Grace - What is it exactly?

by Frank Paul

Have you ever bought a gift for someone that you really know well? You can just feel they are going to like it. You have known them for a long time, you are familiar with their likes and dislikes, and you cannot wait to see their reaction when they open it. That is how I see grace. It is an absolutely wonderful gift from God, to us, whom He knows so well; actually knew us before we were ever born.

But what is different with God’s gift of grace to you from that gift you bought your friend is that God gives His wonderful gift to everyone, whether they deserve it or not. On the other hand, you are probably not in the habit of buying gifts for people you do not really know or who are unkind to you; that is the major difference with God’s gift of grace.

Grace is mentioned 170 times in the Bible (KJV). One example is Paul’s Ephesian 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”  This is also a good example how grace is God’s favor toward the unworthy, His unearned and freely given gift, which helps provide us a means for salvation.

This next sentence may seem as if a child is writing it, but this is truly how I feel: It is just so nice of Him to do that for us. Of course, you know “nice” is not a strong enough word, but I could just feel that as I was writing.

Back to the adult: One might think of grace as a concept, a concept that transcends beyond just the word itself, but it spills over into the entire Bible. There are examples of God’s favor being given to Noah, Abraham, Moses, continuing into the New Testament, through the revelation of grace through Jesus Christ, God’s greatest gift to us.

Grace’s first appearance in Scripture is all the way back in Genesis 6:8, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” At this point in the Biblical timeline, God has pretty had it with men fouling up everything He created and decides to do away with the entirety of it all, but for Noah and his family. Noah’s gift of grace is undeniable.

One of my favorite appearances of grace or gracious is found in Numbers 6:24-26, “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”

To modernize it a bit. My assumption would be that most of us have heard the hymn Amazing Grace by John Newton (although you might not have known the composer; I didn’t). “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see.”  Newton’s personal experience of God’s grace, despite his not so nice past, is just another example of how profoundly the impact of grace can be to someone, so much so that he wrote a hymn about it. I can relate to how something can impact you so much that you feel compelled to write about it. (See My Miracle, Part 1, on our website: TheSowerofSeeds.com)

Some of the more famous theologians like Augustine, Martin Luther, and John Calvin wrote extensively about how glorious the gift of grace is. Augustine’s later works, 390-ish A.D., including “The Spirt and the Letter,” and “The City of God,” emphasize how grace is necessary for salvation, conveying to us we are incapable of achieving righteousness on our own. Martin Luther wrote an entire doctrine about it, “Sola Gratia,” which means grace alone, and used grace as one of his central tenets of the Reformation.

During my research for this article, I thought what the heck, why not look up grace in the dictionary; and yes, I still use a dictionary, the kind you can actually turn the pages. You will be surprised how many other words you come across on your way to the word you are looking for. A lost art, I know, but still extremely valuable. Merriam Webster: Grace - God-given help or kindness; a state of acceptance by God; a God-given virtue; the graces of self-denial, humility, and love.

Hopefully by now you can see how grace extends beyond being just a simple word. It is a living, breathing, continual gift from God. Absolutely beautiful.

So next time you hear the word grace, don’t just let it go in one ear and out the other. Consider how wonderful a gift it is from our Lord, shadowing us in His love, helping us along the way back to Him, and deep down in your thoughts thank Him for it; you and I do not deserve it. It is truly an expression of how much God loves us.

May the grace of the Lord be with you, today and always. Amen.

(Soli Deo gloria, Glory to God alone)