Lorenzo Palon

New Podcast Episode

Which comes first—grace or holiness?

Do we obey so that God will finally accept us? Or does God receive us first in Christ and then begin forming a new life within us?

In this episode, we explore why Christian obedience is not the anxious effort of outsiders trying to earn admission into God’s family. It is the grateful response of sons and daughters who have already been welcomed home.

Grace is the root. Holiness is the fruit.

Listen to You Don’t Obey to Be Loved: Grace First, Holiness Follows.

About This Episode

Christianity becomes exhausting when we imagine that God’s acceptance depends upon our performance.

We begin measuring our prayers, church attendance, Bible knowledge, moral discipline, and failures while quietly wondering whether we have done enough to deserve God’s love.

But the gospel announces a different order.

God acts first. He chooses, calls, forgives, welcomes, and adopts us in Christ. Holiness does not purchase our place in His family. It grows from the grace we have already received.

This episode also confronts the opposite distortion: the idea that grace makes transformation unnecessary. Paul rejects both moralism and cheap grace. We are not saved by good works, but we are saved for a life of good works.

Grace does not merely cancel the record of the old life. Through the Holy Spirit, grace begins forming a new humanity.

We do not obey to become loved.

We learn obedience because we are loved.

Key Scriptures

Key Scriptures: Ephesians 1:3–6; Ephesians 2:8–10; Romans 6:1–14; Romans 12:1–2; Galatians 5:16–25; Colossians 3:1–17; Titus 2:11–14.

Prefer to read?
Read the complete article:
Chosen by Grace, Called to Holiness

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