A Doctrine of Grace, by Casey Ferguson

“In this life I know what I’ve been, but here in your arms I know who I am. I’m forgiven. I’m forgiven. And I don’t have to carry the weight of who I’ve been, ’cause I’m forgiven.”

These are the words to a song by Christian music group Sanctus Real. And the focus of this verse is unmistakably forgiveness. That, because of God’s forgiveness, the identity we’ve carried with us in the past, an identity of sinner, out of sync with God’s plan of righteousness, that has all disappeared now.

For me, forgiveness has always been a complicated thing to understand. Despite looking at the topic before, reflecting on the subject at times, I’ve never been able to put together a complete theology for how I’ve understood forgiveness in my own life.

I think the big question for me has always been, Can grace, or forgiveness, exist without sin?

The obvious answer is “no.” Grace cannot exist without sin. Why? Because the very word implies a need, something wrong that needs to be overcome. Just like a firefighter has a job because of the existence of fire, grace is necessary because there is sin in the world. But the question that naturally follows is, If sin is necessary for grace to exist, should we continue sinning in order to maximize grace? This question is answered in Romans 6, by Paul:

“¹ What should we say then? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may multiply? ² How can we who died to sin still live in it? Absolutely not!”

So, we don’t sin simply to achieve more grace, because that causes the freedom purchased through Christ’s death on the cross to be meaningless and empty. We aren’t free if we continue to sin. The third question here is a little more subtle. I bet we don’t typically put it down on paper, or talk about it with our Christian friends, but I believe it’s still there, albeit silent. Once redeemed, does God forget all about us?

I think it comes down to this: grace is such a beautiful thing. I would argue that anyone who has experienced genuine grace would agree with this statement. Because it’s a beautiful thing, it can be easy to seek it out more and more. Like a child who misbehaves to get the attention of the parent, we may be tempted to act out with our lifestyle because we’re afraid if we don’t need immediate attention perhaps God will stop chasing us. When the sheep is found, does its value decrease? I mean, it is in a safe place now, right?

As human beings, we are unique in the fact that we experience God’s grace. The fallen angels never had this same opportunity for salvation. The animal and plant worlds never needed it. But we should be pitied if we live in such a way as to try and capitalize on Christ’s sacrifice for us.

As Christians, we must see the doctrine of grace in this way: we are reconciled to God, in our relationship with Him now and in our future hope. This is a present and future tense thing, now. We must move on from the past.

Because we fell yesterday, we’re redeemed today. Once redeemed, though, it ceases to be about us. After we are found by the shepherd, cold and hungry, wandering and lost in the wilderness, we are cleaned up and nourished back to health. After cleaning us up, the shepherd turns his back to us, and it hurts a little if we don’t understand what is happening. The fact is that we were just one of many, many sheep. The shepherd still loves us, so much, but he must now chase after the other lost sheep, and if we’re honest with ourselves it now becomes our job to go with him. We must forget the comfort of the pen for ourselves so that we’re able to bring our lost brothers and sisters back to the pen, so that they can be reconciled too.