Let Grace Abound, A Biblical Studies Class

Let Grace Abound, A Biblical Studies Class

Good morning!  Welcome to this class on “Let Grace Abound.”  From my point of view having studied much of the Bible and much of the history of the Christian Church.  Whether we are under the law, whether it be the law of the Old Testament, the rules in the Gospels, or laws and rules made up by people, whether we are under that law or whether were under the grace of God has been one of the great debates of Christianity. 

Recently I have been reading a lot about the Middle Ages and Crusades, and it’s interesting.  Two things about the Middle Ages are clear, there were a lot of monasteries and there were a lot of crusades, where the knights from Europe went to reclaim the holy land from the “infidels” as they called them.  And, in both cases the reason the nobility of Europe spent all that money on monasteries and on the crusades was they felt it would earn their salvation.  They talked about Jesus Christ being their savior, yet they were convinced they had to earn their salvation.  And this was particularly true with the knights.  Because knights, being warriors went around killing a lot of people, and in the medieval theology, killing anybody, even of a good cause was a sin you had to repent from or due penance.  So, the typical lord of the manner would fund a monastery in his district, with the idea that there would be a lot of monks in there would pray for his soul.  And then the Popes gave what they called a “plenary indulgence:” you go take a pilgrimage to the holy land, reclaim Jerusalem, get back the holy, true cross from the Persians who stole it and took it to Persia and all your sins will be repaid and you’ll go to heaven. 

And so that is where much of that medieval history came from.  And there is much more detail, obviously if you read it, but much of the medieval history we know about is based on that one idea that you had to earn your salvation.  Whereas, what you will see in this class is Jesus Christ paid for your salvation.  So, whether joining a monastery was a good thing because it gave people a place to live and pray, that is another story.  Whether it was good to fight for the holy land and get the land back for the Christians who use to own it, that is another story.  But it had nothing to do with the salvation or the eternal life of those knights.  Because, if they were born again – they simply accepted Jesus as lord and believe God raised him from the dead – they already had it. 

So, here we go, let us start on the Introduction here…

As taught over a weekend, 20210619-20 by Bruce Mahone.  All rights reserved.

Class Handout

Let Grace Abound Class Handout

Teaching in five sessions

Audio

Let Grace Abound, Session 1

Let Grace Abound, Session 2

Let Grace Abound, Session 3

Let Grace Abound, Session 4

Let Grace Abound, Session 5

Video

Let Grace Abound Session 1

Let Grace Abound Session 2

Let Grace Abound Session 3

Let Grace Abound Session 4

Let Grace Abound Session 5

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