Clarifying 2 Blessings of Salvation

How do you receive grace? Is it by what you do or what God does?

What does it mean that God has blessed you because you are his child?

There are two answers to each of those questions…if that raises a red flag in your mind just hold on. I know that might sound concerning that grace is given freely yet also is the result of what we do but hear me out.

We need to have categories to our thinking. That is to say that not all grace is the same, nor are God’s blessings all of the same sort.

We must have these categories or we will misunderstand and misinform ourselves and others. We learn from scripture that there are different kinds of grace, among them being saving grace and strengthening grace. There are eternal blessings given to us by God through Christ as a part of our salvation, and blessings given that are temporary and material.

A Conversation with a Man at Church

I began to more clearly see both the distinction and the need for that distinction last week as I explained grace, forgiveness, and blessing to a man from church.

We had discussed a few passages and he responded with:

• So, if I trust Jesus he will bless me?
• I need to pray more for more grace right?

In short I said “Yes”…and “No”.

What I went on to say I believe needs to be heard more regularly in Bible teaching.

Grace that Saves and Grace that Strengthens

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…

Ephesians 2:8

My grace is sufficient for thee: formy strength is made perfect in weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:19

Not all mentions of grace in the Bible are referring to the same act of God. This is an important distinction to make as we think about how one is saved and then how one is sustained once saved.

This man I was talking with had heard that God extends grace to us when we pray. He understood that to mean that God’s saving grace is not given fully through faith in Jesus, but progressively as we pray, have the Lord’s Supper, and obey his commands. I told him that the Bible teaches of different kinds of grace.

We see those differences in the verses from Ephesians 2 and 2 Corinthians 12. This distinction is important to get right, for is we conflate these two ideas into one we will either

• see the new birth and conversion as a continuing and uncertain process, and never really be sure of our eternal future, OR
• understand grace to be a one time act at the new birth, and never are we to expect further acts of God’s kindness in our lives as we live in the new life.

There is the grace by which God moves to open our eyes and enliven our hearts unto salvation. Yet, there is also grace, strengthening grace (2 Cor. 12:19), that we intentionally seek out in prayer, bible reading, fellowship with the believers, the Lord’s Supper, and Baptism. By these things God strengthens his children, yet they do not merit salvation. We enter salvation (Eph. 2:8) by the by God’s saving grace…a different kind of grace.

Blessings that are Eternal and Blessings that are Temporary

Again this man asked: If I believe then God will bless me, then I will have a house and job?

I paused him right there to explain that God blesses in different ways. We had just finished reading Ephesians 1 in which we read of heavenly blessings given to God’s children. Because this man had a one dimensional view of blessing, as do all of us from time to time,

• He saw God’s act of gracious love (1:4) in the same category as God providing a home.
• He thought that as God adopted us (1:5) so also God will provide bodily health.
• And the blessing of forgiveness (1:7) comes by the same vein as God giving peace in a family.

We then discussed the difference between temporary and eternal blessings. God’s children are possessors of promises that have begun to be both fulfilled and experienced, and will one day fully come about: God’s love, adoption into his family, forgiveness, revelation of his glory, and so much more. These are eternal blessings given by grace. However, there are temporary blessing that God’s children will experience in varying measures from one child to another. Some will abound and others will have less. These would be the tangible parts of life: home and bed, food and coffee, vocation and education, walking paths and swimming holes, cookouts with neighbors and vacations with the wife…the things which both the believer and unbeliever are refreshed by are the temporary blessings (Matthew 5:45).

We must understand that the blessing of a comfortable life is not promised to God’s children as is the blessing of eternal comfort and hope that begins now in the soul and will be fully experienced in the new creation.

So what?

Here is why this is important.

About ten years ago I met a man at work who was telling me all about what his weekend…in short: beer (lots of it), bar (most of the weekend), and bed with his girlfriend. No shame or rationalizing it…just talking about it like another weekend of that sort. The next day he and I began to discuss the Bible, sin, and judgement. He explained that he had hope and was confident that he and God were on good terms. He had no worries about the future nor eternity. How did he know that he was in good with God?

I know that God loves me. He has given me this job, a beautiful girlfriend, a nice truck, good family, and time to hunt…God has blessed me. We are good. I know I have a relationship with him.

co-worker

What happened there? He confused temporary blessings that can be had and enjoyed by all people (Matt. 5:45), temporary blessings, with the eternal blessings of forgiveness, new life, and a true relationship with God.

We must know this difference so that when we tell others of God’s power to save and their need, we can explain to them that a nice car, free time, and gifted children are not a sign that God is “good” with them. The rich young ruler in Mark 10 had all of that but no saving grace.

We must not conflate God’s blessing into a one-dimensional idea. God richly blesses temporarily in the moment yet he also blesses deeply in an eternal way. The difference is important both for how we view what we possess in this life as well as for how we explain God’s grace and blessing to others.

Conclusion

We must understand that one word may have different concepts as that word appears throughout scripture. Such distinction makes us fruitful students of the Bible, disciplers of believers, and evangelists. As always, the context of a word and verse is key to discerning what the concept is of a word: saving grace or strengthening grace; temporary blessings or eternal blessings.