Is God Gracing on the Curve?

When I was in high school, some teachers graded on the curve. Is God doing the same thing with grace? Keep reading to find out.

Is God Gracing on the Curve?

When I was in high school, some teachers graded on the curve. What they meant by that was that if no one earned a 100% on a test, they would add to everyone’s score the difference between the highest score earned and 100%.

Thus, if the highest score anyone in the class made was a 92%, the teacher would add 8% to everyone’s grade. In my high school you had to have a 92% or higher to get an A. This grading on the curve was awesome. It meant if the highest grade actually earned was a 92% and I earned an 85%, the grade I received would actually be a 93%. I earned a B, but received an A. It also meant that I might earn a 59% on the test, which was an F, but would receive a 68%. That was a D, but at least it meant passing the class. Many of us loved the curve grading teachers. That is, unless we were in a class with a whiz who blew the curve all the time by actually getting 100%.

For the longest time, I pictured God’s grace as if He were grading on the curve. Obviously, I could never possibly score 100% on this test of life. I’ve already blown that. But, if I worked really, really hard I might score high enough that when God added His grace of the curve to my earned score at the end of life’s semester, I’d receive a high enough grade to graduate to heaven. Of course, part of this whole curve grading system means being better than most everyone else. After all, if you outstrip me by a bunch on the test, when God adds the curve percentage, it still won’t get me to the needed A on life’s test. It’s no wonder that the Pharisee of Luke 18 spent so much time trying to prove he was scoring so much higher on the test than other people.

But is that really what God is doing?

Of course not. After all, that picture will produce in our service to God the very same thing it produced in my high school classes. It will cause us all to try to figure out what is the least we need to do to get the curve to kick in and get us the rest of the way. Of course in life’s class, it might cause another problem. It might cause us to so despair of ever scoring high enough on our own to cause God’s grace to kick in that we just give up.

The real problem with grading on the curve is that it completely missed the point. The point of the class was not to make a grade. It was to master material. It was to learn information. People who wanted to master math were not as excited about the curve grading system as everyone else. Why? Because their goal was not simply to get a score that was good enough. They wanted to understand math. Therefore, they weren’t satisfied with doing just what it took to get a certain grade that would be bumped by the curve. They did whatever it took to master math.

Of course, here is where the analogy breaks down. Some people are smart enough to master math. But on life’s test, we’ve all failed. As Romans 3:23 explains, we’ve all fallen short of God’s 100% glory. What is even worse is that when we did that, as Romans 6:16 explains, we became slaves of sin. Rather than mastering, we were mastered. Then Romans 7:14-24 demonstrates that in that state, none of us can master life’s fight against sin. We’re doomed. What makes this worse is that there really was a whiz who blew the curve. Jesus set the example of perfect living. He showed that it could be done. We who have already blown it are left without excuse.

Now, some people in this situation keep hoping for the curve. They keep just trying hard and hoping they are in the upper percentiles that earn a good enough grade to get God’s nudge into heaven. But that isn’t what grace is about. Grace isn’t about nudging us into heaven even while we continue to languish in our ignorant sinning. Grace is about empowering us to master life. It is not about giving us some kind of propositional nudge to make the grade. It is about giving us the strength to overcome sin.

Grace is like some other teachers I had in high school that took a different approach. They didn’t grade on a curve. Rather, they offered themselves as helpers and tutors. If you weren’t mastering the material, they didn’t just want to add points to your score. They invited you to connect with them and gain from their vast knowledge and their one-on-one help to fill you with the ability to master the material.

That is the better picture of God’s grace. He isn’t asking you to try your hardest and if you measure up as one of the highest scorers in your class, He’ll tack on some grace points so you can go on into heaven. Rather, He is opening His door to you. He is offering Himself to you to fill you with His strength to overcome (cf. II Corinthians 12:7-10; Philippians 2:12-13; 4:13).

The real question is do you want to master the material? Is God and His holiness really your delight? Or are you hoping for a curve so that you can hang on to some of your sinning and unholiness but still get bumped up to the heaven class?

You know, one of the things I find really interesting about this, is that the folks who were looking to be graded on a curve didn’t like the folks who were looking to master the material very much. They viewed them as the curve blowers. So, if you are relying on God’s grace to help you master the material, don’t be surprised when the folks who view grace as grading on the curve keep getting mad at you.