We are not saved by Grace.
This is so true. We are saved because we have repented and realised our state before
God and want a way out to walk righteously. Jesus through the cross gives us forgiveness
and healing with is provided by grace, a gift of life, but it is not grace itself.
Language is strange, because a gift made gracefully is still the gift and not the way it is given.
I think this is where a lot of confusion comes when we want to explain the manner of things
yet it gets confused with the actual object itself.
So people say grace saves us, grace redeems us, where as Christ saves us, and Christ redeems
us, but Christ is full of grace. Grace is an adverb rather than a verb itself. Life perfect is an
adverb and not a verb so you cannot be perfect, but an aspect of something can be perfect.
So you could be perfectly honest, perfectly truthfull. So if someone abreviates this to be perfect
they are meaning in reference to the object of the conversation and not perfection itself.
This has caused so much confusion, in the sermon on the mount where Jesus is saying be perfect
in the love you have for your enemies.