The law demands good works and uses its terror--rejection, shame, fear of punishment, unanswered prayer, personal tragedy, etc.--as motivation. Here performance is a necessity to secure the blessings and avoid the curses. Grace, on the other hand, allows us to serve on a different basis--not from fear but on the basis of love and gratitude, from appreciation and gladness for blessings freely given and freely received.
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It has been said that God's gift is also indescribable because of the grace by which it is given. God, who is rich in mercy, gave the world the gift of His dear Son while we were at enmity with Him. Paul says 'But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us' (Rom. 58). Therefore, in Him we are freely given all things redemption, forgiveness of sins, righteousness, peace, hope, wisdom and knowledge.
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Grace is not against good works It simply does not bless on the basis of good works. We receive blessing from God based solely on the merits of His Son--blessings freely given to us in Christ and nowhere else. The completeness that is in Christ mean deliverance from trying to 'be good' and 'do right' in order to be accepted by God.
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1 Corinthians 2:12:
We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
(NIV)
Now we have not received the spirit [that belongs to] the world, but the [Holy] Spirit Who is from God, [given to us] that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts [of divine favor and blessing so freely and lavishly] bestowed on us by God.
(AMP)
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
(KJV)
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