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Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!
So I'm not sure if this thread has moved on, but I didn't see a verse referred to that came to me as I was reading through this thread: "The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you." (2 Tim 4:22) I have long accepted that grace is more than simply "unmerited favor." To be sure, it is that, and just this alone is more than amazing! But the word certainly has the connotation of both favor and enjoyment. If you look up the Strongs definition for it (charis; Strong's 5485) the definition uses words like acceptable, benefit, favor, gift, gracious, joy, liberality, pleasure, thank-worthy.
Many commentators have explored the depths of "grace" in the written word without coming to a nice, neat & tidy conclusion of what all it means. I just know that grace came through Christ to us, and we haven't nearly begun to plumb the depths of what all that means in our lives here and now! ("Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it come up in the heart of man . . .")
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I was just perusing this site when I came across your paragraph about the word "Grace". It triggered a memory I had of a meeting, back in 1993, we had on that very subject, the word "Grace". Since the Church in Rosemead disassociated from WL & the LSM, we had to go back to the bible for our meetings. And over time we discovered how to study the word and analyze it through the use of Strong's English Concordance, and Al Knoch's Greek Text Concordance. Anyways, one of those meetings included this word "Grace". The axioms we followed were number 1, let the bible define the bible. Number 2, try not to leave the context if possible. Number 3, try not to use out side commentaries as much as possible. We wanted to verify the definitions we were given by exercising that old adage "trust but verify". The following are notes for the word Grace.
Luke, a co-worker of Paul’s, who wrote “The Gospel of Luke” and “The book of Acts”, used the word “grace” 24 times (8 times in “Luke”, and 16 times in “Acts”). Out of the 156 times the word “grace” is used in the New Testament (NT), there are only three instances where it is used outside of the context of the spiritual realm. They are:
1. Acts 24:27 --- Felix wanted to give
grace (plural) to the Jews and, as a result, left Paul bound when Porcius Festus took over the Governor’s office in Caesarea.
2. Acts 25:3 --- After his being installed in the Governor’s office, Porcius then went up to Jerusalem. The Jews then requested a further
grace of him there in Jerusalem --- that he would send back to Caesarea for Paul to be brought up to Jerusalem (so they could have him ambushed and killed on the way up to Jerusalem).
3. Acts 25:9 --- Then Porcius, after going back to Caesarea from Jerusalem, became willing to give the Jews the
grace they requested: he asked Paul if he was willing to go up to Jerusalem to be judged there.
These three verses clearly show that the word “grace” simply means “favor.” It must surely be realized that it has nothing to do with God or Christ (i.e. “the grace of God” or the “grace of Christ”) here in the context of Acts. Thus, we can see that “grace” is not just something “spiritual.” Rather, it is a word that is quite “common.” Moreover, it is a term that was picked up, utilized, and applied by Paul and the Christians with respect to God and the “spiritual” realm. However, we can see quite a good picture of what “grace” is in the spiritual realm by looking at these verses in Acts and their context. We can also see that the word “grace” was first lifted up into the spiritual realm in Luke 4:16-22, where we have the beginnings of man being able to enter into a relationship with God through “grace” in very clear language.
If you are going to define "grace " as the enjoyment of God, it has to apply to all verses in the NT. And that definition, the enjoyment of God in us, does not work in the three verses above. Poor, poor Christianity got the definition right all along.