More About Grace

“If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.[1]

These are Jesus’ words as recorded in the New Living Translation of the gospel of Luke. The original Greek version of these versus includes the word charis (i.e., grace) three times. These versus might very well be rendered:

“If you love only those who love you, do you think that’s grace? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, do you think that’s grace? Even sinners do that much! And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, do you think that’s grace? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.”[2]

These versus are preceded and followed by Jesus’ admonition to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, pray for those who hurt us, and lend to such people without expecting to be repaid.[3] To me, these verses represent the very pinnacle of grace and people who practice their teachings are veritable PhDs and black belts in grace.

I’ve written quite a bit about grace, including in a book I published in 2019, in the grace chapter of a book I posted online, and in blog posts. Yet I’m convinced there’s so much more to know about this “amazing” thing, so I decided to examine all of the New Testament scriptures that contain charis in the original Greek. What follows is every grace characteristic I identified grouped according to common themes, including the number of times each occurs.

• 32 Grace is used in a greeting or farewell, like "May God give you grace"

• 1 God is full of grace

• 4 God gives grace

• 1 God and Jesus give us grace

• 4 Grace comes through Jesus

• 2 God richly pours out his grace on us

• 1 Grace is given generously by God

• 1 God gives us overflowing grace, a too-wonderful gift

• 1 God's grace was upon Jesus

• 1 Jesus is full of both grace and truth

• 1 God showed us his grace through Jesus

• 1 Christ dishes out one gracious blessing after another

• 2 God gives grace to the humble

• 1 The Holy Spirit is called "the Spirit of grace"

• 1 God sits on a "throne of grace"

• 1 We find grace for our time of need when we approach God's throne of grace

• 1 Believers were called to "live in" the grace of Christ

• 1 God's grace worked so powerfully in all early believers that there were no needy among them

• 1 God's grace does things - like calling Gentiles

• 1 Paul & Barnabas urged people to rely on God's grace

• 1 Paul thanked God for the grace he had given Corinthians

• 1 Paul extended God's grace to the Gentiles

• 1 Paul didn’t treat grace as meaningless

• 1 Paul depended on God's grace, not human wisdom

• 1 God's grace made Paul who he was and gave him the energy/power to do God's work

• 3 "By grace" Paul was a special messenger of God's Good News

• 1 Grace stirred Paul to warn people about arrogance

• 1 God generously poured his grace out on Paul

• 1 Paul considered his life worthless if it didn’t involve telling others about grace

• 1 The apostles preached boldly about the Lord's grace

• 1 The prophets foretold of the grace that would come to us

• 2 People entrust each other to God's grace

• 1 We are chosen & called "by grace"

• 1 We can fall away from grace

• 3 God's power and our strength come via grace

• 1 Grace is all we need and it works best in weakness

• 2 Grace is undeserved

• 1 Grace is free

• 4 Grave saves & offers salvation

• 3 Grace is wonderful and marvelous

• 1 Grace is true    

• 1 God's grace bears fruit, like laying a foundation that can be built upon

• 1 Grace involves gratitude

• 1 Suffering is part of God's grace for us

• 1 By God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone.

• 1 A reward earned from work is not grace

• 1 Giving is an act of grace

• 1 Giving is gracious

• 1 By grace, Christ became poor so that we would be made rich

• 1 An act of charity is considered grace

• 1 By grace, God generously provides us with all we need

• 1 God's grace results in faith

• 1 We remain faithful because of God's grace

• 1 God works through us "by his grace"

• 2 By grace, God makes us right in his sight through Jesus' sacrifice

• 1 We stand in grace because of our faith in Jesus Christ

• 1 All who receive God's grace will triumph over sin and death through Jesus

• 1 The more we sin, the more abundant grace becomes

• 2 But this doesn’t mean we should keep on sinning so that grace will abound

• 1 We live under the freedom of God's grace

• 1 "By His Grace," God gives us eternal comfort & wonderful hope

• 1 Grace teaches us how to live and not live

• 1 Spreading grace results in thanksgiving & God's glory

• 1 We are told not to ignore or squander the grace we receive

• 1 People can recognize when grace has been given to us

• 1 The message of God's grace builds us up and gives us an inheritance

• 1 Grace is in our hearts

• 1 Our speech should be full of grace

• 1 Words can be gracious

• 1 Good/helpful words minister grace to others

• 1 We receive certain promises from God by grace

• 1 God gives us gifts "in his grace"

• 1 A grace (special gift) is given to each of us

• 1 Our different spiritual gifts represent the many forms of God's grace

• 1 We share in God's grace together

• 1 We are justified (made right in His sight) by God's grace

• 1 More grace will be brought to us when Jesus returns

• 1 We are told to "grow in grace"

• 1 Husbands & wives are co-heirs in "the grace of life"

• 1 Let us show grace (gratitude) for the unshakeable kingdom we will receive

• 1 Grace will continue to be with us if we live in truth and love

• 1 We are to see to it that no one misses out on God's grace

Here are some high-level grace insights we can take away from this list:

• Grace is something you hope those you love will experience. It was so important to the apostle Paul – considered the greatest missionary to ever live – that he opened and closed every New Testament letter he wrote wishing that his readers would receive/experience God’s grace. Others, like the apostles Peter and John and the author of Hebrews, also used similar greetings and farewells in their writings.

• God is full of grace and generously/richly shares His grace.

• Jesus is full of grace and is the primary conduit through which God expresses His grace.

• The Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of grace.”

• The apostle Paul considered his life worthless if it didn’t involve sharing God’s grace with others.

• God’s power and our strength come from grace.

• Grace is all we need, and it works best in our weakness. God gives us grace in our times of need when we seek Him. Grace is for the humble.

• Grace is free, undeserved, marvelous, generous, grateful, liberating, comforting, hopeful, a gift, and true.

• Grace involves suffering. “By God’s grace,” Jesus died for us while we were still his enemies.

• Grace teaches us how to live, and we are to grow in grace.

• We should not ignore or squander the grace we receive or treat it as meaningless.

• We should live in God’s grace, rely on it, and extend it to others.

• We can fall away from grace.

• We are justified in God’s sight and saved by grace.

• We should see to it that no one misses out on God’s grace.

A pastor I admire recently defined grace as supernatural power that enables us to live an impossible life, i.e., a truly Christian life. Grace enables us to live in a way that is radically counter to our surrounding culture. A life characterized by things like love, forgiveness, and sacrifice for our enemies.

How about your life? Are you living in such a way that sparks wonder and admiration in the people around you? Ask God for the grace to help you do that.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Luke 6:32-34 (NLT).  

[2] Luke 6:32-34, a mix of NLT, KJ and my own interpretation. 

[3] Luke 6:27-28,35 (NLT).