Good day,<\/p>\n
I have heard people saying after a near-death situation that “It is by the grace of God he is alive.” How biblical is that?<\/p>\n
Thanks<\/p>\n\t
“Grace” is a favor given, even though it is not deserved. We usually use it to talk about salvation, but consider: “For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me<\/em>” (I Corinthians 15:9-10). Paul is talking about more than his salvation from sin. He became an apostle, though Paul did not think he deserved such a position because of his background. “… of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ<\/em>” (Ephesians 3:7-8). Regardless, Paul made good use of that gift to serve God fully throughout his life. And even in that effort, Paul said it really wasn’t him, but God’s grace working through his life.<\/p>\n When a person lived a life that would have led to eternal punishment, but then drastically changes after realizing his mortality, he can thank God that He gave a gift of time in which to change. Perhaps some might look at a person’s brush with death and tell him that he should not waste the time he has left because God gave him a gift to put his life to better use.<\/p>\n “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is<\/em>” (Ephesians 5:15-17).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Good day, I have heard people saying after a near-death situation that “It is by the grace of God he is alive.” How biblical is that? Thanks Answer: “Grace” is a favor given, even though it is not deserved. We usually use it to talk about salvation, but consider: “For I am the least…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[48,41],"class_list":["post-5829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-grace","tag-life"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":66933,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-my-generation-neglect-the-grace-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":5829,"position":0},"title":"Did My Generation Neglect the Grace of God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edward O. Bragwell, Sr. I cannot understand how so many of the younger generation of preachers (sometimes encouraged by a few older ones) can talk about how woefully the generation before them neglected to tell people about the grace of God. They boldly speak about it as though it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58392,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/obeying-the-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":5829,"position":1},"title":"Obeying the Lord","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clem Thurman via Gospel Minutes, Vol. 58, No. 8, Feb. 20, 2009. Question: How can one talk about \"obeying the Lord\" in the light of what is said in\u00a0Titus 3:5\u00a0and\u00a0Ephesians 2:8? Answer: First, let us notice what these two passages say: \"Not by works done in righteousness, which we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62066,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/grace-is-sufficient\/","url_meta":{"origin":5829,"position":2},"title":"Grace Is Sufficient","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 29, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Paul describes certain visions and revelations that were beyond his understanding (II Corinthians 12). He then spoke of what he calls a \"thorn in the flesh,\" given to him to keep him from becoming conceited. He implored the Lord three times that this thorn would be removed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50844,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-give-grace-to-all-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":5829,"position":3},"title":"Does God give grace to all people?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1013,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-believe-that-baptism-could-be-linked-to-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":5829,"position":4},"title":"Do you believe that baptism could be linked to grace?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 5, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you believe that baptism could be linked to grace? Answer: In the Bible, grace is the concept of a freely given gift; a gift that the recipient has not earned nor has necessarily deserved to receive. God's gift to mankind was the life of His own Son. \"For\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51926,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-romans-24-and-titus-211-talking-about-two-different-types-of-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":5829,"position":5},"title":"Are Romans 2:4 and Titus 2:11 talking about two different types of grace?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, Titus 2:11 speaks about the grace that brings salvation, meaning unmerited favor. Does Romans 2:4 talk about a different grace, where God cares and supplies to all human beings so that they would want the grace mentioned in Titus 2:11? Thanks. Answer: \"For the grace of God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5829\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}