Does God give grace to all people?
Question:
Does God give grace to all people? Does that mean He does not exclude anyone? Does grace come to the Christian as well as sinners?
Answer:
"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age" (Titus 2:11-12).
"Grace" is giving someone more than they deserve or have earned. God chose to send Jesus to die for the sins of mankind. God did not do it out of obligation, it was a gift freely given. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). His death was on the behalf of everyone. "For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit" (I Peter 3:18). No everyone accepts this gift, but the gift was made available to everyone.
Another gift from God is His book. Notice in Titus 2:11-12 that God's grace both brings salvation and instructs us. They are closely related because salvation comes through the gospel. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16). When Paul and Barnabas persuaded men to continue in the grace of God, how was that done? "Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God. The next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord" (Acts 13:43-44). A person continues in the grace of God by listening to what God said. Again, this gift is offered to the whole world, but not everyone accepts the gift. "If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister" (Colossians 1:22-23).