Grace in the New Testament

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Grace is one of the most encouraging and helpful subjects in the Bible. The verses below are on different aspects of grace; it can be more impacting to group similar concepts together like this. There are some life-giving truths in these verses. I hope your heart “gets it”!

All quotes are from the NIV (84, since that’s been my main version).

God predestined us to receive grace

2 Timothy 1:9 This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time

Ephesians 1:4 He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will – 6to the praise of his glorious grace

God gave us grace when we were dead and his enemies

Colossians 1:21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation

Ephesians 2:3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.

Colossians 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ.

Romans 5:10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

God’s grace is lavish and abundant

Romans 5:15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, 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 5:17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

Ephesians 2:6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

John 1:16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.

1 Corinthians 1:4 I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5For in him you have been enriched in every way – in all your speaking and in all your knowledge – 6because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. 7Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift

Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Grace is free

Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

1 Corinthians 2:12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

Revelation 22:17 Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

Romans 3:23 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 4and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus

Grace is not related to our works

Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 9not by works, so that no one can boast.

2 Timothy 1:9 who has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.

Titus 3:4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

Romans 11:5 at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

Salvation is by faith, not works

John 6:28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” 29Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

John 6:47 “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.”

Romans 4:5 to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7“Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”

Romans 1:17 In the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Romans 9:30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.

Having faith is not a work, it is just accepting God’s grace

Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God

Acts 18:27 On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.

Romans 4:16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace

Jesus is our righteousness; there has been an exchange

1 Corinthians 1:30 you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

Jeremiah 23:6, 33:16 This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.

2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Isaiah 53:4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

We have been made perfect forever

Hebrews 10:14 by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy

Colossians 1:22 now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation

1 Corinthians 6:11 you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Luke 1:74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear 75in holiness and righteousness before him all our days

Romans 8:33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

1 John 2:1 if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Animal sacrifices didn’t remove sin; Jesus took away sin forever

Hebrews 10:11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins

Hebrews 10:1 The law ... can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Hebrews 9:25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

John 1:29 Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

1 John 3:5 you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins.

We can freely approach God

Ephesians 3:12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

The gospel message is about God’s grace

Acts 14:3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace

Acts 20:24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.

1 Peter 1:10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care

Law is about your own righteousness (confidence in the flesh)

Romans 10:3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Philippians 3:4 If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

Philippians 3:8 I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ.

Law is all or nothing; cannot be partially under the law

Galatians 5:3 I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.

James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

Galatians 3:10 All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

God relates to us on the basis of faith, not law

Galatians 3:2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?

Galatians 3:5 Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

Law kills and condemns

2 Corinthians 3:6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

2 Corinthians 3:9 If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!

Romans 4:15 law brings wrath.

Colossians 2:14 the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us

The law was a heavy burden

Acts 15:10 why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?

The law provokes sin

Romans 5:20 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more

Romans 7:5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.

Romans 7:7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” 8But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. 9Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

Romans 7:13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

Romans 6:14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

1 Corinthians 15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

The law cannot make people righteous

Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin

Galatians 2:15 We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ 16know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!

Galatians 3:11 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” 12The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”

The law is powerless

Galatians 3:21 if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.

Romans 8:3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.

Hebrews 7:18 The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless 19(for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.

No longer under the law

Galatians 3:23 Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.

Ephesians 2:14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.

Colossians 2:13 He forgave us all our sins, 14having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.

Hebrews 8:7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8But God found fault with the people and said: “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah”

Hebrews 8:13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

Romans 7:4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ

Romans 7:6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

The law was a shadow

Colossians 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

Hebrews 10:1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves.

Jesus fulfilled the law

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

Romans 10:4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

John 1:17 the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Going under the law is abandoning Jesus

Galatians 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – 7which is really no gospel at all.

Galatians 5:2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.

Galatians 5:4 You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

We live by the Spirit instead of law

Romans 7:6 we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Galatians 5:18 if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

Love is the fulfillment of the law

Galatians 5:14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

Romans 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” 10Love does no harm to its neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.

Matthew 7:12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Romans 3:31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

Grace brings freedom

John 8:36 If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

2 Corinthians 3:17 where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Romans 8:21 the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 2:4 some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.

Using our freedom

Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

1 Peter 2:16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

1 Corinthians 10:23 “Everything is permissible” – but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible” – but not everything is constructive.

1 Corinthians 8:9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.

Voluntary love instead of compulsion

2 Corinthians 9:7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

1 Peter 5:2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers – not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be

We are all on the same level as recipients of God’s grace

Colossians 3:11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 23:8 But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ.

Everything we have is by grace

1 Corinthians 4:7 What do you have that you did not receive?

Grace as power

1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

2 Corinthians 12:9 My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

Colossians 1:29 To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Gifts are God’s grace

1 Peter 4:10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.

Ephesians 4:7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it

Romans 12:6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.

Growing and being strong in grace

2 Peter 3:18 grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 2:1 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 13:9 It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them.

Understanding grace brings fruitfulness

Colossians 1:6 All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.

Humility draws grace

1 Peter 5:5 clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Looking forward to grace

1 Peter 1:13 set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

God’s grace brings him glory

Ephesians 1:5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will – 6to the praise of his glorious grace

Ephesians 2:6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.


Questions or comments to: davidfisher@australiaonline.net.au

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