on the abuse of indelible grace

Consider: nothing that the Christian does or fails to do can condemn him before God.

What are the biblical grounds in support of this statement?

I couldn’t immediately think of any, but here are two sound arguments against the abuse of this grace that frees us from condemnation:

Romans 6 tells us we are in grace and dead to sin, dead to the condemnatory power of the law because of Christ, in the same way a widow is no longer under the authority of her husband (cf Rom 7:16). We must do away with sin because it has no right to be in our lives anymore.

Witness also Jesus’ simple commandment to the adulteress (John 8): “Do they not condemn you? Then neither do I. But go and sin no more.”

I wracked my brains over indelible grace for all of 10 minutes before it was dinner time. But by the time I got back to it I couldn’t think of anything really compelling.

But I think this is true: yes, nothing the Christian does or fails to do will condemn him; but to daily think like that, to live by a bottom-line, ‘what can I get away with’ mentality is not exactly becoming of a renewed, Jesus-loving man. Law-dodging is what Pharisees do (can’t quite remember where I read that phrase). Paul tells us again and again that we are slaves to Christ, and I think any slave who thinks about what he can get away with and keeps his options open (we can’t serve both God and money!) is not very close to his master.

So yes, that statement is true. But a Christian who lives by it probably lives in binding fear, not freeing grace. In a sense we simply get on with it; the fear of the bottom line is literally beneath someone who is in Christ.