The Grace-Faith Overlap

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— Ephesians 2:8 (New International Version, NIV) emphasis mine

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Romans 5:1-2 (New International Version, NIV) emphasis mine

For some time it seems that there have been two trains of thought in the church when it comes to living the Christian life. One has focused on grace, while the other has majored on faith. As a result, there have been two extremist views that have served to weaken the body of Christ. Scriptures like the ones above tell us that grace and faith work together. Therefore, when we separate them and tap into just one of them to the exclusion of the other, we negatively impact our walk with Christ.

Grace

Grace has been defined a number of ways. One popular definition is to use the letters of the word to form an acrostic. GRACE: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Another definition of grace is the unmerited favor of God. These are both good and they point to the fact that grace is from God and is not earned by man, but comes because of Jesus Christ and what He did. When I think of Grace, I see it as God’s ability and willingness to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We couldn’t save ourselves from death and hell, so He did. We couldn’t purchase our own healing, so He did. We couldn’t bring ourselves peace, so He did. You get the idea. Grace is God’s part of the deal.

Faith

Faith could be simply defined as believing, or trusting. Every person is given faith, according to Romans 12:3. Faith grows by getting into the Word (Romans 10:17). We exercise and use faith by believing the Word of God, and acting on it by speaking in agreement with the Word. It is by faith that we receive what God has for us: salvation, healing, peace, etc. Faith is mankind’s part of the deal.

Grace or Faith?

For too long, some of us have said that we must live by grace and not works. On the other end of the spectrum, some of us have said that faith pleases God and releases what God has promised. Both are true but they are not independent of one another. We can’t expect God to do everything (grace) without our involvement (faith).

Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. Romans 4;16 (New International Version, NIV) emphasis mine

Grace AND Faith

Grace provides, and faith receives. In order to tap into grace, we must use faith. It’s a package deal; a partnership. God’s grace provides the promises, such as salvation, protection, provision, peace, health, favor, and so forth. Then God gives us faith that we can use to access those promises. Faith reaches out and says, “Salvation is mine through Jesus. Protection is mine through Jesus,” and so on.

I’ve heard it compared to a road with a ditch on either side. When we veer too far in one direction, we end up in a ditch. When we veer too far in the other direction, we end up in a ditch. It isn’t possible to focus only on grace because you can’t access it without faith. And when we zero in on faith and ignore grace, there is nothing for faith to receive because the grace of God makes it available. By balancing and overlapping grace and faith, we can stay on the road and walk victoriously with Christ.