A Quote by J. I. Packer

The grace of God is love freely shown toward guilty sinners, contrary to their merit and indeed in defiance of their demerit.

J. I. Packer

Quote Topics

Contrary Defiance Freely God God Is Love Grace Grace Of God Guilty Indeed Love Merit Shown Sinners Toward

Quote Author

J. I. Packer
British - Priest
Born: July 22, 1926

God's love is an exercise of his goodness toward sinners who merit only condemnation.

J. I. Packer

Faith is a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain of God's favour that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it. Such confidence and knowledge of God's grace makes you happy, joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures. The Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who has shown you such grace.

Martin Luther

It has been said that God's gift is also indescribable because of the grace by which it is given. God, who is rich in mercy, gave the world the gift of His dear Son while we were at enmity with Him. Paul says: 'But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us' (Rom. 5:8). Therefore, in Him we are freely given all things: redemption, forgiveness of sins, righteousness, peace, hope, wisdom and knowledge.

Paul Sadler

As mercy is God's goodness confronting human misery and guilt, so grace is his goodness directed toward human debt and demerit.

Aiden Wilson Tozer

In the New Testament grace means God's love in action towards men who merited the opposite of love. Grace means God moving heaven and earth to save sinners who could not lift a finger to save themselves.

J. I. Packer

Love has no awareness of merit or demerit; it has no scale... Love loves; this is its nature.

Howard Thurman

Love looks to the eternal. Love is indeed "ecstasy," not in the sense of a moment of intoxication, but rather as a journey, an on-going exodus out of the closed inward-looking self toward its liberation through self-giving... toward authentic self-discovery and indeed the discovery of God.

Pope Benedict XVI

Because He freely owned my guilt I may freely own my sin. Guilty as charged, and yet, not guilty at all.

R. C. Sproul, Jr.

Justification by grace through faith' is the theologian's learned phrase for what Chesterton once called 'the furious love of G-d.' He is not moody or capricious; He knows no seasons of change. He has a single relentless stance toward us: He loves us. He is the only G-d man has ever heard of who loves sinners. False gods- the gods of human manufacturing- despise sinners, but the Father of (Yeshua) loves all, no matter what they do.

Brennan Manning

Grace is the love of God shown to the unlovely. It is God reaching downward to people who are in rebellion against him.

Jerry Bridges

If we were not sinners, Jesus would not have had to come. If he didn't see us as sinners, he could have loved us without dying for us. He died for our sins. So if we're all sinners, that means everybody's in the pot together needing the same love, the same grace and the same forgiveness.

Kirk Franklin

It is no wonder you are tempted; on the contrary, it would be something new if you were not, because man's life is nothing but temptation, and no one is exempt from it, especially those who have given themselves to God; his own Son even passed through this trial. But if it is necessary for everyone, it is also a source of merit for those to whom God grants the grace of turning all things to good, as you do.

Vincent de Paul

I have seem even those who have long since abjured God die in grace. . . . Atheists don't use their drying to bargain for a better seat at the table; indeed they may not even believe supper is being served. They are not storing up 'merit.'; They just smile because their heart is ripe. They are kind for no particular reason; they just love.

Stephen Levine

Grace ceases to be grace if God is compelled to bestow it in the presence of human merit.

Sam Storms

Here is a spiritual principle: We cannot exercise love unless we are experiencing grace. You cannot truly love others unless you are convinced that God's love for you is unconditional, based solely on the merit of Christ, not on your performance. Our love, either to God or to others, can only be a response to His love for us.

Jerry Bridges

Grace is the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God.