The Critical Relationship between Grace and Spiritual Power

When J.I Packer took up the issue of grace in his popular book, Knowing God, he raises two important questions, “What is it that [prevents] so many who profess to believe in grace from really doing so? Why does the theme mean so little even to some who talk about it a great deal? The root of the trouble seems to be misbelief about the basic relationship between a person and God.”

James Montgomery Boice in his book, Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace: Rediscovering the Doctrines that Shook the World, adds to this by acknowledging, “The problem is that, although we affirm the grace of God in theory, we reject it by neglect.” Boice goes on to state the difference in the general climate of Evangelicalism off against that of the Reformation by commenting, “When the Reformers spoke about “grace alone” (sola gratia), they were saying that sinners have no claim upon God, none at all; that God owes them nothing but punishment for their sins; and that, if he saves them in spite of their sins, which he does in the case of those who are being saved, it is only because it pleases him to do it and for no other reason.” He goes on to make this critique, “Today, large numbers of Evangelicals undermine and effectively destroy this doctrine by supposing that human beings are basically good; that God owes everyone a chance to be saved; and that, if we are saved, in the final analysis it is because of our own good decision to receive the Jesus who is offered to us.” … “And this is not grace.”

According to Boice, if human effort is the central focus grace is not essential. In fact grace defined in this way is not grace at all since the term means unmerited favor.

If the church can undervalue grace the world and the culture rushes in the opposite direction. Rather than depending upon and receiving from God, the culture instead craves “power.” Here a danger begins to emerge in the church through cultural influence when grace is neglected and the idea of “spiritual power” is disconnected from it. In this climate the temptation to define spiritual power from the perspective of cultural power begins to surface.

Noted church leader and author Tim Keller in his book, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power and the Only Hope that Matters, has document the growing tendency towards idolatry in the modern culture when it comes to the kinds of things western people value. This “idol factory,” has Keller refers to it, finds one of its most predominate expression in the idea of “power.” Keller, noting the thoughts of Reinhold Niebuhr on this issue, makes the link between human insecurities and the desire to overcome these insecurities by obtaining power. Everyone wants to feel powerful and possess power or have ultimate control. Americans especially, attach the idea of power to things like money, position, our attitude, words, and anything that exposes a person’s insecurities. This is not to say that our attitudes or words are not important, but when it comes to grace they are not ultimate.

Reinhold Niebuhr has picked up on the human quest for power by stating in his work The Nature and Destiny of Man, “The perennial importance of power in social organization is based upon two characteristics of human nature. The one is the unity of vitality and reason of body and soul. The other is the force of human sin, the persistent tendency to regard ourselves as more important than anyone else and to view a common problem from the standpoint of our own interest. The second point Niebuhr will go on to say is birthed from “insecurity” and leads to “idolatry.” In other words, if self-centered sinfulness defines power instead of the way Scripture provides the true understanding, problems will emerge.

Wrong perceptions of power or power defined from a cultural perspective rather than a biblical one can lead us in remarkably wrong directions. In fact, the more we desire power for power’s sake the more it seems we are kept from it. In other words, we will move away from the very thing we so desperately want. In fact claiming to possess “spiritual power” in the manner of a cultural idea of power will distort it in such a way that it ceases to be truly “spiritual.”

Power plays into the grasp of idolatry when power becomes a possession for power sake. Jesus promised in Acts 1:8, that the church would receive “power,” not control or manipulate it. Once again, claiming to possess “spiritual power” in the fold of a cultural idea of power will distort it in such a way that it ceases to be truly “spiritual” and grace centered. Christians play into this arena (Charismatics especially) when we bifurcate power from the being of God proper and disconnect it from “grace,” which is a characteristic of God expressed through power. In this case something happens to “spiritual power” when we seek to implement it or use it. We appear to control it and direct it wherever we want it to manifest itself, instead of God being in control and using power to further his purpose. This can happen to the well meaning believer when the quest for “power” looks more and more like the world and its use of self-centered power. This can happen to us when we define “spiritual power” apart from the nature of God and his grace.

Connecting grace with power in the way Scripture connects them (I Cor. 12:9) keeps power located in the control of God and his purpose. It keeps us safe from the idea that we possess and control power (rather than receive it), manipulate and direct it, which eventually will lead us down a path away from grace and dependency upon Christ! Grace properly joined with power or grace seen as a manifestation of power keeps the Christian life and the church dependent upon God.

Paul’s understanding of grace assisted him in the knowledge that no matter how God was using him it was grace that established him and grace in which he labored. Paul expresses this preciously in I Corinthians 15:10 where he state, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me (ESV).” Notice the use of present tense active verbs in this passage, “I am what I am” and “the grace of God that is (implied in the ESV) with me.” Paul’s experience and dependency on grace is current and active. This means that wherever he was at in his “spiritual growth” it was all due to grace. Also, whatever he was accomplishing for Christ through God’s power was equally due to grace. Paul never lost sight of the connection between grace and power and neither should we.

Essay by Gary L. Finkbeiner