Two men err regarding grace. The first man preaches grace, but fails to recognize that God's grace is linked to human responsibility. The second man preaches responsibility, but seldom speaks of God's grace.

    The first man believes that salvation is solely by God's grace. He contends that any required action. on man's part in obedience to commands would nullify grace and would constitute meritorious salvation. "It is absurd to believe that God's grace could be linked to anything like baptism," is the way one person stated it.

    The second man speaks well of the requirements of the gospel. He often preaches the necessity of baptism, faithful attendance, liberal giving, good morals, doing one's part in the activities of the local church, etc. He speaks of Jesus as our perfect example and of His full submission to the Father in His death, but rarely of Him as the propitiation for our sins. Seldom does he bring his listeners to feel their constant need for God's mercy and forgiveness and their absolute hopelessness apart from the cleansing blood of Christ.

    The first man would promise salvation without necessary diligence in learning and doing God's will. The second man would place so much emphasis on learning and doing God's will that he would focus the eyes of his listeners more on themselves than upon the Lord. The first man needs to lean the truth of Titus 2:11-12: "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. " The second man needs to learn and appreciate the exhortation of Philippians 3: 1: "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. "

    We would remind the first man of the nature of God's grace as it is revealed throughout the ages. We would begin with God's grace as it was extended to Noah at the time of the flood. "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord" (Gen. 6:8). Noah, however, was given in instructions to be obeyed. And Noah recognized the necessity of obedience: "Thus did Noah: according to all that God commanded him, so did he " (Gen. 6:22). Had Noah failed in his responsibilities, he would never have been saved from the flood by the grace of God. We would remind this man of God's grace as it was extended to Joshua in the capture of Jericho. "See, I have given into thine hand Jericho " (Josh. 6:2). But God had instructions for Joshua: march, blow the trumpets, shout. When Joshua and the Israelites fulfilled their responsibilities the "wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city" (Josh. 6:20). We would remind this man of the man born blind in John 9 whose eyes the Lord opened (vs. 14, 17, 21, 26, 30) when he did what the Lord commanded. Our first man should be able to see that: (1) God's grace does not rule out instructions (law); (2) God's grace does not rule out obedience, and (3) God's grace does not rule out strict obedience.

    We would remind the second man that good works without God's grace can never save. We would begin with the message of Ephesians. Paul in Ephesians did  indeed give instructions - practical instructions, instructions that must be obeyed, concerning morals, duties of wives, husbands, children, parents, servants, masters - but not until he had firmly established God's grace as the basis of salvation (chapters 1-3) and as the motivation for obedience to God's instructions (observe the word "therefore" in 4: 1). We would remind this man of the danger of being like the Pharisees who "trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others" (Lk. 18:9-14). We would remind him that when one sins he has "nothing to pay" and therefore must approach God as one who is poor in spirit, mourning, meek and hungering and thirsting after righteousness (Lk. 7:41-42; Matt. 5:3-6).

    We would not dare to say which of these teachers is the more dangerous, for they both err regarding grace. We find ourselves naturally recoiling at the teaching of the first man and greatly fearing the consequences of his teaching, but we never want to be guilty of the error of the second. We cannot preach grace without preaching responsibility, but we must not be guilty of preaching responsibility without preaching grace.