Grace is a word that is often bandied about in Christianity today. It irritates the heck out of me. Why? Because there is no concrete definition. It is feel-good christianese. Whole books could be written about the various theological meanings of grace. Here is dictionary.com's definition of grace: ( link) Read every definition. In my mind, most of it is just word salad. Almost every definition of grace has a clearer synonym. Notice that grace is not something that can be pinned down. It is ephemeral, a purely subjective and invisible quality. Its presence is guessed at by 1. how well a person does life, and/or 2. how well life treats or has treated them, 3. their unearned, desireable qualities and advantages.
Wikipedia has a few explanations of the theology of grace. First look at what it says about Divine Grace. If you are more enlightened than you were a moment ago, I congratulate you. Each paragraph in that article differed on its explanation of what grace actually is. Sometimes even one sentence to the next differs in the explanation of grace. Unsurprisingly, Catholics and Protestants disagree on the definition.
Very surprisingly, someone has quoted Bill Gothard's definition of grace in the Wikipedia article. Of all the quotable christians in the world and throughout history, in the nonexistent god's name, WHY? Many Christians claim grace to be the opposite of legalism. Mr. Gothard's organization has promoted some of the most virulent teachings of christian legalism over the last few decades.
Let's look at the defining first paragraph of the Wikipedia article. First, grace is said to be "the divine influence which operates in humans to regenerate and sanctify, to inspire virtuous impulses, and to impart strength to resist trial and endure temptation." To boil it down, grace is that quality that keeps some people from acting like jerks when everyone around them is. This is said to have a divine source. Baloney. Some people have been lucky enough to get the right combination of genes, family background, and life circumstances, to engender patience, tolerance, and mercy in their attitudes. They are said to be "gracious." Other people learn those qualities through experience. Other people deliberately set out to cultivate those qualities in themselves. No gods required.
The second part of Wikipedia's definition of grace is "an individual virtue or excellence of divine origin." This could refer to innate desireable personality traits, unique talents, or personal beauty, in an individual. A person who has these things is often considered favored by god, or the gods. These "graces" are bestowed upon them from on high. They didn't do anything to deserve them, they are arbitrary divine gifts. People thus favored could still be jerks. Do you think the idea that beautiful, talented, or wealthy people are favored by god/the gods has died out? It's been around a long time. Just read about the ancient minor goddesses called the graces. Some of the ancient graces include: splendor, mirth, good cheer, blossoms, happiness, banquet, night festivities, sound, light, growth, leader, persuasion, hallucination (? Maybe that means dreams and visions) and beauty. It appears that the visual representation of the graces has evolved into one of three naked young women.
Scroll down the Wikipedia article on Divine Grace till you get to the section on grace in scripture. There you will see that the New Testament word in Greek is Karis. It is generally translated as graciousness of manner or act. The Old Testament Hebrew word is chen. That is defined as favor, charm, and the moral quality of kindness.
Do we know exactly what grace is yet? At the moment, It seems safe to say that grace is an unmeasurable quality that is desirable but not universally available. So, there must be reasons some people have got it and others don't, right? Well, someone somewhere decided that that certain something must be a gift from a god or gods.
More to come.
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