Augustine wrote,
"No one believes who is not called. God calls in his mercy and not as rewarding the merits of faith. The merits of faith follow his calling; they do not precede it...Unless the mercy of God in calling precedes faith, no one can even believe and thus begin to be justified and to receive the power to do good works. So grace comes before all merit. Christ died for the ungodly. The younger received the promise that the elder should serve him from God who called him and not from any meritorious works of his own." (Bary and Oden, Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture, New Testament VI, Romans, pg. 251).We see the truth of the gospel of grace in what Augustine wrote. May we cherish it as precious in the sight of God in and through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! We are not saved by any meritorious works but we are called to live godly, upright and holy lives in a pure morality unto faithful repentance. If we have grace we will be able to do good works because we were preordained to do them (Ephesians 2:10). The basis for our standing before God is Jesus Christ and His unified merit. Praise God for His sovereign grace! Amen.
