What is grace?

The word

The New Testament word is charis, which in everyday Greek meant a gift given freely, or the goodwill behind it. Paul uses it more than any other writer to describe how God deals with people: not as an employer paying wages but as a giver. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8, KJV).

Grace as favour and as power

Christians speak of grace in two linked senses. First, favour: God accepts and forgives people not because of their record but because of Christ. Second, power: grace is God's strength that changes people and enables them to do what they could not. When Paul complains of a weakness, the answer he reports is, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9, KJV).

How the traditions talk about it

Catholic theology distinguishes sanctifying grace (a lasting gift that makes a person holy, given in baptism) from actual grace (God's help in particular moments), and sees the sacraments as ordinary channels of grace. Orthodox theology speaks of God's uncreated energies — God himself sharing his life. Reformed Protestants stress that grace is sovereign and effective; Wesleyan Methodists speak of prevenient grace, which goes before every person and makes a free response possible.

What it looks like in life

Grace shows up in Jesus' parables — the father running to meet a wasteful son (Luke 15), workers hired at the last hour paid a full day's wage (Matthew 20). Christians understand that receiving grace should make them gracious: forgiving, generous, slow to condemn. The hymn Amazing Grace was written by John Newton, a former slave-ship captain, describing his own experience of it.

In Scripture

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.Romans 5:8 · KJV

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.2 Corinthians 12:9 · KJV

Where the traditions differ

Each position is attributed to the tradition that holds it; we do not rank them. See the full comparison.

Context