Only by Grace…

Yesterday we’ve looked at the opposition between 'wage' and 'grace'. 'Wage' indicates what we earn through what we have done. "Grace" indicates a free, undeserved gift of God's favour. The same contradiction is again brought forward by Paul in his letter to Titus, chapter 3: 4-5:

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He [God] saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5)

Nothing could be plainer than this: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy He saved us...” If we desire salvation, it cannot be upon the basis of any works of righteousness which we have done, but solely upon the basis of God’s mercy. Our own works must first be excluded, in order that we may receive God’s mercy in salvation.

In the second part of this same verse Paul tells us four positive facts about the way God’s salvation works in our lives:

1. It is a washing – that is, we are cleansed from all our sin.
2. It is a regeneration – that is, we are born again, we become children of God.
3. It is a renewing – that is, we are made new creatures in Christ.
4. It is of the Holy Spirit – that is, it is a work of God’s own Spirit within our hearts and lives.

None of this can be the result of our own works, but all of it is received solely through faith in Christ.