Answer
The creator of everything that came into existence is God. He made rules how his creation should live. The rules he made for humans are laws and commandments. Disobedience to them is called sin. God will punish the sinners in hell eternally. Since people are made in flesh and its nature is to do the things of the flesh, they will sin. But they are called to obey God. And, God made a provision to forgive all of them that has come to obedience. "Heb 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;" The people who come under this class will not be punished for their sins, but be forgiven. This is eternal salvation or we may say that they are saved.
“We are sinners saved by grace” is a statement taken from the Bible. The Evangelicals use it to explain something other than what the Bible explains. The Bible says that when you come to obedience, God forgives your past sins. "1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;" But the Evangelicals interpret it in an entirely different way. They say all kinds of things which is opposite to obedience, which is not to sin.
“We are sinners saved by grace” phrase is taken from "Eph 2:5... by grace ye are saved. ... 8 ... by grace are ye saved." Who are they that are saved in the word "ye" is explains in the context. They replaced "ye" with "we" to make it personal, but they lost the truth. They have changed "by grace ye are saved" as "we are saved by grace" and gave their own meaning without its context. People think that it is Bible reference, but it is their own making by using the Bible phrase. If we compare what they mean with the Bible, then we will find the difference.
What is saved ?
By the word "saved" they mean; escaped the punishment in hell and will enter heaven. But, the Bible mentions about a conversion of a few people in life and thereby they are free from the wrath of God. "Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked (A) according to the course of this world, (B) according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past (C) in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. ... 5 ... ye are saved;" Verse 2 and 3 says that they were doing a few things, which they do not do now. (A). They walked according to the world. (B). They were under the power of the devil as those who disobey God. (C). They were living in the lust of the flesh and mind, so were under the wrath of God. Now they are converted from the life of sin and so they are no more under the wrath of God. As their sins became the past, the wrath of God also became the past. This change is explained as “ye are saved' in verse 5. Here we see that the people began to stop sinning. Or, we may say that the people started to obey God. This caused their salvation, or we may say that they are saved.
Further we see that God also works to save them simultaneously. "Eph 2:1 you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins:... 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved; 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:" A person who is in trespasses and sins is considered as a dead person. That is, a person without trespasses and sins is considered as a living person. That is, a sinning person is dead and a non-sinning person is a living person. The soul of the living person is pulled out of sin and spirit of the living person is placed in Christ. This resurrection of the dead person is the work of God. That is, God quickened them who were dead. This quickening (resurrecting) work of God is the grace of God and by this work God saved them. This also goes along with "Matt 1:21 ... his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins." They are saved from their sins. That is, they are converted from the life of sin to a life of holiness. This is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What is grace ?
We just saw that this quickening (resurrecting) work of God is the grace of God and by this work God saved them. That is, by grace they are saved. Further we saw that the soul of the living person is pulled out of sin and spirit of the living person is placed in Christ. This is also the work of God that is grace. This is connected with the phrase taken from "Eph 2:5... by grace ye are saved. ... 8 ... by grace are ye saved." We saw two thing happened in salvation. People obeyed God and God removed his wrath, or we may say that God forgave their past sins. Here God's forgiveness is his grace.
We just saw that people obeyed God. We can see the grace of God even in the obedience of the people. "Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you." God revealed his doctrine to them and they obeyed. Here the revelation of his doctrine is his grace. "John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:" God gave them power so that they could obey him. Here the power of God is the grace of God. "1 John 3:6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him." That is, God may even abide in us to enable us not to sin. So, God's abiding in us is his grace.
A measure of faith is given to every believer as a gift from God. "Rom 12:3 ... God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." The believer should return it as the work or fruit of faith, otherwise the faith will be dead. "James 2:26 ... as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." God works through the works of faith of a believer and saves him from his sins and places him in Jesus Christ in heaven. "Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:... 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" We were sinners in the past. At present we are holy and are seated in Christ Jesus in heavenly places. If this is true, then "we were sinners now saved by grace." If it is not true, then "we are yet sinners not saved by grace."
If we love God with reverential fear, we will obey God - We will stop sinning.
the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
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