Today is your day of salvation!
Paul opens this sixth chapter of Corinthians with a perplexing exhortation:
“We then, as workers with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” What does he mean by “not to receive the grace of God in vain”?
First, he is not implying that some people can accept the atonement of Christ, which is described in the preceding chapter, and yet continue to live in sin. To receive the grace of God in vain does not mean a person may be justified while remaining unsanctified. Scripture never separates these two aspects of redemption. Those who are reconciled to God through Christ will certainly be sanctified. The pardoned believer cannot continue to live in sin as he or she did prior to the Holy Spirit’s regenerating work.
Second, Paul does not mean by this statement that Christians can lose their salvation. The “grace of God” that Paul is speaking about in this passage is not forgiveness of sins, nor is it the renewing, sanctifying influence of the Spirit. Some interpreters will try to use this passage to prove that Christians can lose their salvation, but this is not true to the teaching of Scripture. This statement by Paul is similar to that found in Gal. 2:21, “I do not frustrate the grace of God.” Each of these verses are not talking specifically about forgiveness of sin, but the favor of God in having made His Son sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
“The Lord Jesus Christ having died for our sins and procured eternal redemption for us, the apostle was most earnest in exhorting men not to allow this great favor, as regards them, to be in vain,” Charles Hodge wrote.
Christ’s death was sufficient to save all who had heard the proclamation of the Gospel. The Corinthians had heard Paul’s teaching, and he urged them to grasp the “day of salvation.” He didn’t want the work of Christ to come to nothing in their case. Instead, he wanted the grace of God to be manifested in their lives; and with this goal in mind, he exhorted them fervently to be reconciled to God before it was too late.
This exhortation applies to all who hear the Gospel. Let us not put off what we can do today. Accept the grace of God, the offer of reconciliation in His Son, before the offer is revoked and the work of Christ is proved to be fruitless in its application to you.
There is urgency in Paul’s exhortation, just as there is in the verses below and those Scriptures that stress the importance of coming to Christ as a young person. Why is important to have this urgency when you share the Gospel? Today, pray specifically for someone you know to accept God’s offer in Christ before it is too late.
(1996). Tabletalk Magazine, October 1996: Fearing God, 18.
This exhortation applies to all who hear the Gospel. Let us not put off what we can do today. Accept the grace of God, the offer of reconciliation in His Son, before the offer is revoked and the work of Christ is proved to be fruitless in its application to you.
There is urgency in Paul’s exhortation, just as there is in the verses below and those Scriptures that stress the importance of coming to Christ as a young person. Why is important to have this urgency when you share the Gospel? Today, pray specifically for someone you know to accept God’s offer in Christ before it is too late.
(1996). Tabletalk Magazine, October 1996: Fearing God, 18.
