Pardon & Power: A Biblical Theology of Grace

While it is rather clear that God’s grace in salvation is free and unmerited, the extent to which God and man cooperate in salvation and how salvation is offered to men and received by him, is not always so clearly understood. There are scriptures which emphasize the free loving will and purpose of God in salvation, while others set forth the human side with its attendant responsibilities and activities. The two extreme poles of this crucial issue are perhaps best represented by the Reformation doctrine of sola gratia (grace alone) and the classical Roman Catholic doctrine of gratia cooperens (grace cooperating with man enabling him to respond to God’s gracious offer of salvation in Christ). The New Testament consistently “. . . describes the universality of the divine grace as the highest level which charis attains in the New Testament.”