God’s Grace and Personal Responsibility: Working Together in Salvation

There’s certainly something amazing about watching a new Christian grow into their faith. Eyes are open to things that are new, and that which has not been seen, is now conceptually new. Until that moment, life did not have reason that could be explained legibly. Finally, this person is now living for something more than themselves and the day-to-day conveyer belt that so many call normalcy. But what changed? What brought that person to the realization of so much more that was completely unrealized before? More than likely, they were experiencing God’s prevenient grace: This is the “grace that goes before” in the way they experience God before they truly find Him.[1] Some things in life are undeniably God breathed, and while some respond, others unfortunately might not.

After they have responded to God’s calling, they find their new life through justification/conversion: All sins are pardoned…this is God’s acceptance by grace, paid for by Jesus’ earthly death, resulting in peace unmistakable.[2] So far, this person has been called for the majority of their life, finally to accept God’s gracious invitation to a truly lived life, and in a moment, through a heart change and grace offered by God, they have been made new. Up to this point, God has been at work unceasingly, and the moment of response was brought about by the realization that Jesus was the only avenue in bridging the gap between them and God.

The new believer was afforded grace by God as their new empowerment beyond self. This empowerment and prompting by the Holy Spirit are key to salvation and how others see it in the believer, through the new abilities to truly believe, love, and serve God, bringing about the additional ability to be Holy.[3] At this point, the new believer moves into what is known as sanctification: The process of an ongoing dying to sin in one’s life as they grow in grace and become more Christlike.[4] Once a person becomes reborn in the Spirit, they are set apart, no longer controlled by sin, and growing in faith and grace.

It is evident there are two actors in the way of salvation: God and the believer, as an interactive relationship, but still only through the empowerment given by God (Philippians 4:13 NIV) – “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” John 15:5 (NIV) also shows the interrelationship and empowerment: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit;?apart from me you can do nothing.” As God is ever-present in our lives, we are also responsible to reciprocate and be present in His works through us.[5]

[1] Matthew Schlimm, “Wrestling with Marduk: Old Testament Perils and Prevenient Grace.” John Wesley, Sermon 43, “The Scripture Way of Salvation,” in The Works of John Wesley: Volume 2. ed. Albert C. Outler, Abingdale Press, section 3.

[2] John Wesley, Sermon 43, “The Scripture Way of Salvation,” in The Works of John Wesley: Volume 2. ed. Albert C. Outler, Abingdale Press, section 3

[3] Randy L. Maddox,?Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology?(Nashville, Tenn: Kingswood Books, Kindle edition, 1994), 120-121.

[4] Phil Tallon and Justus Hamilton Hunter,?The Absolute Basics of the Wesleyan Way?(Franklin, TN: Seedbed Publishing, 2020), 51.

[5] Maddox, 92.

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