There is still another sentence in Romans which is very clear on this point: "But if by grace, it is no longer out of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace" (11:6). Someone in my family once said that we should give a gift to a certain doctor at the end of the year. When I asked why, I was told that two months earlier my two younger brothers were sick, and they were cared for by that doctor. Because the doctor was a friend, he would not accept any money for his services. Therefore, we were to buy him something. "In that case," I said, "we are not giving him something, but returning something." Why? Because there was a work and a debt. Strictly speaking, our giving was a returning of what we owed.

My friends, if we had any achievements before God, whether these achievements were great or small, God's salvation to us would become a payment of debt and would no longer be grace. Thank God that there is no one who can claim any achievements before God. Thank the Lord that we are saved by grace. If I, Watchman Nee, were saved by my achievements, I would never say, "God, I thank You for giving me grace." Instead I would say, "God, I am saved because You have paid back Your debt." I could proudly claim that I am saved by achievements. Why is it that no one can save himself by achievements? It is because God wants to remove all pride from man, that man may do nothing other than thank and praise Him. Once the matter of achievements arises, grace is no longer grace.

Please remember that God cannot withhold grace from man because of his wrongdoings. Nor can He reduce His grace to man because of his wrongdoings. He has to give, and He cannot reduce His giving. Grace is not related to wrongdoings. What about achievements? In grace there is no possibility of mixture with anything, even in the nature of achievements. Grace is not God's payment of debt to us. It is not that God owed us and that now He is paying us back. Some may say, "Mr. Nee, we are not so extreme. Even though we dare not say that we come to God only by our achievements, you have to believe that we need some achievements before God. It is impossible to have nothing at all. We should do a little work, and then God can make up our lack. We will do our best, and God will make up the rest." My friends, we cannot say this. Grace is not God's payment of a debt. In the same way, neither is grace God's overpayment of a debt, as if God owed you five dollars, but is now returning ten to you. Grace is like someone giving you a new garment. It is not like someone patching up your torn garment. If grace is a patching up, it has lost its standing, and its nature is annulled.

Let me repeat again, grace has nothing to do with achievements. Man naturally sees that some people are better and others are worse. Therefore, he thinks that the better ones require less of God's grace and the worse ones require more of God's grace—a bigger patch for a bigger hole and a smaller patch for a smaller hole. But such a concept does not exist in the Bible.