Grace changes everything. In a world of “do more” and “try harder,” we are need of people who are willing to continue to resound the call of “it is finished.” Grace is the intoxicating message of the extravagant, relentless love of our savior.
And I’m thankful for the theologians, present and past, who have written these words that have messed with me as I’ve thought, written, and preached the message of grace.
25 Quotes on Grace
"Humility is not a technique to get God's grace, it is not a merchandise to be exchanged for grace; it is rather the admission of one's wretchedness; it is about being plain and honest to ourselves and the world by naming things for what they are.” - Vitor Westhelle, The Scandalous God
"We do not, as we follow Jesus, become increasingly self-sufficient. Rather, we learn, bit by bit, the art of begging from God the Father, until at our death we can do nothing but say, “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me!” - John Kleinig, Grace Upon Grace
"Grace is given to heal the spiritually sick, not to decorate spiritual heroes." - Martin Luther
"We find no rest for our weary bones unless we cling to the word of grace.” - Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians
"Grace frees you from being afraid of admitting your sin, weaknesses and failures." - Paul Tripp
"Christianity isn't for the Little Engine that can. It's for the train wreck that can’t." - Dan Emery Price
"Grace is more than just leniency and unconditional acceptance. Divine grace is God’s relentless and loving pursuit of His enemies, who are unthankful, unworthy, and unlovable. Grace is not just God’s ability to save sinners , but God’s stubborn delight in His enemies— yes, even the creepy ones. Grace means that despite our filth, despite the sewage running through our veins, despite our odd addiction to food, drink, sex, porn, pride, self, money, comfort, and success, God desires to transform us into real ingredients of divine happiness." - Preston Sprinkle, Charis
“All persons held as slaves are, and henceforward shall be free.” - Abraham Lincoln, Emancipation Proclamation
"The Reformation was a time when men went blind, staggering drunk because they had discovered, in the dusty basement of late medievalism, a whole cellar full of fifteen-hundred-year-old, two-hundred proof Grace— bottle after bottle of pure distilate of Scripture, one sip of which would convince anyone that God saves us single-handedly. The word of the Gospel— after all those centuries of trying to lift yourself into heaven by worrying about the perfection of your bootstraps— suddenly turned out to be a flat announcement that the saved were home before they started." - Robert Capon, Between Noon and Three
"Jesus came to liberate us from the weight of having to make it on our own, from the demand to measure up. He came to emancipate us from the burden to get it all right, from the obligation to fix ourselves, find ourselves, and free ourselves. Jesus came to release us from the slavish need to be right, rewarded, regarded, and respected. Because Jesus came to set the captives free, life does not have to be a tireless effort to establish ourselves, justify ourselves, and validate ourselves." - Tullian Tchividjian, One Way Love
"We contribute as little to our spiritual birth as we do to our physical birth." - Jacob Preus
"What is grace? Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. Grace is being loved when you are unlovable. It is being loved when you are the opposite of lovable." – Paul Zahl
“It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you.” - Tim Keller
"We are never the (acting) subject of the gospel narrative; we are the object of the gospel narrative." - Robert Kolb & Charles Arand
"Grace cannot prevail until our lifelong certainty that someone is keeping score has run out of steam and collapsed.” - Robert Capon
"God freely forgives us on account of Christ...not on account of our works, contrition, confession, or satisfactions." - Martin Luther
"If human merit is currency then inflation skyrocketed at Sinai and the economy tanked at Golgotha. We're bankrupt & our only hope is grace.” - Jacob Goff
"The language of Christianity is the language of substitution. It is not primarily the language of morals. God is not presented as a mother saying “eat all your vegetables”. Instead, Christianity is about a one-sided rescue, that we didn’t want and certainly didn’t deserve, and he did it anyway." - Rod Rosenbladt
"Grace remits sin, and peace quiets the conscience. Sin and conscience torment us, but Christ has overcome these fiends now and forever.” - Martin Luther
"Like a lightning rod, Christ attracted, absorbed, and dissipated the wrath of God that had been stored up and was waiting for us on the last day. And so with Christ’s death the law’s claim and judgment on God’s children died.” - Robert Kolb & Charles Arand
"Never lose heart in the power of the gospel. Do not believe that there exists any man, much less any race of men, for whom the gospel is not fitted.” - Charles Spuregon
“The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” - Tim Keller
“The only people who get better are people who know that, if they never get better, God will love them anyway.” - Steve Brown
"My identity and my security are not in my spiritual progress. My identity and my security are in God’s acceptance of me given as a gift in Christ.” - JD Greear
“If we think the main mission of the church is to improve life in Adam and add a little moral strength to this fading evil age, we have not yet understood the radical condition for which Christ is such a radical solution.” - Michael Horton
What quotes about the scandalous message of grace has messed with you?