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For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace (John 1:16, ESV).
The Christian idea of grace is defined as giving without expecting anything in return. This concept is totally unique to the Bible.
Years ago, the writer C.S. Lewis wandered into a British conference where experts were debating what belief was entirely unique to the Christian faith. After the experts eliminated the incarnation and the resurrection, Lewis heard the debate and easily responded, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace.”
Unlike other religions, God’s grace is a gift freely given. Let’s compare…
| Religion | The Mechanism | The Focus |
| Buddhism | The eight-fold path | Working to be good enough |
| Islam | The Code of Law | Working to be good enough |
| Hinduism | The Law of Karma | Working to be good enough |
| Judaism | The Ten Commandments | Working to be good enough |
| Christianity | Jesus does the work for us | The free gift of Grace |
It’s not like other religions don’t have some truth, and many adherents feel enlightened, but “eight-fold path,” “Code of Law,” “Law of Karma,” and “Ten Commandments” sound exhausting compared to the simple words that Jesus shared with Nicodemus, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
A Knockout Blow
In the 5th century, two giant theologians had a doctrinal boxing match over this very issue. Augustine taught solo gratia (only grace), while Pelagius taught that humans could choose to be righteous by their own efforts.
Just like Roberto Duran walking to his corner in the middle of the eighth round against Sugar Ray Leonard, saying, “No Mas,” theologians historically agreed with Augustine. They said “No More” to the works-based theology of Pelagius, delivering a knock-out blow to self-reliance for holiness.
The Apostle Paul confirms this victory when he wrote…
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Opening the Spigot
God’s grace is unlimited, but it must be released. Think of the Hoover Dam, which holds back 248 square miles of water. It would be ridiculous if the design engineers used a single spigot the size of a garden hose as the outlet for all that water!
Yet, that is often what we do with our faith. God’s grace is more abundant than all the water on earth and never suffers a drought. But because of sin, anger, lack of praying, and indifference, our spigot becomes corroded and limits the release of God’s grace. Jesus encourages us to open the floodgates…
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7).
Question to Consider
Though grace is free, it’s released through our small (in comparison to the ensuing blessing of God’s grace) acts of obedience.
- In what areas of my life am I still trying to win the boxing match through self-reliance instead of asking for God’s grace?
- How can I intentionally look for an opportunity today to release God’s grace in action, conversation, or prayer?
Grace!
Note: I have an AI Assistant named “Alice.” For this Interruption, I uploaded my previously written Interruptions on grace and had Alice write the summary that you just read. All of it is my thought and words, but I had to edit Alice quite a bit. She did design the helpful diagram all on her own. While Alice will never replace the OG (that’s me) of Interruptions, she did save me an hour of research today.
I hope you were blessed today by a summary of Reconsidering Interruptive (Interruptions) Grace.