What is salvation? In general terms, salvation is deliverance. When we speak of ‘salvation by grace’, we mean deliverance from the wrath of God, the everlasting punishment that we deserve because of our sins. Ultimately, for everything we are able to do and everything we have of a spiritual nature, we must attribute to God’s grace.
Grace is a gift bestowed upon undeserving sinners. When we begin to understand what we are by nature, dead in trespasses and in sin, we can begin to appreciate God’s grace more fully. When we are made to see our guilty condition before a holy and righteous God by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, we must say “Salvation is of the Lord” and “by grace we are saved”.
“Salvation by grace” means simply what it says. Salvation is entirely a free gift bestowed upon us. It is not something that God does as a result of our appropriate response to Him, for then salvation would be based upon our faith and works. Some time during the life of an elect heir of grace, God sends His Spirit into the person’s heart and that person is born again; he is made a new creature in Christ. The conviction he feels because of his sins, his repentance, his faith, and his good works are all evidences of this sovereign work of God, not the cause.
