God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense
Years ago, I listened to a sermon by my Dad, where he used this acronym to explain what grace is. At the time, I didn’t see how useful the acronym was, because I took for granted what grace means. Yet, I’ve come to learn that grace is very misunderstood. And so, when I was writing my Septuagesima sermon for last Sunday, which was on the text of the laborers in the vineyard from Matthew 20, I found this acronym very useful in explaining what grace is.
Grace is a gift from God. Lutherans and Catholics agree on that. But that doesn’t clarify enough what grace is. Listen to how the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines grace:
Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)
1996 Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.46
1999 The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification:48
2000 Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love. Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God’s call, is distinguished from actual graces which refer to God’s interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification.
2002 God’s free initiative demands man’s free response, for God has created man in his image by conferring on him, along with freedom, the power to know him and love him. …
CCC on Merit
2008 The merit of man before God in the Christian life arises from the fact that God has freely chosen to associate man with the work of his grace. the fatherly action of God is first on his own initiative, and then follows man’s free acting through his collaboration, so that the merit of good works is to be attributed in the first place to the grace of God, then to the faithful. Man’s merit, moreover, itself is due to God, for his good actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and assistance given by the Holy Spirit.
2009 Filial adoption, in making us partakers by grace in the divine nature, can bestow true merit on us as a result of God’s gratuitous justice. This is our right by grace, the full right of love, making us “co-heirs” with Christ and worthy of obtaining “the promised inheritance of eternal life.”60 The merits of our good works are gifts of the divine goodness.61 “Grace has gone before us; now we are given what is due…. Our merits are God’s gifts.”62
2010 Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life. Even temporal goods like health and friendship can be merited in accordance with God’s wisdom. These graces and goods are the object of Christian prayer. Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions.
2011 The charity of Christ is the source in us of all our merits before God. Grace, by uniting us to Christ in active love, ensures the supernatural quality of our acts and consequently their merit before God and before men. the saints have always had a lively awareness that their merits were pure grace.
This is why the above acronym is so helpful, it not only articulates the Lutheran definition of grace in contrast to the Catholic definition, but it articulates what the Bible means by grace.
Recently, I recorded an audiobook by my grandfather, Robert Preus, called, Justification and Rome. I encourage you to listen to it. You can find it on Christforus.org. In its chapter on Grace, he writes:
What is the grace of God according to Lutheran theology? Is it to be classified as a divine attribute, a divine action, a disposition of God? In a formal sense the grace of God may be considered to fall under all three such classifications. But to classify a concept does not yet tell us what it is. When Luther and the Lutheran reformers speak of God’s grace and explain its meaning, they are not attempting merely to classify it, although the classification definitely enters into the picture… They are, rather, describing how the term or concept is used in a definite context, a context of the act of God justifying the sinner for Christ’s sake and saving him. They are not offering a resumé of numerous meanings and connotations of the word charis and the nuances of the word in the New Testament. Rather, they are establishing what the grace of God is and what the grace of God means in a Christological and soteriological context. This procedure is a legitimate one; the medieval scholastics and Roman Catholic theologians carried out the same procedure.
When Luther and the Lutheran reformers (Melancthon, Chemnitz, et al.) articulated their doctrine of grace, they were dealing not so much with a vocable, or term, as a concept, a concept called grace and classified and summarized by that term. But the concept was also expressed throughout the Scriptures by many other terms and related concepts such as ‘mercy,’ ‘kindness,’ ‘benevolence,’ and especially ‘love.’ Contextualizing the concept within the framework of the work of Christ and soteriology (justification), Luther and the reformers present the grace of God as God’s favor—His benevolent and good disposition and intention toward fallen mankind (Titus 2:11; 2 Timothy 1:9).[1] Grace is more than a mere quiescent intention, however. Grace is active; it is in action as God demonstrates His love and grace in sending His Son (Romans 5:8; John 3:16-17)[2] to save sinners (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5),[3] to justify them (Galatians 2:16-20; Romans 3-5),[4] to call, enlighten, convert, and sanctify His children (1 Peter 5:10; John 1:14, 16; Galatians 2:21),[5] and thus create and sustain Christ’s Church with gifts of grace [charismata] (Romans 12:6; Ephesians 4:7).[6]
In Lutheran theology it is by grace that God sends and gives His Son to be our Savior. Contrariwise, it is the atonement of Christ which propitiates God who is angry with sinners and moves Him to become gracious ‘for Christ’s sake’ (Apology XV, 11, 12; IV, 292, 382, 386; Augsburg Confession XXII, 9). In this way we are justified and receive the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation by faith ‘for Christ’s sake’ (Apology IV, 159, 163; Augsburg Confession XII, 5). All God’s grace is centered in Christ and His atoning work (the theology of the cross). All the gracious actions and blessings and gifts of God are, according to Melanchthon’s phrase, propter Christum. The Lutheran churches sing, ‘Jesus, in Thy cross are centered all the marvels of Thy grace.’ That is no exaggeration. The word grace is given a new meaning in the Sacred Scriptures. It is inextricably conjoined with God’s saving work in Christ and in God’s giving of His Son. Apart from Christ and His redemption there is no grace, no gracious God.” Justification and Rome, 48-49.
Summary
So, in summary, the Roman Catholic Church looks at Jesus’ atonement as making God’s gift of grace possible. But they place grace entirely in the theology of the Third Article, that is, the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s sanctification. So, grace is something that is working inside you. So, how do you know that you have sufficient grace? How do you know that you have employed the grace God has given you properly? You don’t. Lutheran theology sees grace as an attribute, action, and disposition of God. This is not simply a word study of the word grace in Scripture, but grace is a concept, which is also covered by words such as mercy, kindness, benevolence, and love. Grace is not only an attitude of God, but it is an activity of God.
So, how does one see God’s grace? You see it in Christ’s work. God sent Christ Jesus to become a human being, live obediently in our stead, to suffer and die for our sins, and rise from the dead. God credits our sins to Christ and Christ’s righteousness to us. (That is the theology of the Second Article, Christ’s work of redemption). The preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments are the instruments of the Holy Spirit and belong to the theology of the Third Article, the work of the Holy Spirit to make us holy. The preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments communicate to us the redemption earned for us by Christ Jesus. So, we see God’s grace in the Gospel preached and in the Sacraments, because they proclaim to us God’s grace in Christ’s work of redemption.
This gives the sinner great confidence in God’s grace, because God’s grace is always the same. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever!
This is not simply a Lutheran opinion. This is the clear teaching of Holy Scripture. God’s grace means that God loves us and saves us through Christ and for Christ apart from our works. We do not find God’s grace in our own works, but only in Christ. And so, we find grace in the preaching of the Gospel, in Baptism, in the Lord’s Supper, and in the Absolution, because we find Christ in them.
Bible Passages
Romans 3:23-28: For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Romans 4:4-8: Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
Romans 11:5-6: So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
Ephesians 2:4-9: But[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Philippians 3:8-9: Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
Romans 4:16: That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
Conclusion
God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense is a helpful acronym, because it teaches you not only what God’s grace is, but where to find God’s grace. God’s grace gives you forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit, adoption as God’s children, eternal life in heaven, and every good thing. How does God give you these riches? As a free gift at Christ’s expense. The righteousness of Christ God gives you is not fake righteousness. It is earned by Christ, and given to you as a free gift to be received through faith.
[1] Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
2 Timothy 1:9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
[2] Romans 5:8: 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.; John 3:16-17: 16 “For God so loved the world,[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
[3] Ephesians 2:8-9: 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.; Titus 3:5: 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
[4] Galatians 2:16-20: 16 yet we know that a person is not justified[a] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
[5] 1 Peter 5:10: 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.; John 1:14, 16: 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son[a] from the Father, full of grace and truth…. For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.; Galatians 2:21: 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness[a] were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
[6] Romans 12:6: 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; Ephesians 4:7: 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.