He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.

2 Timothy 1:9

You can either have separation or you can have grace. You cannot have both.

The theology of salvation by grace is not a given. There are bible verses telling us what we must do to earn eternal life, but I am more convinced by grace.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

If you are like me, and believe in the gift of grace, you must give up this notion of separation from God.

Many people believe sin is defined as anything which separates you from God. I have also heard it said that hell is the physical separation from the Father’s love.

If either of these are true, I must ask, What is the benefit of grace?

We have all sinned. Do we all go to hell? If not, how does the Father choose who goes to hell to eternally feel the separation? Is there a demarcation line? If you fall below that line, are you cast into the abyss? Seriously… consider it. How would the father choose who ends up in hell?

This is important. If your actions get you sent to hell, then your actions (or lack of sinful actions) will keep you out of hell.

If that is true, we are now earning our salvation; we must not sin in order to avoid falling below the line of demarcation. We just negated the gospel of grace.

We often try to hold onto both separation and grace. To do so takes a tremendous amount of mental gymnastics to make both fit into our narrative.

To hold onto one notion denies the other. I choose to believe that Yahweh is compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (Exodus 34:6). I also believe his mercy and justice are the same and that he will not let the guilty go unpunished (Exodus 34:7). I believe all of this because those are the words spoken by Yahweh himself.