And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8
Romans 5:20-21 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Most Christians know the story of the hymn “Amazing Grace.” The author was John Newton who was converted to Christ while engaged in the British slave trade in the eighteenth century. He went on to become a pastor and worked energetically to abolish the slave trade in England. Though his memory began to fail him in his final years, he was always clear about two things: “That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior.”
Newton’s conviction—that God’s grace is greater than our sin—was probably based on Paul’s words in Romans 5:20: “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” As he wrote in “Amazing Grace,” Newton considered himself a “wretch” for having trafficked in the buying and selling of fellow human beings. But he found God’s grace and forgiveness to be greater than his sin.
Regardless of what you may have done, never wonder if God’s grace is sufficient for you. God makes “all grace abound toward you” in “all things,” qualifying you for “every good work.”
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!
John Newton
