How to not receive the grace of God in vain.
Believers, consider 2 Corinthians 6:1- "We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain."
But how does one receive the grace of God in vain? This verse has been subject to so many interpretations, from "refusing to do God's work" to "not doing one's best to obey the law in order to be godly." Not so. So how can the grace of God be in vain in the life of a person?
Understand that when Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians, it was just one looong letter. Bible scholars divided his letters, including the ones written to other recipients, into chapters and verses. Notice that 2 Corinthians 6:1 begins with "We then.." This tells us that this verse is predicated on/tied to the preceding chapter (2 Corinthians 5) which ends thus:
17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
Remember 2 Corinthians was not divided by chapters and verses when Paul wrote this letter. It is one continuous stream. These preceding verses (2 Corinthians 5:17-21) tell us that:
- in Christ, God is not imputing trespasses to believers because of the finished work of Christ in making the sinner who believes righteous.
- that we are Christ's ambassadors: citizens of heaven, no longer under the Law of Moses that governs non-citizens and attracts the penalty of death but under Grace: having received God's abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ through Whom we get to live in triumph over sin and death (Romans 5:17.)
- that God made Jesus Christ to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Jesus became sin even though he did not sin. Likewise, we who are in Him have become righteous by doing no righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:21 above comes right before 2 Corinthians 6:1. See the verses together:
"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain."
In essence, now that you are righteous in Christ, don't let God's gift of righteousness be in vain in your life; don't reject this gift.
To receive the grace of God in vain is to not believe that in Christ, we are righteous in God's sight and apart from works. It is relying on human effort at obeying the law to attain right-standing with God after Christ shed His blood for this purpose- to makes us righteous in God's sight.
This reliance on human effort at obeying the law and doing right is why many Christians are shocked at themselves when they find themselves committing sins that they would never have considered doing before they became born-again: trying to obey the law to get right with God has the unintended effect of making sin have dominion over the onw who is trying to do so-
"For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace." Romans 6:14.
When a Christian sins and feels terrible about it as we are wont to do, the worst thing he can do to himself is to start doing things to assuage his guilt or even worse, promise God that he will never do it again. He is boasting in his own effort at doing right and the arm of flesh will fail. Proverbs 16:18 tells us:
"Your boast becomes a prophecy of a future failure.
The higher you lift up yourself in pride,
the harder you’ll fall in disgrace."
Peter knew 100% and boasted in his strength to stand but he ended up denying Christ three times. The more promises we make to ourselves that we will never break that law again and do our best to be righteous and the more effort we put into this process, the more sin will have dominion, "For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace."
Believer, trying to do anything at all to "get right with God" after you sinned or promising to obeying the law "better" by human effort in order to get back into God's good books is what it means to receive the grace of God in vain. God is no longer imputing sins to the sinner who believes in Jesus, having Him as our righteousness, so we have no need to do things to get "re-righteous" with God. Romans 5:9 says:
"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."
Believer in Christ, our righteousness in the sight of God is through the blood of Jesus and not because we obeyed the law, paid tithe or fasted. Doing these things to accomplish right-standing with God is a testament to unbelief in the finished work of Christ in making the sinner who believes righteous in God's sight.
Just as Christ became sin by doing no sin, we did not earn His gift of righteousness by obeying the law or by doing good things and neither can we lose it when we sin. This is Grace- undeserved, unmerited favour. Here, we have God's righteousness as a gift through Christ's death and not because we obeyed the law. See Romans 3:
"26...for He himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."
For the one who is still looking to his own obedience to the law and good deeds to make him right with God after Christ's sacrifice, the grace of God is in vain. See Galatians 2:21-
"I do not reject the grace of God, for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."
But God does not just leave us to continue to wallow in sins. Christ saves from sins. Try to obey the law to be righteous in His sight (reject His grace) and sin will multiply. But look what happens to all who receive His abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ: Romans 5:17-
"For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."
Believer, when you sin, by grace, don't make promises to God that the arm of flesh cannot keep or go running around trying to make yourself right with God by doing stuff; Judas tried this way and he died. Understand that no sin is beneath you. Instead, thank God because your sins are forgiven in Christ and confess with your mouth His gift of everlasting righteousness to you in Christ. Like Peter, we might think "I can never do that" but never trust yourself. Trust in the Lord to keep you from being tempted beyond what you can bear and making the Way of escape with every trial.
The problem with many of us is that we often think that we are "better than that" and that some sins are beneath us, but no one is "better than that." Of ourselves, there is none righteous. Willpower (the arm of flesh) will fail given the right amount of testing and life does not consider stature, resources or level of preparedness before throwing weights at anybody. The reason why we are not committing particular sins is because we have not been tempted beyond what we can bear in those areas. Those who are committing those sins have been tempted beyond what they can bear, or else, they too would not commit those sins. The potential to commit heinous crimes is in everybody. God sees this potential and how favourable circumstances can make some people think that some sins are beneath them. But many of us do not understand this yet.
In 1 Corinthians 10:1-10(MSG,) Paul wrote of the Israelites in the wilderness for whom "...just experiencing God’s wonder and grace didn’t seem to mean much—most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased...." See vs.11-12:
"These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence."
Believer, the reason why you and I who believe are not wallowing in sins and making silly mistakes like many that we see as "hard core sinners" is in verse 13 of the same chapter (1 Cor. 10:13)-
"We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously."
Believer, know that if it were up to us to live right and overcome sin on our own, the best of us will utterly fall. This makes it difficult for us to tell people who are living in sin things like " You'd better go and sin no more or else you will perish in hell." Instead, by grace, we point all, including ourselves, to God's beloved Son of whom it is said in Titus 2:14-
"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."
No sin is too big for Him to save the sinner who believes from. Know that no sin is beneath anybody. Only in Christ do we stand. Let your conscience find rest in that perfect righteousness that proceeds from His obedience, not yours. Because of His shed blood, we who believe are FOREVER righteous in God's sight.
In the meantime, as we await His glorious appearing at the Rapture, know that you are not in charge of preparing yourself for the End any more than a sheep can feed, lead, care for, protect, make wise decisions or shear itself and distribute its wool to the needy- even our giving is by grace so we cannot boast about it. God Himself is in charge and the Lord our Shepherd is doing His work in us: John 6 (MSG)-
"Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over Me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent Me is in charge. He draws people to Me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do My work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End."
Right believing always produces right living
But how does one receive the grace of God in vain? This verse has been subject to so many interpretations, from "refusing to do God's work" to "not doing one's best to obey the law in order to be godly." Not so. So how can the grace of God be in vain in the life of a person?
Understand that when Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians, it was just one looong letter. Bible scholars divided his letters, including the ones written to other recipients, into chapters and verses. Notice that 2 Corinthians 6:1 begins with "We then.." This tells us that this verse is predicated on/tied to the preceding chapter (2 Corinthians 5) which ends thus:
17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
Remember 2 Corinthians was not divided by chapters and verses when Paul wrote this letter. It is one continuous stream. These preceding verses (2 Corinthians 5:17-21) tell us that:
- in Christ, God is not imputing trespasses to believers because of the finished work of Christ in making the sinner who believes righteous.
- that we are Christ's ambassadors: citizens of heaven, no longer under the Law of Moses that governs non-citizens and attracts the penalty of death but under Grace: having received God's abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ through Whom we get to live in triumph over sin and death (Romans 5:17.)
- that God made Jesus Christ to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Jesus became sin even though he did not sin. Likewise, we who are in Him have become righteous by doing no righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:21 above comes right before 2 Corinthians 6:1. See the verses together:
"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain."
In essence, now that you are righteous in Christ, don't let God's gift of righteousness be in vain in your life; don't reject this gift.
To receive the grace of God in vain is to not believe that in Christ, we are righteous in God's sight and apart from works. It is relying on human effort at obeying the law to attain right-standing with God after Christ shed His blood for this purpose- to makes us righteous in God's sight.
This reliance on human effort at obeying the law and doing right is why many Christians are shocked at themselves when they find themselves committing sins that they would never have considered doing before they became born-again: trying to obey the law to get right with God has the unintended effect of making sin have dominion over the onw who is trying to do so-
"For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace." Romans 6:14.
When a Christian sins and feels terrible about it as we are wont to do, the worst thing he can do to himself is to start doing things to assuage his guilt or even worse, promise God that he will never do it again. He is boasting in his own effort at doing right and the arm of flesh will fail. Proverbs 16:18 tells us:
"Your boast becomes a prophecy of a future failure.
The higher you lift up yourself in pride,
the harder you’ll fall in disgrace."
Peter knew 100% and boasted in his strength to stand but he ended up denying Christ three times. The more promises we make to ourselves that we will never break that law again and do our best to be righteous and the more effort we put into this process, the more sin will have dominion, "For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace."
Believer, trying to do anything at all to "get right with God" after you sinned or promising to obeying the law "better" by human effort in order to get back into God's good books is what it means to receive the grace of God in vain. God is no longer imputing sins to the sinner who believes in Jesus, having Him as our righteousness, so we have no need to do things to get "re-righteous" with God. Romans 5:9 says:
"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."
Believer in Christ, our righteousness in the sight of God is through the blood of Jesus and not because we obeyed the law, paid tithe or fasted. Doing these things to accomplish right-standing with God is a testament to unbelief in the finished work of Christ in making the sinner who believes righteous in God's sight.
Just as Christ became sin by doing no sin, we did not earn His gift of righteousness by obeying the law or by doing good things and neither can we lose it when we sin. This is Grace- undeserved, unmerited favour. Here, we have God's righteousness as a gift through Christ's death and not because we obeyed the law. See Romans 3:
"26...for He himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."
For the one who is still looking to his own obedience to the law and good deeds to make him right with God after Christ's sacrifice, the grace of God is in vain. See Galatians 2:21-
"I do not reject the grace of God, for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."
But God does not just leave us to continue to wallow in sins. Christ saves from sins. Try to obey the law to be righteous in His sight (reject His grace) and sin will multiply. But look what happens to all who receive His abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ: Romans 5:17-
"For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."
Believer, when you sin, by grace, don't make promises to God that the arm of flesh cannot keep or go running around trying to make yourself right with God by doing stuff; Judas tried this way and he died. Understand that no sin is beneath you. Instead, thank God because your sins are forgiven in Christ and confess with your mouth His gift of everlasting righteousness to you in Christ. Like Peter, we might think "I can never do that" but never trust yourself. Trust in the Lord to keep you from being tempted beyond what you can bear and making the Way of escape with every trial.
The problem with many of us is that we often think that we are "better than that" and that some sins are beneath us, but no one is "better than that." Of ourselves, there is none righteous. Willpower (the arm of flesh) will fail given the right amount of testing and life does not consider stature, resources or level of preparedness before throwing weights at anybody. The reason why we are not committing particular sins is because we have not been tempted beyond what we can bear in those areas. Those who are committing those sins have been tempted beyond what they can bear, or else, they too would not commit those sins. The potential to commit heinous crimes is in everybody. God sees this potential and how favourable circumstances can make some people think that some sins are beneath them. But many of us do not understand this yet.
In 1 Corinthians 10:1-10(MSG,) Paul wrote of the Israelites in the wilderness for whom "...just experiencing God’s wonder and grace didn’t seem to mean much—most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased...." See vs.11-12:
"These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence."
Believer, the reason why you and I who believe are not wallowing in sins and making silly mistakes like many that we see as "hard core sinners" is in verse 13 of the same chapter (1 Cor. 10:13)-
"We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously."
Believer, know that if it were up to us to live right and overcome sin on our own, the best of us will utterly fall. This makes it difficult for us to tell people who are living in sin things like " You'd better go and sin no more or else you will perish in hell." Instead, by grace, we point all, including ourselves, to God's beloved Son of whom it is said in Titus 2:14-
"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."
No sin is too big for Him to save the sinner who believes from. Know that no sin is beneath anybody. Only in Christ do we stand. Let your conscience find rest in that perfect righteousness that proceeds from His obedience, not yours. Because of His shed blood, we who believe are FOREVER righteous in God's sight.
In the meantime, as we await His glorious appearing at the Rapture, know that you are not in charge of preparing yourself for the End any more than a sheep can feed, lead, care for, protect, make wise decisions or shear itself and distribute its wool to the needy- even our giving is by grace so we cannot boast about it. God Himself is in charge and the Lord our Shepherd is doing His work in us: John 6 (MSG)-
"Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over Me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent Me is in charge. He draws people to Me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do My work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End."
Right believing always produces right living
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