Bible verses about

Bible Verses About Grace

12 verses · ESV & King James Version

Grace is easy to state and hard to accept. Unearned favour, freely given, nothing owed.

The difficulty is not intellectual. It is that most men run a ledger — effort in, result out, accounts settled — and grace does not appear anywhere on it. Being given something you cannot repay sits badly with a man who would rather owe nobody.

Twelve passages below. Between them they close off every route to having earned it, which is either the best news available or the most uncomfortable, depending on the morning.

12 verses for when you need them

  1. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

    Ephesians 2:8 ESV

    For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

    Ephesians 2:8 KJV

    Paul closes every exit. Not of yourselves, and then — in case the faith itself looked like a contribution — it is the gift of God. There is deliberately nothing left to have earned.

  2. and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

    Romans 3:24 ESV

    Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

    Romans 3:24 KJV

    Freely, as a gift — and yet the same sentence names a redemption, which is a purchase word. Free at this end because it was expensive at the other. That combination is the whole doctrine in one verse.

  3. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

    2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV

    And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

    2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV

    The answer to a prayer that was refused three times. Sufficient is a modest word — not abundant, not overwhelming. Enough. For a man who wanted the problem removed, that is a harder gift to accept than a rescue.

  4. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

    Hebrews 4:16 ESV

    Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

    Hebrews 4:16 KJV

    Boldly, with confidence — not sheepishly, and not once the situation is under control. The time of need is named as the moment to approach, which is precisely when most men go quiet.

  5. But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

    James 4:6 ESV

    But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

    James 4:6 KJV

    The only thing named here as an obstacle is pride — not failure, not the size of the debt. Which makes self-sufficiency, the quality most admired in men, the one posture this verse says grace runs off.

  6. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

    Romans 5:20 ESV

    Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

    Romans 5:20 KJV

    Not a balance but an overshoot — much more abound. Paul spends the next chapter heading off the obvious misreading, which tells you how strong the statement is.

  7. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

    Romans 6:14 ESV

    For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

    Romans 6:14 KJV

    The order is worth catching: freedom from sin's dominion is the consequence of being under grace, not the qualification for it. Most men attempt the sequence in reverse and conclude they are failing.

  8. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

    Titus 2:11 ESV

    For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

    Titus 2:11 KJV

    Appeared — grace is described as an event that happened, at a time, in public. Not a divine disposition but something that showed up, which is why the next verses can talk about it teaching us.

  9. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

    Ephesians 1:7 ESV

    In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

    Ephesians 1:7 KJV

    According to the riches, not out of them. The measure is not what the need requires but what the giver has — a distinction any man who has been given something beyond the occasion will recognise.

  10. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

    2 Corinthians 9:8 ESV

    And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

    2 Corinthians 9:8 KJV

    The context is money and giving, which is where Paul most often talks about sufficiency. The purpose clause matters: the abundance is aimed at what you can then do, not at what you can then hold.

  11. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

    1 Peter 5:10 ESV

    But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

    1 Peter 5:10 KJV

    Four verbs, all of them his, and all of them on the far side of the suffering rather than instead of it. Peter does not offer an exemption; he describes what is done with a man afterwards.

  12. You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus,

    2 Timothy 2:1 ESV

    Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

    2 Timothy 2:1 KJV

    The two columns split the sense usefully — be strong in it, be strengthened by it. Either way the strength has a source outside the man, and Paul is writing to someone he expects to carry a great deal.

Grace is the doctrine that reads easily and lands badly, because it removes the one thing most men rely on: a ledger they can work.

Every verse here shuts that down somewhere. Ephesians closes off the last route to credit by calling even the faith a gift. Romans 5 says the response overshoots rather than balances. James names pride — not failure — as the thing grace runs off.

And 2 Corinthians 12:9 is the one to sit with longest. Paul asked three times for a problem to be removed and was told the grace was sufficient. Not that the problem was small, not that it would lift. Enough for it. If you are carrying something that has not shifted despite everything you have brought to it, that is the verse addressed to you, and it is not a consolation prize.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version, which is in the public domain. Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.