For Your Edification and Encouragement

When talking about salvation, we often hear words like grace, faith, mercy, and forgiveness. But do we truly understand what they mean—and how they differ?

One of the most important truths we must grasp is this:

👉 Grace isn’t just part of salvation—it’s the very reason salvation is even available to sinners.

Let’s begin by understanding two closely related, but distinct, truths about God’s character: mercy and grace.

Mercy Withholds Judgment — Grace Gives Life

• Mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve—His righteous judgment.
• Grace is God giving us what we could never deserve—eternal life, righteousness, and inheritance.

The difference is subtle, but essential.

📖 Titus 3:5–7 explains it beautifully:

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Mercy held back the judgment we deserve.
Grace went further—it gave us what only God could give.

Grace Is the Cause — Faith Is the Channel

The apostle Paul leaves no room for confusion. In one of the most quoted salvation verses, we see this clearly:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
— Ephesians 2:8–9

• You are saved by grace—that’s the cause.
• You receive it through faith—that’s the means.
• It is not of yourselves—that removes all boasting.
• It is the gift of God—freely given, never earned.

Grace is not God’s response to our faith.
Rather, faith is our response to God’s grace.

Romans: Grace Is the Origin

Paul again affirms that grace is the origin of our salvation in Romans 3:

“…being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
— Romans 3:24

We are justified—declared righteous—freely by His grace.
That means no cost to us, but a great cost to God: the death of His Son.

Grace gave what we could never earn:

✔ Justification
✔ Redemption
✔ Peace with God
✔ Eternal life

All of it, by grace alone.

So What Does This Mean for You?

It means that your salvation doesn’t begin with you—it begins with God. It’s not based on your goodness, sincerity, or religious efforts. It’s based solely on God’s grace poured out through Christ Jesus.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
— Romans 5:8

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

—Ephesians 2:4-5

Grace is what makes salvation possible.
Faith is how we receive it.
Works are the evidence, not the cause.

✅ Summary: The Gospel Equation

Here’s how it all fits together:

👉 Grace is the cause — It all starts with God’s unmerited favor.
👉 Justification is the effect — You are declared righteous in Christ.
👉 Heirship is the result — You are adopted into God’s family.
👉 Eternal life is the guarantee — Not a hope-so, but a know-so promise.
👉 Faith alone is the means — Simply believe, and you receive.
 

Works play no part—salvation is all of God.

🚫 What About Works?

Salvation is not a reward for good behavior, religious rituals, or law-keeping.
It is entirely by grace, received through faith, and completely apart from works.

“And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.”
— Romans 11:6

To add works to grace is to cancel grace entirely.
That’s why Paul said:

‘not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, ‘

— Titus 3:5

‘I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”’

—Galatians 2:21

🔔 Final Thought

Let this truth sink in:

If salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone—then all the glory belongs to God alone.

Don’t add to it.
Don’t soften it.
Don’t complicate it.

Just believe it. And rest in it.

“Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure…”
— Romans 4:16a