Am I Really "Just a Sinner Saved by Grace?" (My Experiential and Logical Arguments)

This blog is going to focus on the phrase "I'm just a sinner saved by grace" and why I believe that it's a misrepresentation of the identity of person that has truly experienced the transformation brought about by the power of the gospel.  After studying under some of the best Biblical scholars at Liberty University, doing some personal study, and talking with some pastors and with some older men that I look to for spiritual counsel, I no longer use the phrase "A sinner saved by grace," nor do I think that anyone who calls themselves a Christian should refer to themselves as a "sinner" in general or describe themselves as a "liar," "cheater," "idolater," or any other such label (there are many). Why? Well, let's think what that label means. I'll talk later about how God really sees you, but for now let's just make the point of how you represent yourself, and are you representing yourself (and God) honestly when you say that about yourself. I would have to say that Biblically, you would have to answer "No," if you were to study this.

Alright, so, maybe to something that will make a bit more sense to you....many of us make statements that identify and label us on a daily basis. For example, you may say "I am a student at Liberty University" or "I am a Democrat" or "I am a Republican" or "I am a Conservative" or "I am a Liberal" (or any other host of political labels), or "I am an American" or "I am a Christian." But what does that mean when you say that? Isn't that a statement of you putting yourself under the authority of someone or something else? If you are a student, then you put yourself under the authority and instruction of your professors and the administration. If you identify yourself with a political party, then you are saying that you agree to and fall in line with their ideology. If you say you are an American that means that you put yourself under the authority of the Constitution and the government. Before I hit the last one (which I'm sure most everyone would agree is the most important), when you say that "I AM a liar" that means that you continue to put yourself under the bondage of sin....which Christ has already paid the ransom price for. You are in essence putting the chains back on yourself which have been taken off of you. What a slap in the face to what we claim the transforming power of the gospel is. If we REALLY believed that we were "new creations" we would put off our old self and dress ourselves with the righteousness of God which comes through Christ Jesus, and no longer identify ourselves with sin or submit to it. You see, many people who call themselves, "sinners saved by grace" only do so because they are unwilling to give up their sin nature and truly be transformed by the power of the gospel. I know I have been there before, and I know others who are there right now....my issue is that a man cannot serve two masters. So, before you call yourself a Christian, are you really identifying with Christ, or are you still identifying with your old nature, and which REALLY has mastery over you?

Let's also be careful to not apply the labels like "saint" and "child(ren) of God" or "Christian" to those who are unregenerate (I think that's the most specific term I can use). So, if we are careful to only use these labels to describe those who have been "born again," then what do we mean when we call someone a "Christian"? Well, similarly to what we have already discussed, it would mean someone who is under the authority, leadership, and instruction of Christ and has made His ideology their ideology. The term, as most of you know, literally means "little Christ," and referred to the early believes who until then had called themselves "followers of the Way." They were so conformed to the image of Christ that the people couldn't understand the transformation that had taken place. What kind of transformation do your friends and family see? Do they still see Eph. 2:1-3 in you or do they see verses 4-10. Are you "an object of wrath," still under the condemnation of sin, or are you "God's workmanship," being daily conformed to the image of His Son?

There is a very personal side to this too. Some people that I am very close to continue to live in sin, and I have a hard time balancing that with their apparent devotion to the things of God. They are some of the most "spiritual" people that I know, yet they continue to let sin be master over them. I know that only God can know their heart, and they may be having a real battle within them, but it has become difficult to see to whom (or what) they truly swear allegiance to. I know all of us (including myself) have times where we sin, perhaps even habitually after we are "born again." The question then is this: If we identify ourselves by our sin, does that mean that we have given up on the power of God to be able to overcome that sin and transform us? To some whom I have met it has....they identify themselves as "sinners saved by grace" because they believe it excuses their continuing to be in bondage to sin. They may not say this outright, but if they identify themselves by the sin, then they have usually given up fighting it. Though many of you are well-meaning when you use such phrases, it is important to be clear to people that our sin nature is something that is in the past that has been nailed to the cross. "My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought...My sin, not in part, but the whole....was nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more...Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, O my soul." (a stanza from "It is Well with my Soul). We only live under the power of sin if we return to it and put it back on ourselves.