Growth in Grace

2 Peter 3:18: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”

Having established from the Scriptures that we begin the Christian life by grace, we can move on to examine how we grow in the Christian life. We are not born of God to remain perpetual babes. God wants us to grow into spiritual maturity and has made provision for our spiritual growth. Interestingly, the Scriptures teach us that the same process which God uses to give birth to us into His offspring is the same process He uses to grow us.

We read in Colossians 2:6-7: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

Since grace is the fundamental element through which we receive Christ and begin our Christian walk, it is easy to see why, if we are to continue our Christian walk in the same manner we begin, grace must play a fundamental role. We begin our spiritual life by being saved by grace, as we have already established. Hence, we must continue to depend on the grace of God to grow spiritually.

Let us review briefly the role grace plays in the beginning of our Christian life. We know that, according to the Scriptures, we begin our Christian life by being born of God into spiritual beings who are God's offspring. Our human nature makes absolutely no contribution to our new birth. God brings about the new birth in us when we accept the Lord Jesus Christ. We read in John 1:12-13: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

The nature of humanity is flesh and cannot give birth to, nor make any contribution to the birth of, God's offspring who are spiritual beings. Jesus explains that the flesh produces only what is flesh and cannot produce that which is spirit. The Spirit produces what is spirit. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). Offspring of God are spiritual beings born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

While grace is not mentioned here in the process of the new birth, the fact that the process involves absolutely no contribution or effort from man makes it a classical example of grace in terms of the Scriptural definition of grace. “And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work” (Romans 11:6). Also, we read in Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Thus, if, according to the Scriptures, we are to continue to live our Christian lives as we have received Christ and begun our new spiritual existence, we must do it by grace. Spiritual growth must be by grace. Peter in exhorting us to grow tells us that this growth must be in the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. “Grow in the grace … of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

Born of God by the grace of God, we grow by the grace of God. If we with all of our human abilities or the resources of the flesh cannot produce or give birth to the spiritual beings we are born into of the Spirit of God, it is senseless to think we can grow or add to our spiritual stature by our human abilities. Paul points out in Galatians 3:3: “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” This is similar to Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:27: “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?”

To grow in grace, therefore, is to rely absolutely on God to fully develop or give rise to the character of Christ in us. And this is exactly what Christian living is. It is Christ living in us without self efforts. It is us living unto God through Jesus Christ. By grace, without human effort, we begin our Christian life in Christ. By grace, we continue to live and grow rooted and built up in Christ. Like a plant whose growth emanates from the nutrients sourced by its roots in the soil, so we draw the spiritual life-giving nutrients to grow spiritually from Christ by being grounded and rooted in Him in our Christian walk.

Growing in grace without self-efforts does not mean inertia on our part. Christ who lives in us involves us fully in our Christian walk. But our dependence on Him in a relationship of grace means that we can rely on Him to spiritually energize us, to motivate, us, to activate us in our Christian walk. This calls for an on-going living relationship of absolute dependence on and deep communion with Christ in prayer, worship, Bible-study, and service. We are admonished in Colossians 3:16-17: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

Father, we thank you for the work of the Holy Spirit saving us by grace and giving birth to us to be your offspring. Cause us to continue to yield to the Spirit's work of grace in us that we may grow in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.