More on Luther and grace

The superabundance of divine grace (“the overwhelming goodness of God”) is identified by Luther first and foremost with the Christ—event, not with the gifts of creation or nature. As we have seen, the Pauline terminology of “grace” is taken to signify a relationship of favor, not a quality in the character of God nor, by infusion, a human quality or capacity. God’s favorable relation to humanity is embodied in the gift of Christ, who comes to us only as the Savior who gives, not as a Legislator or Judge who demands. In this respect, Luther’s theology tends toward perfecting the singularity of grace, though (unlike Marcion) only in dialectical relationship to the law of the same God, who is “hidden” behind apparent contradictions, and with his “other hand” threatens us with judgment. The priority of grace is also fundamental for Luther: his Augustinian tradition equips him to make strong statements about the predestination of the elect, but he is wary to enter this perplexing terrain since the essence of the gospel is its address to individual lives, not the eternal disposition of God toward the world. At the heart of the gospel is the gift of Christ, “the foundation and chief blessing of salvation.” In Aristotelian terms, it is not the works that make the person, but the person who makes the works; in Lutheran terms, persons are reconstituted when they receive the all-sufficient gift of God in Christ. Sola gratia thus preserves the sense that all that is essential to salvation has not just been started but has already been achieved by Christ (solus Christus).—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 110–11