Who we are: Helpless and lost.

God does not love us because we are serviceable; He loves us simply because He loves us. This is the only kind of love we can ever be secure in, of course, since it is the only kind of love we cannot possibly lose. This is grace.

Why God did it: This was all done out of grace—not because of anything we have done, but “according to the will of our God and Father” (v 4d).

we are regarded by God as wholly perfect and righteous.

We obey in the freedom of gratitude.

Paul did not focus so much on the sinful behavior as on the sinful attitude of self-righteousness that lay beneath it.

Grace is the free, unmerited favor of God, working powerfully on the mind and heart to change lives.

What Jesus did: How did Jesus rescue us? He “gave himself for our sins” (v 4a). He made a sacrifice which was substitutionary in nature.

But the biblical gospel—Paul’s gospel—is clear that salvation, from first to last, is God’s doing. It is His calling; His plan; His action; His work. And so it is He who deserves all the glory, for all time.