Grace in Perspective

I am convinced that the greatest problem in the theology and teaching of the church today is the perspective from which contemporary Christianity is defined.  That faulty perspective is that God acts in the human experience primarily for the benefit of man.  To be fair and honest, that conviction comes from two realities: first, we are the personal recipients of God’s blessings, and second, the only true blessings we receive are from God.  I fear, however, that from those inescapable realities, we draw the conclusion that we are the primary purpose of God’s work.  In other words, we see that the primary purpose in what God does for us is to bless us individually and personally.  The truth of Scripture is quite different.  Though in each case we are the most immediate recipient of God’s blessings, our being blessed is not the primary or ultimate purpose of those blessings.

The most visible result of this trend is that the predominant teachings in our churches tend to emphasize the human and experiential nature of God’s dealings with us.  Perhaps the best example of this is what is taught about grace.  Most anyone you ask in the average evangelical church would respond to the question, “what is grace?” with the reply “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense, GRACE.”  Others might reply, “Grace is God’s blessings in my life.”  These descriptions of grace center on man as the ultimate and final object of God’s grace and focus on the recipient of grace rather than the One who gives grace.  The definitions admit naturally that God gives grace, but the real emphasis in the minds of most Christians is on the benefit to the person who receives that grace.  In that sense, grace is seen as the blessing of God and is something of a “consumable commodity” given by God to His children.  To put that in the common idiom, people would say that “grace is all about me and what makes my life better.”  Whether by design or default, we understand grace in terms of personal benefit and blessing.

Some time ago, I came across this definition of grace penned in my old study Bible.  The definition was written beside 2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”  The definition was, “Grace is God’s extension of His dynamic for His work.”  When I break down the specific words in this definition, it reads, “Grace is God’s extension of His ability, authority, and motivation to accomplish His work.”

This definition of grace is radically theocentric.  God originates grace and administers it to us for His work and His glory.

The more I study, the more I realize that most of what we practice in contemporary evangelical Christianity is fundamentally anthropocentric – man-centered.  I want to examine the core principles of our theology with the question, “Is my understanding, practice, and expression god-centered or man-centered?”