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What is Grace? Have you ever pondered that question? In the first study of this series, we’ll unpack this simple word and answer that question. We might be surprised by what we learn.
Often, we view the words Grace and Mercy as synonymous, meaning they basically have the same meaning. That’s understandable, but also unfortunate, because it puts us in a position of not realizing that we have access to God’s greatest power against sin, His Grace. We don’t realize the extent of this power, so we look right over it.
These are the words used in both the Old and New Testaments for Grace and Mercy.
As we can see, they are different. We’ll unpack the word MERCY in another study for this series so don’t miss it because it’s awesome and honestly, without God’s Mercy, we won’t receive God’s Grace. So, back to our question, what is God’s Grace?
We know that by it, we are saved. We know that we are under the covenant of Grace, not of works, lest any man boast. But something we may not know is that grace isn’t just a New Testament concept, it’s been in effect from the very beginning. The Hebrew word for Grace is CHEN, (pronounced ken). It means favor and acceptance.
The word CHEN (grace) appears 39 times in the O.T. Do you know how many books are in the O.T.? 39, so there’s enough grace in the O.T. to cover every book of the O.T. AMEN! Let’s dig into that a little…
Here’s what the word GRACE looks like in Hebrew. It’s made of 2 Hebrew letters, CHET and NUN.
If you’re unfamiliar with Hebrew, here are a few facts to help give a little more understanding of this amazing language.
- · Hebrew is written and read from right to left instead of the opposite direction like English.
- · Hebrew has no vowels. The vowel sounds are created by dots and points called NIKKUD.
- · Modern Hebrew is written in what’s called “Block Letters” but it’s based on a much older written language called PALEO-HEBREW.
- · Paleo-Hebrew is distinct because it uses a pictograph script to convey meaning, a lot like Egyptian Hieroglyphs.
- · The symbols often have their own meanings and when joined together to form words, they can often add depth to the meaning of those words. Let’s look at an example…
CHET= Safety, fence, enclosure, protection
NUN= Sprouting seed, fish, continued life
Remember those 2 letters…
Grace in the O.T. is like an enclosure that continually protects us. Since Christ came to the cross thousands of years after Noah, how did Noah find Grace in God’s eyes?
When we look at that verse in Gen again, if we focus on Noah, and particularly his name, we see something very interesting. Noah, in Hebrew is pronounced NOACH, and it’s spelled using only the same 2 letters in Grace, NUN and HKHET. In his name the NUN is first, then the HKHET. So, the letters of his name make the statement, “sprouting seed, fish, continued life are safe, enclosed, and protected!” If we think of Noah and his family as the sprouting seeds of continued life on earth, enclosed and protected by the Ark, that seems to fit pretty well. But how does that help Noah find grace you ask? It doesn’t, but it’s pretty cool. However, if we look at the meaning of his name as a whole, Noah means REST. Noah rested in God’s promise to judge the wicked. He rested in God’s provision to build the Ark. And he rested in God’s protection through the storm. That was the kind of person Noah had always been, and because of that resting in God, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Amen. Ok, now let’s look a little deeper at the Covenant of grace, found in the New Testament…
In N.T. Greek, the word for grace is CHARIS, it’s where we get the words charisma and charismatic from, and this is where Christ reveals to us, through the Holy Spirit, a new and deeper dimension of grace.
It took a while to get this deeper dimension, it’s been here the whole time, but we’re all slow learners, so God Himself had to come to earth to show us this personally. CHARIS means favor, good-will, and kindness towards. It means all the things that the O.T. KHEN meant, but also even more. One of the definitions given by the Strong’s concordance for CHARIS is: The spiritual condition of a person who is governed by the POWER of divine grace. The POWER of God. Grace in the New Testament is God’s Power actively working through His children, but let’s make sure that lines up with Scripture.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name:
What power? Let’s keep reading…
John 1:14-17 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 15 John bare witness of Him, and cried, saying, This was He of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for He was before me. 16 And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
This power is grace. The grace of Christ fulfilled the demands of the law. And He gives us that grace so that we have the ability to do the same, through faith in Him, which means instead of us being exempt from the law, we actually ESTABLISH God’s law. Crazy right? But don’t take our word for it…
If any of us try to keep the law apart from Christ, apart from Grace, we’re gonna fail every time and put ourselves under the curse of the law, because we can’t keep the law on our own, only Christ has that power. The power that He gives us. Likewise, if we make void God’s righteous law, it’s not gonna work out for us.
Imagine God’s law is like a heavy weight and we’re called to bench press it in order to properly reflect God’s image. It’s so heavy that we can’t do it alone, so we have to depend on a spotter that’s much stronger than us. That spotter is Christ. He gives us the power to establish that weight and by doing so, our relationship with Him becomes more intimate.
Let me clarify. If it’s not Christ in us that keeps us from stealing, or lying, or killing, then it’s not of grace, and therefore it’s self-righteousness, and self-righteousness is unrighteousness. Just ask the Pharisees. Ok, let’s look at what else Grace does for us…
Acts 14:26 From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed.
Acts 20:32 “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
Romans 1:5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,
Notice anything about what these verses say grace is for? They aren’t saying that because we “work” then we have grace, NO, NO.
They are saying that because we have grace, we are empowered to do God’s work! We are built up to be obedient to the faith! But what does obedience to the faith look like?
There’s that “certainly not” again. I think Paul is trying to get us to see something. The law was given to separate those that follow The Way from those that follow The World. Being under the law means we are under the penalty of sin, but being under Grace means we are under the power of Christ to overcome sin. The Greek word for dominion is KUR-RE-YU-O, which means to be lord over, to conquer, and guess what else? TO HAVE POWER OVER. Without Grace we are powerless to resist sin. We have power over sin by Grace and that power is meant to be used, not ignored.
1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
2 Corinthians 12:9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
In that last verse, Paul is saying that he will admit his weakness and not hide it or ignore it, he will admit it and confront it and conquer it in the name of Christ, by the POWER of Christ. Now, we’ve spoken a lot about the law in this study about that supposed to be about Grace, but that’s because the law and Grace are relational to each other. But once again, don’t take our word for it, there’s an entire book of the N.T. dedicated to showing this relationship. In the book of Galatians, Grace is mentioned 7 times, which is the # of completion and perfection, and that’s not a coincidence. Anytime the # 7 appears in scripture, it’s there for a perfect reason. Let’s look at a few of those verses…
Galatians 2:21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Galatians 5:4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
This goes back to what we were talking about earlier, if we try to make ourselves righteous, we will fail every time. We need grace to live righteous lives. So, we must ask ourselves, are we truly living a righteous life, not in front of others, not on social media, not on the phone, but when it’s just us and those closest to us, are we being led by grace, or are we being led by ourselves?
In the modern church there seems to be a willingness to just give up on righteousness. We are “sinners”, we are “weak”, we “fail” daily. Well Paul tells us to DIE daily, not fail daily! The Bible tells us we are more than conquerors! It says we have access to the POWER of God, and that He lives in us. If Christ lives in us and the Holy Spirit works through us, then God’s righteousness will manifest in us. We’ll want to turn the channel when something bad comes on. We’ll feel led to seek and speak TRUTH. We’ll seek an even deeper and closer relationship with Christ. There won’t be any need for an outward appearance of holiness, because we’ll have God’s grace on the inside. Ok, last slide, just to really bring home what Grace is…
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Acts 4:33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.
So, know that when Christ came out of that tomb and raised from the dead, He had power, and that same power to overcome death, which is sin, He gives to us. The power to preach, the power to teach, the power to reach. The power to resist sin. The power to bind the devil. The power to break chains. Claim it, in the name of Christ. If you want more of that power, more of that grace, all you have to do is ask God. AMEN.