Jan. 2026
What is the meaning of grace? That’s a critical question, because everyone uses the word grace, but they often mean different things by it. I’ll lay this out carefully, historically and theologically, and then summarize my thoughts.
1. A shared baseline: what almost all evangelicals agree on
At a basic level, Calvinists, Arminians, and evangelicals broadly agree on this core definition:
Grace is God’s unmerited favor toward sinners, given freely in Christ and not earned by human works.
But is that really the best understanding and definition of grace? I don’t think so. I agree with the idea that grace is God’s unmerited favor toward sinners. But I don’t believe that the Bible teaches that grace has nothing to do with human works. Why? That phrase, ‘not earned by human works’, can be easily misunderstood, which is why I don’t think it conveys the whole truth about grace. It depends on what is meant by the expression that grace is not earned by human works, what we do or don’t do.
Some of you are already repeating Ephesians 2:8-10 in your minds because you think I am crazy or terribly deceived. In part 1, we examined this passage closely. Paul is not telling them or us that grace excuses our continued sinning. Repentance is a work required of us, assisted by God, that is indispensable for salvation. Therefore, to say that grace is “not earned by human works” is misleading because if we do not meet the conditions of our salvation, then we will not receive the grace of God unto salvation. Let me explain my objection to this phrase.
All Christians, except five-point Calvinists, believe that we must do something (some human work) to receive the gift of salvation. We must meet the conditions of salvation to receive this favor of mercy from God. Meeting the conditions of salvation is a work that we must do, so in that sense, grace is ‘earned’ by human works. (Please see my article titled, Causa finalis & Sine qua non, which replaces the old article, That for the sake of which and that not without which.) But the procuring cause of salvation (that for the sake of which=Causa finalis) is the love of God and not our works of repentance and faith, which are the conditions of our salvation (that not without which=Sine qua non). Consequently, we can also say that God alone is the primary cause (Causa finalis) of our salvation. The conditions simply qualify us to receive this gift from God. Those who refuse to meet the conditions can’t be saved and will not receive God’s salvific grace.
As I mentioned in part 1, think of the inheritance of eternal life like you do an earthly inheritance gift. Many wills contain conditions for the receipt of the gift, and none of them change the nature of the inheritance, which is a gift that was not earned. Meeting the conditions set out in the will qualifies the individual to receive the gift. This is why we must use our words precisely and correctly. Therefore, I suggest the following definition of grace is better than the one above:
Grace is God’s unmerited favor toward repentant sinners only, given freely in Christ to everyone who meets the conditions.
This is a starting place for a more biblical definition of grace. However, this definition also needs work. It doesn’t define all that grace does.
Biblically, this common ground for the first definition above is drawn from texts like:
- Ephesians 2:8-9. “For by grace are ye saved through faith… not of works”
- Romans 3:24. “Being justified freely by his grace.”
- Titus 2:11. “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.”
Where they differ is how grace operates, how far it goes, and whether it can be resisted or lost. And neither of these definitions of grace, although very common, is the full or even the most biblical definition of grace in my humble opinion.
2. Calvinist definition of their idea of grace
Calvinists define saving grace as sovereign, effectual, irresistible, and particular.
Grace is God’s sovereign, unmerited action by which He alone (monergism) regenerates the elect and infallibly brings them to saving faith.
Key features of this grace
- Grace is effectual (irresistible in its saving form)
- When God gives saving grace, it actually accomplishes salvation.
- Grace does not merely offer salvation; it creates faith in the elect.
- John 6:37, 44; Romans 9:16 are their proof texts
- Grace is rooted in election
- God gives saving grace only to those He has chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
- Ephesians 1:4-6; Romans 8:29-30 are their proof texts
- Grace regenerates before faith
- The sinner is spiritually dead and must be made alive before he can believe.
- Faith is the result of grace, not its condition.
- Ephesians 2:1-5; John 1:12-13 are their proof texts
- Grace is preserving
- Those truly saved by grace will persevere to the end. (eternal security)
- Philippians 1:6; John 10:28-29 are used as their proof texts
Typical Calvinist formulation
“Grace is God’s free, sovereign, and efficacious work in the hearts of the elect, by which He regenerates them and grants faith unto salvation.” God is the sole cause of salvation.
A few of us maintain that there is no grace at all in Calvinism, even though many of them think they are the primary champions of grace in the world today. Because Calvinists believe we are all born sinners as a result of Adam’s sin, we can do nothing at all to participate in our own salvation. We can’t repent or believe on our own. If we are to be saved, God alone must save us. Calvinists claim that God decreed the election of only a few, not the majority. He did this for His own glory, according to Calvinism.
Since God decreed whatsoever comes to pass, both good and evil, God alone determines everything (determinism). If we are elected, they call that grace, but I call that justice, for we did nothing personally to sin against God. If we are not elected, then going to hell for eternity is clearly no grace and no justice either. See my article on the grace of God in Calvinism. There is no grace in Calvinism.
3. Arminian definition of grace
Arminians define grace as enabling, universal, and resistible.
Grace is God’s unmerited favor that enables sinners to respond freely to the gospel but does not compel that response.
Key features of Arminian grace:
- Prevenient grace
- Because of total depravity (assumed from Calvinism), no one can believe apart from grace.
- God gives prevenient (preceding) grace to all people, restoring the ability to respond to the gospel.
- John 12:32; Titus 2:11 are their proof texts
- Grace enables but does not determine
- Grace makes salvation possible, not inevitable.
- Faith is a genuine human response, not caused by regeneration.
- Acts 7:51; Matthew 23:37 are their proof texts.
- Grace can be resisted
- Humans may reject God’s gracious call.
- Hebrews 10:29; Luke 7:30 are proof texts.
- Grace can be forfeited (in most Arminian systems)
- A believer may later fall away through persistent unbelief or apostasy.
- Hebrews 6:4-6; 2 Peter 2:20-22
Typical Arminian formulation
“Grace is God’s universal, prevenient work that enables all sinners to believe, though they may freely resist or later abandon it.”
The main problem with this definition is that the Arminian idea of depravity originates in Calvinism rather than in the Bible. Consequently, they invented the doctrine of convenient grace (prevenient grace) to rescue the justice of God in commanding something we are unable to provide. And like evangelicals, they believe that Christians sin more or less for the rest of their lives because they inherit a bent toward sin that will remain with them.
4. “Evangelical” definitions in general
“Evangelical” is a broad umbrella, not a single theological system, so definitions vary. Common evangelical usage: Among evangelicals in preaching and popular theology, grace is often described as:
God’s undeserved kindness is shown to sinners through Jesus Christ, who offers forgiveness, new life, and the power to live for God.
This definition usually emphasizes:
- Forgiveness of sins
- Acceptance by God
- Transformation of life
- Ongoing help for Christian living
Many evangelicals intentionally leave unresolved questions about:
- Election
- Resistibility
- Perseverance
- The meaning of repentance from sin
Practical evangelical emphases
- Saving grace – forgiveness and justification
- Sanctifying grace – God’s ongoing help to grow in holiness
- Common grace – God’s kindness to all people (rain, restraint of evil, conscience)
This loose usage allows Calvinists and Arminians to both affirm “salvation by grace alone” while ascribing somewhat different meanings to “how grace saves.”
Like all of the definitions above, evangelicals do not adequately address the conditions of salvation that must be met in order to receive this free grace of God. And that is a huge problem. Couple that deficiency with the false doctrines of imputed righteousness, imputed obedience, and eternal security, and Christians remain sinners all their lives, and the grace of God is not sufficient to solve that problem of ongoing sin in the life of Christians. The grace of God serves as a fictional covering for our ongoing sins. Christians are ultimately saved “in” their unrepentant sins and not “from” those sins.
In other words, Christians do not actually repent and thus do not satisfy the key condition of salvation. Christians attempt to repent of some sins gradually over the course of their lives, but they never fully stop sinning because they believe it is impossible and that God doesn’t require it. They, too, believe we are born with a sinful nature that can never be eradicated in this life, even with the grace, power, and promises of God. Imagine that! Such unbelief in Christians. In Hebrews 3:12, we have this word, ‘Take heed, brethren, lest there be in you an evil heart of unbelief’. The light in them is darkness, and how great is that darkness. How many Christians understand that their unbelief comes from an evil heart according to this word?
5. Side-by-side comparison
| Question | Calvinist | Arminian | Evangelical (general) |
| Is grace unmerited? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Is grace necessary for salvation? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Is grace given to all? | No (saving grace only to elect) | Yes (prevenient grace to all) | Usually yes, but often undefined |
| Is grace resistible? | No (saving grace) | Yes | Often left open |
| Does grace cause faith? | Yes | No (enables faith) | Often ambiguous |
| Can grace be lost? | No | Often yes | Varies |
6. One-sentence summaries
- Calvinist: Grace saves infallibly because God sovereignly applies it to the elect.
- Arminian: Grace makes salvation possible to everyone by restoring free response to all.
- Evangelical (general): Grace is God’s undeserved kindness that forgives, saves, and transforms.
But is there more to understand about the grace of God?
In all of the above definitions of grace, the key passage on grace in Titus chapter 2 is completely overlooked. What a travesty. Let us consider that passage.
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present world: Looking for that blessed hop, and the glorious appearing of the great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:11-15, KJV
In one sentence, Titus defines grace as:
The teaching of the truth, empowered and anointed by the Holy Ghost, which persuades all humanity to deny ungodliness and live righteously in this present age.
This grace of God brings salvation to all men (not just the few elect), and this is what it looks like and what it does. The Holy Ghost teaches us the truth to convict us of our sins and to convert us to Himself. The Holy Ghost anoints and empowers the truth and convinces us to stop our rebellion against God, and to submit to His authority in all things as He indwells us. That is the most important aspect of grace: it persuades us and helps us cease our rebellion against God and live for Him and His glory. This grace transforms our unwillingness (disobedience) into willingness (obedience) through the truth anointed by the Holy Spirit.
This Holy Ghost-inspired teaching is an exhortation, which is an utterance, discourse, or address that is convincing, urgent advice, or recommendations. I have taught that, according to Titus, grace teaches and encourages us to get right with God. Others have argued that it is much more than that in properly defining the grace of God. However, ChatGPT, like most Christians, insists that grace is distinct from this, even though the early fathers regarded exhortation as central to the gospel message.
To many, the grace of God is something magical that God does to us because we can’t do it ourselves. We have a total inability or partial inability to do what God commands. That is the inevitable result of the teaching of total depravity/total inability, or that we are born inclined to sin. When Christians are taught to expect to sin more or less throughout their lives, they must also view grace differently. Grace becomes a covering or a get-out-of-jail-free card for our continued sin. And that is the problem. This explains why the institutional church is full of unrepentant sinners.
In addition, Christians have been so brainwashed that they usually think that any effort we make toward our salvation is false works-based gospel. They mistakenly believe that all aspects of our salvation, from start to finish, must be ascribed to God and His grace alone, or else we are trying to save ourselves and will boast about it. They also think we are not giving God all the credit. That is why they repeatedly use the phrase “the grace of God” when talking about ability, salvation, and obedience. They do this even when it confuses matters.
Many evangelical Christians believe that the grace of God is God overlooking or winking at our sins and not holding us eternally accountable for them. To them, grace is a get-out-of-jail-free card. Grace is a license to sin with impunity. Charles Stanley, in his book on eternal security, pointed out this objection and claimed that the loss of rewards in heaven or one’s position in heaven is sufficient grounds to refute the idea that grace is a license to sin with impunity. Apparently, he did not distinguish between the loss of rewards in heaven and the loss of eternal life. They are not the same.
Titus 2 tells us what the grace of God is and does. It is very clear and convincing, yet so very few Christians think about grace as did Titus. He said grace is not primarily about pardon or justification (as most evangelicals think) but a power that trains, disciplines, and produces holiness in us.
Yet ChatGPT and most evangelical Christians disagree, arguing that grace is not primarily about encouragement, persuasion, and teaching. And I quote ChatGPT, “The short answer is: for the early Fathers, grace is primarily empowering and healing, not merely teaching and encouraging—yet it does not replace or override natural human capacity.”
Chat also stated that the Church fathers recognized the critical importance of exhortation, as exemplified by the quotation: “This is why exhortation is central in patristic preaching.” But as we just considered, exhortation is precisely about teaching, encouraging, persuading, and convincing us to come clean with God for our entire lives.
Titus used the word “teaching” in this passage, yet ChatGPT argues that grace is more than that. I think I will go with Titus and his understanding of grace. How about you?
Can we obey God without His special grace?
If you pay attention, you will notice that theologians and pastors go out of their way to give the impression that unless God gives us a special grace, we can’t obey God and get right with him. Then God alone deserves all the credit for our salvation. But many of them fail to recognize that God requires our participation in salvation. There are conditions we must meet to be forgiven, pardoned, and saved.
Almost all evangelical theologians and pastors also believe that we are born depraved to some degree, making obedience difficult at best or impossible at worst without the special grace of God. They believe we inherit from Adam inbred sin, a sin nature, a bent toward sin, a craving for sin, an inclination toward sin, a wounded will, and therefore we need special grace to overcome that disadvantage.
But did Adam and Eve have any of these disabilities? No, they didn’t yet; they sinned. They knew God and walked with Him in fellowship. They lived in a perfect environment in Eden with a perfect parent. How did they sin? Did God decree that they would sin? Or did they sin when they were drawn away by their own lusts, as it describes in the book of James?
Adam and Eve were born capable of obeying God, yet nowhere is it written that God granted them special grace to obey. This is how ability is treated throughout Scripture. It is too obvious to need explicit verification. Yet they gratified their desire unlawfully under temptation and sinned.
The problem is not that we are unable to come clean with God but that we are unwilling to get right with Him. We do not need special grace to have the capacity to obey God; we need the grace of God to make us willing (change our minds) to obey and be obedient. God does this using the truth to persuade us to come clean with Him. That is how God helps us overcome our bondage to sin.
Telling Christians that they have no ability or very little ability to stop sinning is an engraved invitation to continue sinning. It is the best excuse for sin that was ever devised. It is the serpent’s masterpiece.
So how does one explain our sin if we are not born inclined to sin or born totally depraved? Why are Christians so afraid to say that we sin just like Adam did? Is it the fear of being called Pelagian? Why must they insist that we are born partially or totally depraved, making sin either inevitable or highly likely because we are born craving sin? Adam and Eve did not have:
- a wounded will, (refer to my articles on Titus for more on this)
- or a sin nature,
- or inbred sin,
- or a bent toward sin,
- or a craving for sin,
- or an inclination toward sin,
Yet they sinned.
The rest of us are not born into an Eden-like culture or environment. We are all born in a depraved and wicked culture where grave temptation and sin are everywhere. Our passions and desires are continually inflamed by all this and our own habitual gratification of these lusts.
And the devil is still around and even more experienced in getting us to sin. Why then do we need inherited depravity, a bent toward sin, an inclination to sin, inbred sin, a wounded will, and all the rest to explain how it is that we sin? It seems that almost all Christians must believe that all of Adam’s sons and daughters must have a bent toward sin, a sinful nature, inbred sin, or a craving for sin to explain why we sin. But Adam and Eve had none of this, and yet they sinned. (See my book titled, When Lies Become Truth, first two chapters on ability and free will for a discussion of this.)
Grace is well defined by Titus but denied by many who claim to be Christians. They think that the grace of God is God not holding them accountable for their unrepentant sin.
Notice what else Titus claims regarding the grace of God in Jesus Christ. “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Can you name even a few pastors, theologians, and Christians who actually believe and practice what Titus claims is the grace of God? Titus claims that the grace of God “redeems us from all iniquity and purifies unto himself a peculiar people.” As I mentioned repeatedly, most evangelical Christians do not believe that the grace of God redeems them from all iniquity and purifies them because they expect to continue to sin, more or less, for the remainder of their lives. They know nothing about the true grace of God, according to Titus.
What do we need? Do we require universal enabling grace to obey God? Or do we need the grace referred to by Titus? That is the grace of God that helps us become willing to obey; thus, we obey. This is very important. Many Christians speak of being recipients of the grace of God while still in their sins, but that is not the grace of God as Titus defined it. The grace of God that Titus speaks of is the grace that helps (teaches, encourages, convinces, persuades, and exhorts) us to obey God right now, not merely the willingness (desire) to obey God someday. That idea is the false evangelical assumption of progressive sanctification.
Unwillingness = present sinful and disobedient actions
Willingness = present righteous and obedient actions
If you claim to be a Christian but you are still living in unrepentant sin, you are not a recipient of the grace of God, according to Titus. But just about the entire evangelical community believes otherwise.
The Book of Jude talks about those impostors who turn the grace of God into licentiousness. I wish I were mistaken in saying that just about the entire evangelical system has done that in spades. They have turned the grace of God into excuses for all manner of sinfulness. See my article on the Book of Jude: False Grace.
Can we fail the grace of God?
That question may be a challenge for many Christians. It all depends on how grace is defined. Let us consider this chapter from the Book of Hebrews. Note especially verse 15.
Hebrews 12 (KJV)
- “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses (Chapter 11), let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”
The author of Hebrews tells us to lay aside sin, which so easily entangles us, and run the race set before us with patience, just as those in Hebrews 11 did.
- “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
- For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
- Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
- And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
- For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
- If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
- But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
- Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
- For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Those who are not chastened by God are not children of God. God’s purpose in chastising us is that we might be partakers of his holiness. That implies that sin ceases and is replaced with righteousness and holiness. That is key.
- Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
God’s chastening yields the fruit of righteousness, which means that sin ceases.
- Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
- And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
- Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”
We are told to follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord. Accepting the correction and chastisement of God brings forth righteousness and holiness, which are required to “see the Lord.”
- Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
The chastening, correction, and discipline of God is the grace of God in action. Grace produces righteousness and holiness in our lives. Failing the grace of God means that righteousness and holiness are not the result, and that sin remains in our lives, as the author explains in the following verses.
- Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
- For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
- For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
- And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
- (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
- And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
- But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
- To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
- And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
- See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
We must come to God, not a mere man, even Moses. If we refuse God who speaks from heaven, how shall we escape damnation?
- Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
- And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
- Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
The author says we receive a kingdom that can’t be moved, therefore let us have grace that we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Grace is again connected with serving God in righteousness and holiness, and not sin. True grace produces this in our lives.
- For our God is a consuming fire.”
Christians who refuse to repent of their sins and to walk in holiness are failing to receive the grace of God, according to the author of Hebrews. And most evangelical Christians have been brainwashed into thinking that failing the grace of God is not refusing to repent of our sins, but is not believing the lie that grace means that God is not holding us accountable for our sins because Jesus Christ obeyed the laws of God for us. They falsely believe that Christ did it all and that there is nothing we need to do but to trust that Christ did it all for us. What a travesty.
Consider this definition of grace:
The truth is that the grace of God in teaching the truth and disciplining His children always produces righteousness and holiness in all who are actual recipients of His grace.
Grace is God’s longsuffering, favor, and forgiveness toward sinners, if they will believe the truth, repent of their sins and live for Jesus Christ. The grace of God makes lifelong saints out of hardened sinners.
True grace saves us from the commission of sin, not in the commission of sin. Most Christians believe that they are saved while in their sins, not from sinning.
In Part 3, we will examine in greater detail how the definition of grace has been changed and corrupted over many centuries.
