ASSURANCE OF SALVATION

ROMANS – 7

In Romans 6:15 Paul asks the question ‘What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?’

While addressing the issue of whether or not it is okay for Christians to sin, which we looked at last week, this question also states a foundational truth – that those who believe in Jesus Christ, those united to him by faith, are ‘not under law, but under grace’. In other words, God no longer relates to them on the basis of law, but on the basis of grace. Paul has already affirmed this grace-based relationship with God:

Romans 3:24 – we ‘are justified freely by his grace.’

Romans 4:16 – ‘the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed …’

Romans 5:2 – ‘we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.’

Romans 5:15 – ‘how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many.’

Romans 5:20 – when the introduction of the law resulted in an increased awareness of sin ‘grace increased all the more.’

Romans 5:21 – ‘grace reigns through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’

Romans 6:14 – ‘you are not under law, but under grace.’

And he later reaffirms:

Romans 11:5, 6 – ‘there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.’

We did not receive salvation because we were good enough. We did not receive salvation because we kept the law. We did not receive salvation because we had done enough of the right kind of ‘works’. Because we did not gain salvation by any contribution, any merit, of our own, the gospel position is that we do not maintain salvation by any contribution, any merit, of our own. The same principle applies today as applied the day we were first saved – that, at this moment, and at every moment, we are saved as a sheer gift from God – by grace.

But our sinful human egos rebel against this grace, this gift. We want to claim some saving significance for ourselves; we would rather not live by grace. We build all sorts of theologies that tell us we have to earn, deserve or in some way merit our salvation. Rather than lettting ourselves be diminished by grace, we diminish grace. And in diminishing grace, we diminish salvation, and our present assurance of salvation.

Paul consistently calls us away from these ego-boosting, self-reliant concepts, which are no different from the religions of the world. He says:

That the mindset that thinks we must work to gain or maintain salvation is the mindset of the ‘flesh’, and the mindset of the flesh is death – Romans 8:6.

That, because of the mercies of God, rather than follow the mindset of the world, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds – Romans 12:2.

That we who know God by knowing Christ, should not turn back to the ‘weak and miserable principles’ that characterize all world religions and cults – Galatians 4:8 – 10.

That we must not allow ourselves to be taken captive by deceptive human traditions and the basic principles of the world – Colossians 2:8.

That, because, in Christ, we ‘have died to the basic principles of the world’, we should not be putting ourselves back under them – Colossians 2:20 – 23.

The religions of the world all tell us that we have to be good enough; but the gospel tells us that we can’t, no matter how hard we try. And into the dark and despairing pit of human inability the gospel shouts a grand and liberating word: grace. You are under grace, not law. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Abundant. Overflowing. Lavished upon us. More than we will ever need. Saved by grace. Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

Such is the assurance of the salvation we have in Christ.