When Being Good Isn't Good Enough: 21 Days of GraceSampl

Back to the Basics

“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:19-21).

Let’s define some terms. This may seem redundant if you’ve been a Christian very long, but it might help the newcomers to our family. The first term is justification. Justice carries strong connotations. It means to set things right or to balance the books. Justification is the process whereby we are made right. In Christianity, justification by faith alone is a biblical doctrine which teaches that when we come to Christ, we are reconciled to God and made right in His eyes by the sacrifice of Christ alone.

The second term we will be working with is sanctification. It comes from a word meaning to make holy or to be set apart for a special purpose. In the Christian sense, it means the process whereby a Christian is set apart unto God, becoming more and more like Christ. 

When you became a Christian, you were set apart in a special way as God’s own. Peter said, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people” (1 Pet. 2:9). In a sense you are sanctified by the very fact that you are a Christian, but you grow in holiness and sanctification.

The third time is grace. Grace is God’s totally unmerited favor toward the believer. 

It’s good news. When we talk about the basics of the Christian faith we are talking about something very dangerous--the basic good news of Christ’s coming into the world. 

Scripture says, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:6-8).