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| PentecostalTheology.com
BALANCING GRACE AND FAITH – Ray E Horton
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, 9 not of works, so that no one should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
What is a grace believer? For me it’s a matter of emphasis, not either/or when it comes to faith. I had been a part of the Word of Faith community for years, and sometimes the message could get too focused on us, grace being taken for granted.
No longer – God is doing a new thing, bringing us back to a renewed focus on His finished work.
The pendulum swings
Believers didn’t know how to receive by faith so didn’t always appropriate to themselves God’s wonderful grace in Jesus
There was a time when, in good churches – forget the dead churches – that the truth of God’s love and mercy, grace and redemption was the overwhelming preaching, but people really didn’t know how to receive by faith so didn’t always appropriate to themselves God’s wonderful grace in Jesus.
The faith movement was, I believe a reaction to that. But now, the pendulum swings and He is leading us into the balance of God’s Word.
Now, grace vs. works/law – that’s another story which is definitely either-or. Either we live by grace through faith, or we are in bondage. But don’t let anyone tell you faith is works. Faith has works, as James tells us. However, faith is a gift of God by which we choose Him and His life within us.
