Andrew Schroer

First of all, a caveat: I am a bona fide, unapologetic Latin nerd. That’s not a mea culpa per se. I am simply stating a fact. In my everyday life, I enjoy interjecting Latin phrases ad hoc. I love to throw out terms like carpe diem, persona non grata, status quo, et cetera to see if people around me will notice or even understand.

I could go on ad nauseam, but the purpose of this article is not to wax poetic about the Latin language. Rather, it is to focus on one Latin phrase in particular.

Quid pro quo.

“Quid pro quo” literally means “something for something.” In the English language, we use the phrase transactionally. You do something for me, and I’ll do something for you.

You scratch my back; I’ll scratch yours.

Sadly, many people – even many Christians – think that God works by quid pro quo. You scratch God’s back, he’ll scratch yours.

They bargain with God. “Dear God,” they pray, “if you heal my grandma, I promise I’ll go to church every Sunday.” “Dear God, if you let me get this job, I promise I will give you 10% of what I make in my offerings.” “Dear God, if you do this for me, I will do that for you.”

They see verses in the Bible where God promises blessings if we do certain things. God promises us that we will be blessed if we are humble (Matthew 5:5), blessed if we show mercy (Matthew 5:7), and blessed if we are peacemakers (Matthew 5:9). He promises to bless a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:6,7) and to bless us when we hear his Word and obey it (Luke 11:28).

As a result, they think of our relationship with God as a business transaction. If we do something for him, he will do something for us.

But that’s not how God works. When God promises to bless our humble service and sacrifice, he isn’t saying, “You are earning my blessing by doing those things,” but rather, “You can give generously and serve humbly with the confidence that I will bless you.”

That is counterintuitive. Human reason tells us that if we give, if we sacrifice – if we humbly serve others – we will be lacking. We will suffer. We will be without.

But God tells us that the opposite is true. He tells us that we can do the right thing – we can be humble and generous – with the confidence that we can’t lose. We will be blessed when we do such things.

But understand this: God is not offering you a quid pro quo. You can’t bargain with God. We have no quid to offer for God’s quo. We have nothing that God needs.

We can’t earn God’s love and favor. Everything we have and everything we are is a gift of God’s grace. Grace is love that is undeserved. Grace by its very nature is unearned.

God answers our prayers because of his grace. God gives us good things because of his grace. He forgives and saves us because of his grace.

God does not work by quid pro quo.