The Words of His Grace
Therefore, doctrine according to godliness is always doctrine according to Christ. Any teaching that marginalizes Christ, distorts His person or work, or offers a path to spiritual life apart from Him is not according to godliness, regardless of how moral or religious it may appear. Legalistic moralism is not godliness because it is not grounded in the gospel of grace.
Antinomian licentiousness is not godliness because it denies the transforming power of that same grace. True godliness is the fruit of union with Christ, and that union is established and sustained through the truth of doctrine.
The pastor's task, then, is not first to produce behavior modification. It is to preach and teach the doctrine that, by the Spirit's work, produces godliness.
When the indicative of what God has done in Christ is proclaimed, the imperative of how we then must live follows with divine logic and power.
To reverse that order is to fall into moralism. To neglect the indicative is to preach law without gospel. Sound doctrine keeps both truths in proper proportion and sequence.
The Words of His Grace In Acts 20:32, as Paul makes his farewell address to the Ephesian elders, he commends them "to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to