Grace vs. Faith - Andrew Wommack

I read this from Andrew Wommack's book "You've Already Got It", and I found it very interesting. What are your thoughts? Do you have any?

"That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace ye are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph 2:7-9)


That's a powerful passage of Scripture. It's also very familiar. Therefore, many people think they already know what it says. They just skip over it and don't really give it much time or effort, which is why they don't receive its full benefit.


You were saved by grace through faith. You weren't saved by grace alone. Neither were you saved by faith alone. You were saved by grace through faith. In order to make a point to someone, sometimes I'll emphasize one over the other. For instance, if someone argues, "I believe you have to be holy, pay your tithes, be baptized, etc.," then I'll respond, "No, you're saved by faith. It's your faith in what Jesus did that saves you, not what you do for the Lord." So it's not absolutely wrong to emphasize "you were saved by grace" or "you were saved by faith" in order to make a point. But technically speaking, you weren't saved by grace alone or by faith alone. It was a combination of the two. You were saved by grace through faith!


Grace and faith are like sodium and chloride. If you ingest either one of them alone, it's poisonous. Alone, either one would kill you if taken in a sufficient quantity. However, if you mix them together, you get sodium chloride (table salt). Together, they become something you cannot live without - salt. That's how grace and faith are!

Grace alone (apart from faith) won't save you! In His grace, God has provided salvation for everyone through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God's grace is the same to everyone. However, not every person is saved. Why? Although the provision for their salvation has already been made (grace), each individual must appropriate God's grace for themselves by faith!


Faith alone (apart from grace) won't save you either! You must put your faith in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished in the atonement (grace). If your faith is in anything else (living holy, paying tithes, reading the Bible, attending church, etc.), it won't produce salvation. Your faith is either in Jesus and what He did (grace) or in yourself and what you do (works). It truly comes down to that! Biblical faith always believes on Jesus and appropriates what God's grace has already provided.


Overall, the Body of Christ is divided primarily into two different camps - grace or faith. Grace people misunderstand and criticize faith people, and vice versa. Both tend to take their positions to the extreme.


Grace people don't like to hear preaching on faith. Why? They look at it as something we must do. Therefore - to them - it compromises God's grace. They teach that the Christian life is based totally on God's grace. Your faith - what you believe - has nothing to do with it. That's why grace, by itself, will kill you!


On the other hand, faith people don't like to hear preaching on grace. Why? Their focus is all wrapped up in what they must do. They discuss how to build yourself up in faith, what faith will accomplish, etc. Faith preachers don't like to mention God's grace because they feel it weakens people's motivation to be aggressive and make things happen. However, faith, by itself, will also kill you!


Faith and grace must complement each other in order for you to experience the abundant life God intended for you to enjoy. Faith teaching, if it's just "Do something to move God!" will kill you. You'll end up stuck in the flesh - frustrated, legalistic, and works-oriented. On the other hand, extreme grace will also kill you. If it's "God does everything and you have nothing to do with it," your subsequent passivity will prevent what the Lord has done from manifesting in your life. Then you'll have to make up all kinds of excuses for why you aren't experiencing the abundant life God provided by His grace and clearly promised in His Word. Grace and faith must work together!


All error stems from a truth in God's Word being overemphasized at the expense of other complementary truths. Just take one truth and exalt it to the exclusion of other necessary truths (either through neglect or on purpose), and it'll become an error.


There must be a balance! All truths from God's Word fit together and harmonize. When understood properly, grace and faith complement each other. You were saved by grace through faith. (Eph. 2:8) It took both, not just one or the other!


- Andrew Wommack