Ordination Question 3

3. What is your understanding of humanity and the human need for divine grace?

One of the most troubling passages in the Bible for me comes from Romans 7 where Paul contrasts who he is with who he wants to be. He makes the very human statement that, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (v. 15). Maybe this is so troubling because it so encapsulates the human condition. We know what we should do, but we just can’t do it. We know what we shouldn’t do, but we just can’t help ourselves. It is the problem that has plagued humanity since the fall. Article VIII of the Articles of Religion states that this condition of humanity renders us unable to “turn and prepare [ourselves,] by [our] own natural strength and works, to faith, and calling upon God.” Left to our own devices we have neither the power nor the inclination to do good works acceptable to God. Without the intervention of God’s divine grace we would be hopelessly lost.

Wesley, of course, teaches that there are three types of grace; prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying. These are sometimes referred to as preparing, accepting, and sustaining grace. Prevenient grace, the grace that goes before, is that grace that is with us and acting in our lives even before we knew we needed it. From the moment we are created, we are recipients of God’s prevenient/preparing grace – calling us, wooing us, convincing us, preparing us to receive God’s free gift of salvation. It is that little bit of “something” that God places within each of us that allows us to accept God’s solution to the problem that plagues our existence – separation from God.

Our separation from God, caused by our own free choices, can only be healed by God’s justifying/accepting grace. Article IX of the Confession of Faith begins by stating, “We believe we are never accounted righteous before God through our works or merit, but that penitent sinners are justified or accounted righteous before God only by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” When we choose to experience God’s justifying grace, we are “born again” or “born from above” (John 3:3). Having been born from above, we are now able to participate in the abundant life that Christ offers.
Being a “new creature” in Christ does not end with justification, but is only the beginning of a life-long process of “going on to perfection.” This growing as Christians is a result of God’s sanctifying/sustaining grace shaping our lives, transforming us into the people that God would have us be. It is by God’s sanctifying grace that we are moved from lives bound by sin and death to lives lived in the light of Jesus Christ, constantly learning, continually growing, ever pressing toward the mark, and taking upon ourselves the very mind of Christ.