Saved by grace

The generally accepted definition of grace is "unmerited favor." So, it means that God has extended his grace to you, has favored you with his salvation, without regard to any merit on your part.

If fact, you have no merit on your part.

In my mind, grace goes beyond extending favor to someone who doesn't deserve it. It involves extending favor to one who deserves to die--who is guilty and without excuse.

So when we say we were saved by grace, it's shorthand for saying that God saved us from well-deserved eternal condemnation, because Jesus took our punishment on himself.

 

What do you mean by "how do you know"? Do you mean how do we know that salvation is by grace, or how does one know that he/she is saved eternally?

The answer to the first question is the bible tells us over and over again and experience should testify to this. I'll ask this question: how was Paul saved? It couldn't have been works because he was persecuting saints prior to being born of God.

The answer to the second question is that the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

 

I heard it put well once that being saved by grace is not only unmerited favor, it is demerited favor.
As my pastor put it, it was as if you woke up one day to find $1 million in your bank account.
But not only that, you did not start with a $0 balance, the day before you had a $1 Million debt.
So it is not just unmerited in the gift of $1M but also the payment of your debt.

Another word to remember is mercy, which is simply not getting the punishment we deserve.

 

That's right. And that's why what Christ did is said to be "much more" and "abounding" over what Adam did. If what Christ did was equal He would have just brought us up to zero, a clean slate if you will. But He did so much more than that, and God be thanked.

As Isaiah wrote, "she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sin."