Grace Does Not Excuse Sin — It Teaches Us to Live Differently
Rev. Aniekan "Mbomboyo" Okokon ·
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? — Romans 6:1–2
If your preaching of grace has never provoked this question, Paul might wonder whether you were preaching grace at all. He was accused of it. "Shall we sin so that grace may abound?" The question only arises when grace has been stated without conditions, and Paul stated it that way on purpose.
The answer is not a condition
He does not say "no, because if you keep sinning grace will run out." That would be to take grace back. He says "how can we who died to sin still live in it?" The answer is not a threat but a fact: the person who received grace is a person who has died. Sin is not forbidden to him so much as foreign to him. He can fall into it; he cannot be at home in it.
Grace as a teacher
Titus 2 fills in how. "The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age." Training - the word for bringing up a child. Grace does not hand you a pardon and walk away. It moves in and raises you.
Why grace out-performs law
- Law tells you what to do; grace gives you a new nature that wants to.
- Law motivates by fear, which lasts until the fear fades; grace motivates by love, which does not.
- Law leaves you alone with your effort; grace comes with the Spirit.
- Law produces compliance; grace produces sons who look like their Father.
The test of a right understanding
If your grasp of grace makes sin feel safer, you have grasped something else. If it makes sin feel stranger - a betrayal of the One who died for you, a set of clothes that no longer fit - you have found the real thing. Grace does not excuse sin. It looks at the sin, looks at the cross, and teaches you, patiently, to live differently.