administrator, Bureaucrats, bureaucrats, editor, emailconfirmed, Administrators
11,540
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Undo revision 673797 by Dirty gay slut (Talk)
Grace, in Christianity, refers to [[God]]'s [[love]] and [[salvation]] being poured out on people even though they don't deserve this love and salvation.
===Biblical concepts about grace===
The theme of grace permeates through the Bble. The whole Bible tells the story of humanity turning its back on its creator but despite this God lovingly forgiving us and drawing us back to himself through [[Jesus]].
[[Romans 3:23]], for example, explains that each person has [[sin]]ned, failing to completely love God and each other and fallen short of the glory of God. Later in Romans, in [[Romans 6:23|chapter 6, verse 23]], the [[apostle Paul]] explains that sin brings about death.
Despite our imperfections and failings that separate humans from a perfect and [[God is holy|holy God ]] and bring us death, Scripture reveals that God loves us. Although nothing we do can restore us to a right relationship with God, God himself restores that relationship to those who call out to [[Jesus Christ]] trusting in his death and resurrection. Passages such as [[Romans 5:8]], [[John 3:16]] and [[Romans 3:24]] attest to this
* ''{{Bible verse|romans|5|8|lang=WEB}}'' - (Romans 5:8)
* ''{{Bible verse|John|3|16|lang=WEB}}'' - (John 3:16)
* ''{{Bible verse|romans|3|24|lang=WEB}}'' - (Romans 3:24)
This concept of God showing humanity his good favour as a gift is what grace is, although the word "grace" itself is never specifically defined in the [[Bible]].
The word "grace" appears in the English [[Old Testament]] a dozen or so times, most commonly translated from the [[Hebrew]] word "[[chesed]]". This has also been translated as "loving-kindness".
In contrast, the word grace is found hundreds of times in the [[New Testament]], translated from the [[Koine Greek]] word "[[charis]]" which also means gift. [[John 1:17]] states that "{{Bible verse|John|1|17|lang=WEB}}" Although the word is not used into the [[gospels]] many times, the concept of grace is seen in Jesus' teaching, parables, miracles and death and resurrection. The parable of the [[The Prodigal Son|Prodigal Son]] is a wonderful example of grace.
Peter tells us to "set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed" ([[1 Peter 1:13]]) and that we [[worship]] the "[[God]] of all grace" ([[1 Peter 5:10]]). In Hebrews we are told that we may approach "the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" ([[Hebrews 4:16]]).
===Further developments in theological understandings of grace===
