Years ago, I spoke at a large event where the vocalist sang one of my favorite songs, “Amazing Grace.” But I was taken aback when I heard the first line: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a soul like me.” The word soul was substituted for the word wretch. Why? Because the word wretch is considered by some to be demeaning to human beings.
I couldn’t help but think of John Newton, the writer of the song. He was an immoral slave trader and blasphemer — a man who knew he was a wretch and who had wept over the depth of his sins. Only because he understood that fact so profoundly could he then understand why God’s grace to him was so utterly amazing. And hence the immortal song he bequeathed to all of us.
Grace doesn’t minimize or ignore the awful reality of our sin. Grace emphasizes the depths of sin by virtue of the unthinkable price paid to redeem us from it. Paul said if men were good enough, “then Christ died for no purpose” (Galatians 2:21). If we don’t come to grips with the hideous reality of our own sin, God’s grace won’t ever seem amazing.
His Call to Sinners
God’s word tells us that Christ died for utterly unworthy people (Romans 5:7–8). The fact that he died for us is never given in Scripture as a proof of our value as wonderful people. Rather, it is a demonstration of his unfathomable and unearned love. So unfathomable that he would die for rotten people, wretches like you and me, to free us from our sin.
Because grace is so incomprehensible to us, we instinctively smuggle in conditions so we won’t look so bad and God’s offer won’t seem so counterintuitive. By the time we’re done qualifying the gospel, we’re no longer unworthy and powerless. We’re no longer wretches. And grace is no longer grace.
The worst thing we can teach people is that they’re good without Jesus. The truth is, God doesn’t offer grace to good people, any more than doctors offer lifesaving surgery to healthy people. Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31–32).
Our Lord also said, “To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment” (Revelation 21:6). Without cost to us, but at unimaginable cost to himself — a cost that will be visible for eternity as we behold his nail-scarred hands and feet (John 20:24–29). Bonhoeffer was right: grace is free, but it is not cheap.
Life-Changing Grace
You and I weren’t merely sick in our sins; we were dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1). That means I’m not just unworthy of salvation; I’m utterly incapable of earning it. Corpses can’t raise themselves from the grave. What a relief to realize that my salvation is completely the result of God’s grace. It cannot be earned by good works.
True grace recognizes and deals with sin in the most radical and painful way: Christ’s redemption. There’s only one requirement for enjoying God’s grace: being broken and knowing it. That’s why Jesus said, “Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!” (Matthew 5:3, GNT)
Our justification by faith in Christ satisfies the demands of God’s holiness by exchanging our sins for Christ’s righteousness (Romans 3:21–26). When Jesus saves us, we become new creatures in him (2 Corinthians 5:17). Now we can draw upon God’s power to overcome evil. We start seeing sin for what it really is: bondage, not freedom.
The old summary is correct: God’s children have been saved from the penalty of sin, we are being saved from the power of sin, and we will be saved from the presence of sin. Justification, sanctification, and glorification are all grounded solidly in exactly the same place: God’s grace.