Wordwatch: GRACE

Grace

It's maybe one of the most commonly used words in Christianity and essentially the central theme of Scripture. 

According to biblehub.com its a word used over 200 times (greek or hebrew).

But we don't stop to think of its significance in relation to honour and shame. I know I didn't.

Interestingly, two of the major honour/shame voices in the current international evangelical honour/shame conversation (Culture Learner and honorshame.com) have published on their blogs word collections that reflect synonyms, metaphors and associated words for honour and shame to help expand one's understanding of these concepts....but neither have included the word 'Grace'.  This is not a criticism, but an observation highlighting how easily we can overlook something that is constantly staring us in the face.  And its an omission that is personally challenging because until very recently, the honour context of this word 'grace' didn't come clearly and profoundly to me either.

There is mention on both word collections of words which are tied to the meaning of Grace, such as blessing and favour, but the actual word 'grace' is not there.

It's a word that has become almost so commonly used that we have maybe overlooked its significance. 

For many of us the most we know about the meaning of Grace is via the acronym:  "God's Riches At Christ's Expense"

The Word:

......Grace, according to biblehub.com and Vines Dictionary embodies the meaning of favour and blessing.  

We have already looked at the word blessing and its association with honour in an earlier blogpost. 

Favour is also essentially honour. To be favoured is to be honoured - to receive honour especially with its practical results.  It has the connotation in it that the one bestowing the favour didn't have to, but chose to.  It also infers that the recipient has been chosen in some way to receive the favour.  Favour infers that it is something above or more than what the rest of the group, population or humanity has as the average experience.

MiriamWebster dictionary on-line alludes to the honour factor of the word in synonyms such as favour/benevolence/courtesy when speaking of the noun form, but very interestingly when it gives definition of the verb form it says quite explicitly "to confer dignity or honor on".  

Their definition for kids of the verb form has one word - 'honor'.

If we stop to think about it, we do actually hear the two words 'honour' and 'grace' interchanged but in a context that has given them an almost abstract meaning. When we hear it said in old English movies  'Yes your Grace' or 'Yes your Honour'.  While for many these are just 'the words you say' in a particular setting without a thought as to the meaning or origin of the words, they are both showing respect and deference, submission and humility.

The english word 'grace' (and the spanish word gracia) came from the Latin word 'gratus'.  

Gracia in Spanish essentially means 'thankyou'.  

In English, we have the obvious word 'gratitude' meaning thankfulness (similarly to the Spanish).  

And we should not forget the word 'disgrace'. We use it very readily as a synonym for 'shame' without  consciously thinking about the fact that it includes the word 'grace', in saying it is the opposite of grace ....since the latin prefix 'dis' means the 'opposite' to  or apart from.

(I earlier mentioned that the word 'grace' wasn't in either of the word collections at 'Culture Learner' or 'honorshame.com'. But I must not neglect to mention that honorshame.com did include the word 'disgrace' in their collection of 'shame' words.)

In Scripture:

There are many, many passages of Scripture that talk about grace - it permeates all of scripture.

In fact in Genesis 6:8 when we are told that "Noah found favour/grace in the eyes of the Lord", the NASB translated the Hebrew word as favour and the KJV translates it as grace 

Acts 7:46 and 11:23 are other examples of this word - in the first reference both NASB and KJV translate it as 'favour' before God, and in the second both translate it as the  'grace' of God.

God's grace is His favour.  It is His undeserved honour gift to us.  By grace we have been saved (same greek word) - by God's favour - by the Honour we have received - it is the means by which we are saved.  The honour we have received is the honour of being in Christ, clothed in His righteousness.

The Brown-Driver-Brigg Old Testament Notes comments on the Hebrew word  'chen'  as saying it means such things as 'favour, grace, acceptance'.  They refer to finding favour, giving favour and obtaining favour 'in the eyes of' man or God.

Thayer's Greek Lexicon

 on biblehub.com even included the following as part of its details on the word 'charis' - the word for grace which really emphasise the honour factor of this word:

'verbal pleasantries which the foolish affect in order to ingratiate themselves, Sir. 20:13'

'χάρις

is used of the kindness of a master toward his inferiors or servants, and so especially of God toward men: εὑρίσκειν χάριν παρά τῷ Θεῷ, Luke 1:30'

From before salvation through to our daily Christian lives, it is all about the honour we have in Christ - the incredible undeserved favour and honour which God gives us in Christ.

As Thayers also says:  "τό εὐαγγέλιον τῆς χάριτος τοῦ Θεοῦ, Acts 20:24; it is styled 'the grace of Christ,' in that through pity for sinful men Christ left his state of blessedness with God in heaven, and voluntarily underwent the hardships and miseries of human life, and by his sufferings and death procured salvation for mankind: (Acts 15:11); 2 Corinthians 8:9; Romans 5:15; Galatians 1:6; (Titus 3:7); John 1:14, 17. χάρις is used of "the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues": 2 Corinthians 4:15; 2 Corinthians 6:1.........the favor of Christ, assisting and strengthening his followers and ministers to bear their troubles, 2 Corinthians 12:9."

And then as Thayers goes on to say this can also be translated in terms of thankfulness, but it has the underlying meaning of thankfulness for the favour received -" thanks (for benefits, services, favors); properly: χάριτι, with thanksgiving, 1 Corinthians 10:30"

As we have already noted, this is seen in the english word 'gratitude'...reflecting an honouring the person in return who has honoured you. It is similar to the concept of blessing those who bless you or thanking those who bless you.  This is also where we get the idea of 'saying grace' for our food.  Although it is now a term almost devoid of its original meaning, it is not unrelated to 'blessing God for the food' or 'giving thanks for the food'.

Replacing the Misplaced:

Like the Galatians we can so easily forget that the grace of God is a gift.  Our salvation is not gained from our good works. Our good works flow out of a thankful heart for the gift of honour received, not from an effort to achieve approval so as to 'get' honour from someone else.

In a culture that often doesn't have a great comprehension of a free gift, this is not an easy concept to comprehend. Where giving is on the understanding of 'building credit' with others so that others later can be made to feel obligated to reciprocate, the concept of giving with no expectation of returned favour is not necessarily on the radar.  In fact this mis-placed understanding of giving in general and the giving of love and honour can be so mis-placed that a gift 'freely given' can be viewed suspiciously rather than thankfully.  A girl I mentored decided to give her mum a gift and card for Mother's Day and instead of it being received with joy and thankfulness, it was received with suspicion and a 'So what do you want from me?'  No efforts to explain that it was simply a gift were accepted by the mother who was more and more convinced that with each negation of ulterior motive the daughter was more deeply hiding her true reason for the gift.

A young pastor friend who we had had much interaction over time, once bought my husband a can of coke and when my husband mentioned about sharing it, the young pastor said 'no, I want to feel what you feel when you give'.  He wanted to sit and have my husband enjoy the gift with no expectation of something in return.

The concept of grace can easily become warped when the cultural concept of 'gift' is warped.  Giving to God from a heart that thinks God expects our good works before we can receive further favour, can often replace giving from a heart that is joyfully thankful to give honour and love to God who freely loved us and gave us honour first.  Many fail to understand that God lavishly bestowed His honour and continues to do so, not because he has to, due to some reciprocal agreement, but because He wants to and has chosen to in Christ, from the overflow of His loving heart.

GRACE is maybe one of the most significant words for a Christian.  It is heavy with meaning.  And that meaning is deeply rooted in the concept of honour.

If we could pause long enough when we read this little word to allow its depth of meaning to penetrate our minds and hearts instead of it just rolling over us like 'water off a ducks back', how might it impact our lives, our witness and cross-cultural missions?

Interestingly after writing the above, I learnt that a book has been recently released by theologian John M Barclay called 'Paul and the gift' and its causing quite a stir with its excellence.  It has been described as 'paradigm shifting', 'ground-breaking' and 'pioneering'!  Honour/Shame bloggers Jackson Wu and honorshame.com have both in recent days already had positive words to say about the book and the light is throws on the concept of grace, in particular some of its honour/shame dynamics.