Grace Community Church Nashville | By Grace Through Faith: Contradictory or Consistent? – Words of Grace Blog

Nov 15, 2024 By Grace Through Faith: Contradictory or Consistent? – Words of Grace Blog – November 15, 2024

Posted at 09:44h in Words of Grace Blog by Jess Plyler

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We come to a place in Colossians 3 that may seem like a contradiction, but it reveals a perfectly consistent way to live by faith in the grace of God.

As this chapter opens, we hear of the great grace of God by which he brings us into union with his Son, Jesus Christ. The aspects of our union with Christ include having died with him to sin and raised with him by the power of God to newness of life (see also Romans 6). Now our lives are hidden with Christ in God, and we wait for him to return when we will share in his glory.

Then, we come to a set of commands that seem to tell us to do what we were told has already happened. We are called to put to death the sins of the flesh and to put on the new self we are in Christ.

This raises questions. If we have died with Christ to sin, why do we have to put sin to death? If we are new people who are alive with Christ, why do we put on the new self?

Is it a contradiction to say that we are dead to sin but also must put sin to death, or that we are alive with Christ but must put on the newly alive self?

There is no contradiction in the gospel of God’s grace and the call to live by faith.

Yes, God by grace has caused us in Christ to be dead to sin’s condemnation and dominion over us. Certainly, we are now alive in Christ and sharing his resurrection life. And, by faith we live consistently with our death to sin in each step we take to put to death the practices of sin. By faith, we live consistently with our new life in Christ by putting on the new self and its practices.

Each decision to put sin to death is an act of faith that God has in fact caused us to die with Christ to sin. Each decision to put on the new self and by the power of the Spirit and express the character of Christ is an act of faith that God has in fact raised us up with him in newness of life.

This is a simple matter of living consistently with our reality in Christ. It is a matter of living by faith in the grace of God. God, in grace, has united us to his Son. We, by faith, walk in his grace (Romans 6:1-11).

Grace and faith are not contradictory. They are a perfectly consistent way to live for all who believe and are united to Jesus Christ.

This Sunday at Grace Community Church we will return to Colossians 3 and pursue the life of Christlikeness by faith in the grace of our union with him.

This weekend, read Colossians 3 and pray for our congregation.

-Scott