6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
But if it is of works, it is no longer grace;
If works play any role in salvation, then by definition that excludes grace. Grace is fundamentally different from works. Works and grace stand in direct antithesis.
otherwise work is no longer work.
Purity of the grace principle excludes work of any kind for salvation. We quickly turn from the grace of God into other belief systems. Grace disables works; God’s system of grace for salvation makes works no longer workable.
Ga 1:6, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,
Ga 5:4, You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace [from the grace principle].
PRINCIPLE:
Grace and works are incompatible opposites.
APPLICATION:
The grace principle excludes works. If God elects by grace, then that excludes any principle of works. Grace is the only way God saves people.
We can never appreciate the grace of God without a deep sense of our personal sin. Otherwise we might think that there is something in us that gains God’s favor. The greater our appreciation of grace, the greater our grief over sin.
Ro 3:24, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Ro 5:15, But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.
Ro 5:20-21, 20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Ro 6:14, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
1 Co 1:4, I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus,
1 Co 15:10, But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
2 Co 8:9, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
2 Co 9:8, And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
Eph 1:6, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
2 Ti 1:9, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,
