be able to live victoriously as God wants us to with the life and strength of Christ operating in us. Believers in Christ who are victims of this one sided concept of grace, who see grace as only passive or inactive, need to be gently taught and brought to believe in the possibility of being an overcomer of sin by the active grace of God compensating for their weakness; and that weakness does not mean unavoidable failure. -
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