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THE REAL MEANING OF THE WORD GRACE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

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THE MEANING OF THE WORD “GRACE”.

GRACE DOES NOT MEAN UNMERITED FAVOUR

I have worked my way through several of the New Testament books in Greek. This article is a summary of over 157 occurrences in the New Testament of the Greek word for grace. I have looked at each occurrence in its context and I have found some surprising things along the way. One is the real meaning of grace. It does not mean the unmerited favor of God. Grace really refers to God’s holy influence upon souls, which turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.

WE CANNOT TAKE CREDIT FOR OUR OWN WORKS

Grace is a gift in the sense that it is not earned. We cannot take credit for even our own work because that work is the result of grace. 1 Corinthians 15:10b …but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Ephesians 2: 8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

WHEN WE SAY GRACE AT MEALS

When we return thanks to God at meals we “say grace”. That does not mean we are giving God our unmerited favor. It means God’s goodness to us by His provision moves us and influences us to be thankful. We express this affection in our blessing.

Jesus had to have grace: Luke 2:40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. That does not mean that He needed unmerited favor.

We experience new levels of grace as we grow in Christ: John 1:16 for of his fullness we all have received, and grace upon grace. We are not getting unmerited favor in new levels.

Barnabas and Paul needed the grace of God to empower them so they could accomplish the work committed to them: Acts 14:26 And thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.

We are saved by faith in Christ’s sacrifice alone and nothing else. After we have trusted Christ we can grow in grace. 2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

 

We grow in grace through cleansing our lives of sin, reading the Bible, and prayer. To the degree we do this we receive the powerful influence of God in our lives.

 

How many times have we read the Bible through? How much time do we spend daily down on our knees in prayer? Do we live cleaner lives today than we did yesterday?

You cannot accomplish God’s work in your own strength, you need the power He gives to accomplish that work.

No man can—-become a Christian—-understand the Bible—-live the Christian life—say and mean that Jesus is Lord—but by the Holy Ghost

Mike Clinton, Hiawassee, Ga. Dec. 31, 2013

 

 

Follow me on Facebook. All my articles can be found there.http://www.facebook.com/people/@/michael.clinton.148



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    Total 5 comments
    • Fredjeexatheist

      Great!!! Amen!!! :smile:

      • Mike Clinton

        Fredjeexatheist, glad you enjoyed it. :smile:

    • our-man-t

      Matthew : 23:4 And they tie up heavy loads,and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. Diminishing Grace (what Jesus has done out his his Love and Grace) is akin to denying the work of the cross. I am sorry that you fail to recognize the gift of Grace for ALL that it is. That it is not about my performance but ALL about what Jesus did – his righteousness is my strength. May God give you full understanding of his Love and the work of the cross. I choose to accept un-merited favor as God’s gift through Jesus Christ.

    • Pharisees.org

      “We are saved by faith in Christ’s sacrifice alone and nothing else”, says the devil man Mike Clinton.

      Faith regarding what of Christ’s sacrifice? That one can engage in evil despite knowing Christ’s command to turn from evil and still make it to Heaven? Trust that the shed blood of Christ takes away the condemnation that is upon those who refuse to repent of evil (John 3:19-20)?

      HERE IS CLINTON’S PHARISEE MASTER:

      Romans 7:19 I do not know how to do good, I do evil

      Romans 7:25 … I serve sin in my flesh

      1 Corinthians 11:1 Follow me, I am of Christ

      Poor flesh, it is all captive to a law of sin, so says the Pharisee (Romans 7:23). But the Pharisee is just luring his Gentile prey to their death:

      Hebrews 10:26-27 Sin willfully after knowing the truth and you are forever condemned

      Hebrews 10:28 Those who despised Moses’ law died without mercy upon the witness of two or three

      What Hebrews 10:28 means is that if two or more people witnessed someone breaking a law of Moses that called for death penalty, ex. murder, that person was put to death. And what does Paul say, it was people who HATED, DESPISED Moses’ law that broke the law. He does not say that weakness of flesh, his so-called ‘law of sin’ caused people to break Moses’ law, as he does in Romans 7:16-25.

      Pharisee Paul leads his Gentile prey to their deaths, saying God understands you will do evil, I do evil too, says Pharisee Paul.

      Romans 7:16-25 Lays out Paul’s doctrine: all flesh is captive to an alleged ‘law of sin’ and therefore cannot help but do evil.

      But a different Paul is seen in Hebrews 10:28, no more of the understanding nature of mankind’s alleged predicament, evil flesh because all flesh is infested with sin, captive to the alleged law of sin:

      Romans 7:17 It ain’t me doing my evil deeds, that is sin in my flesh doing my evil deeds [says the devil man Pharisee]

      None of that stuff Paul lays out in Romans 7:16-25 is in Hebrews 10:26-28, where the Pharisee says HATRED for God’s law causes people to break God’s law and the Pharisee says sin after knowing truth and you are forever condemned. Well damn the freak devil man says he SERVES SIN, what gives? Christ did say Pharisees are hypocrites. Christ said beware of Pharisee doctrine and that to adopt Pharisee doctrine as your own doctrine is to become twice the child of Hell than Pharisees (Matthew 23:15, 16:12).

      Clinton is a clown, a child of Hell clown.

      Mike Clinton is a blind follower of the blind Pharisee and he agrees with his Pharisee master that Christ is SUFFERING and FULL OF SHAME ever since he was killed:

      Hebrews 13:11-13 The bodies of those beasts … are burned outside the camp. That is where the Lord is … Let us go to him that is SUFFERING outside the camp and BEAR HIS SHAME

      share in the shame of Christ who suffers near or on a fire pyre of burning animal carcasses, so says the master of Christians, the false apostle Pharisee Paul.

      The devil man Clinton loves to learn from his Pharisee master.

      To the good people, Christ’s gospel was preached for almost 325 years after the resurrection of Christ without the existence of any bible on earth. In 325 A.D. at the Council of Nicea the first bible came into being (Wiki ‘Council of Nicea’). Under one cover titled bible, Pharisees placed their lying writings in with writings that are of Jews of the Lord.

      Four bibles in the world, Catholic, Orthodox, Ethiopian and Protestant. New Testament section is identical in all four bibles, but varying number of writings in old testament section, which is still relevant testimony (Matthew 24:15, Daniel 11:31) and is only irrelevant insofar as no more ‘repent or wrath’, but ‘repent for the kingdom of God is at hand’. There is no averting God’s wrath to come because it is God’s revenge on the world for killing his people (Rev. 6:9-11). And God’s wrath to come ends with the return of Christ to reign on earth (Rev. 19:19-20, Matthew 13:41).

    • am123

      Another excellent article Mike.

      Grace is the catalyst for a symbiotic relationship with our heavenly Father by which we are formed into the image of Jesus. The formula is simple:

      WE PROVIDE THE PRAISE, WORSHIP, THANKSGIVING AND TRUST, AND THEN THE LORD DOES THE REST WITH THIS WONDROUS THING CALLED GRACE!

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