Where's the Grace?

“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.” –James 2:8-11

One of the most powerful concepts in all of Christianity is that of grace—God’s unmerited favor. Grace holds such a powerful place in our belief system. When we think about some of the great Scriptures, so many are focused around grace. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

What is most interesting to me about grace though is that Jesus never mentions the word! James only mentions it twice, and it certainly isn’t a major concept in his writing. In the way that we believe here in America, it seems that this passage almost contradicts grace. So what is going on here?

Well, we must remember that grace was not really a Jewish concept—it was a Greek concept that Paul recognized was more than just a social concept, but the very way that God acts towards us. Did Jesus ever use the word ‘grace’ in the Scriptures? No. Did he teach about it and show it to others? Absolutely.

When James speaks of the law, he speaks of it as the ‘royal law’ and the ‘perfect law that gives freedom’ (see 1:25; 2:12). We understand that Christ did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it, as only he could (Matthew 5:17). When he healed and showed grace, he often gave the command, “Go and sin no more.”

What we must understand is that we are not merely sinners who are forgiven so that we can keep on sinning. We are also not self-righteous people who earn our salvation. Instead, we must learn that grace empowers us to conquer the sin in our lives and to walk in pure righteousness and holiness. If our actions are not changed, then we have not truly encountered grace.

The ‘royal law’ is how we are called to live in the Kingdom of God that Jesus inaugurated in his coming. It is not a law that burdens us, but rather one that sets us free.

How do you view your walk with God? Is it merely about a forgiveness that enables you to keep sinning? Is it just a set of legalistic rules? Or is it grace that empowers you to live?