God's abundant grace

Message / Question

what do you say to atheists who says that "where sin abounds, grace abounds even more" so they can do whatever they like?

Response

I think that he first thing that I would say that it was good to see atheists quoting Scripture and seeking God’s grace!

Paul actually dealt with this issue in Romans, so what I will say here will pretty much paraphrase what he wrote.

In a world where sin was abounding – it was everywhere you looked, the gentiles, the Jews, the religious leaders – everywhere, sin abounded. Into this scene came God’s response, born in a manger and later described as being full of “grace and truth”. This was God’s grace on display – it “super-abounded” compared to sin. There was much sin, but there was much more grace! The price was paid, and undeserving, sinful people could receive God’s grace and have eternal life. However, if man chose to continue to sin rather than turn to God’s grace, then they could do so, but they would do so without God’s grace and would thus have an eternity separated from Him. So the atheist in your question may do as he chooses, may sin to his heart’s content, but in doing so, He ignores, and by default rejects, the abundant grace that God has offered him. The grace that is greater than all of our sin is there, but it’s of no use to him if his choice is to ignore it.

For the Christian, Paul noted that we have been made “dead” to sin, so our desire should not be to sin but to obey God’s Word. Thus the “abundance” of God’s grace is not motivation to sin, rather it is something for which we can be grateful that was made available to us in order that we could share eternity with our God and Maker.