[S I M T A N]

Your argument is based on the premise that I reject the notion of grace from God as the main factor in our salvation. That is a false premise. I accept that God's grace is the main factor in our salvation. Our Prophet صلي الله عليه وسلم already told us that none of us will enter Paradise except by the grace of God. Ergo, we both agree on the grace factor. The question is: how do we get on God's gracious side?

The term "grace" is loosely used by many people. You can talk a good game about the grace of forgiveness, but we all know your kind of grace isn't the sort specific to our faith, which has connotations of spiritual rebirth. Let me go into detail about why Christianity places so emphasis on grace.

The NT describes us as being "flesh" by nature. This condition of flesh involves such a moral weakness that we can't do what God requires. If we can't do what God requires, how can God possibly hold us responsible and accountable to a law we can't keep? Bear in mind the law requires perfection, yet none of us is perfect. So how can God demand perfection from imperfect creatures? Jonathan Edwards, a noted theologian, provides a helpful distinction between natural and moral ability:

"Natural ability means the necessary power or equipment to perform a task. For a being to do moral works, he must have moral powers. He must have a will and a mind. A creature without a will cannot make moral decisions while a creature without a mind cannot respond with understanding to moral concerns.

If God commanded us to fly, we would not be able to comply, not on moral grounds but on natural grounds. We lack the ability to fly, not because we're sinners but because God hasn't provided us with wings. Birds have the natural ability to fly but human beings do not. Man can only fly by artificial and mechanical means.

The Bible says there's a sense in which man cannot do what he is required to do. This is a "moral inability." The NT says man cannot keep the law of God, and it's not because he lacks a will or a mind and cannot understand what God requires, but because man doesn't have a proper disposition toward God, being in a state of enmity and estrangement from God. Man has a will, but that will is under the power of sin and in bondage to sin."

We know corruption is progressive and irreversible, and that any attempt to redeem society is doomed to fail. So what's God's plan for His people? "The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His won special people, zealous for good works." (Titus 2:11-14)

God won't patch up the "old man," the old corrupt, fallen nature. He doesn't improve it. Man can reform, can improve, but only God can create. This is something God has to do for us and in us; we cannot do it ourselves. He'll produce a new creation. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." That's God's perfect remedy.

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.. and I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.." (Ezekiel 36:22-28)

God is taking away the heart of stone and giving back a heart of flesh capable of responding to His Word and to His Spirit. It's important to see that neither Jew nor Gentile can do God's will apart from the Holy Spirit. Only when God puts the Holy Spirit in someone can he do the will of God. Every reborn Christian who reads these words ought to rejoice. It's a testimony of God's covenant-keeping faithfulness to His people, a testimony of the absolute accuracy of the Bible, and an up-to-date message that's being fulfilled before our very eyes.