Grace
What does the Bible teach about grace?
The Bible defines grace as the immeasurable love of God expressed through his free and undeserved gifts of faith and eternal life. Grace is God’s unmerited, unearned favor. Grace is unconditional, undeserved, and unlimited. Grace comes at no cost to us, but at great sacrifice to the giver. Grace is God’s unbelievable love for us. The preeminent example of this love is Jesus doing everything to save us. He kept the law perfectly for us. He died as payment for all our sins.
There’s a popular acronym that explains grace as “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.”
In the Bible, grace means undeserved love – God blessing us with forgiveness and eternal life when we deserve the opposite. It’s completely free to us, though costly to Christ.
This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:22-24
What does Mormonism teach about grace?
In Mormonism, grace is the power of God granted conditionally to the worthy to help them do what they could not do on their own. Mormons often speak of grace as “making up the difference” between “all we can do” and perfection.
A popular LDS saying goes, “I’m trying my best, and God will do the rest.” As long as you are working hard and doing your best, God will add to it so that you can eventually achieve all that is necessary for exaltation.
This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts.
LDS Bible Dictionary
Why This Matters
Grace is not an enabling power to help us do things to gain God’s favor. On the contrary, grace is God’s favor already won for us by Jesus’ saving work.
A Christian’s faithfulness is like a flower that blooms after much plowing, planting, and watering on the Lord’s part. And this is the way it works with all of us. None of us is faithful to God on our own. It is only once we have been shown God’s unmerited grace — once we have been united to Jesus — that we are able to respond with faithfulness. God’s favor leads to faithfulness, not the other way around.
One of the most beautiful aspects of biblical grace is the peace and confidence it gives. If salvation is entirely God’s gift, then a Christian can rest assured in Christ, and then there’s no looming fear of “Have I done enough?” We serve God out of love, not fear. By contrast, when grace is seen as something you must earn over time, it ceases to be a source of rest. Many Mormons live with an undercurrent of anxiety, wondering if they’ll ever be “worthy enough” for God. The biblical teaching of grace invites them (and all of us) to lay that burden down and rejoice in what Jesus has already done.
Scripture References
Romans 3:24
Ephesians 2:8-9
Titus 3:5
Romans 5:20
Galatians 5:4
Romans 11:6
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God's Unconditional Love
Is God's love conditional or unconditional? The answer determines whether you can be sure of his blessings and love.
Summary
Christianity
The freely-given, immeasurable love of God.
Mormonism
The power of God, granted conditionally to those who are worthy.