The meaning of grace

GRACE

"With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and MUCH GRACE was with them all" (Acts 4:33).

"From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been COMMITTED TO THE GRACE OF GOD for the work they had now completed" (Acts 14:26).

Why was the grace of God so important in the experience of the early Christians?

Why did the church in Antioch pray that the GRACE of God would be upon Paul and Barnabas, and later on Paul and Silas, as they set out on their missionary journeys?

A. THE MEANING OF GRACE

The most common understanding of the word "grace" is "God's unmerited favor" _ in other words, even though we were sinners, deserving of judgement, God looked upon us in love and forgave us.

This, however, is only half it's meaning.

It also means "God's enabling power."

"May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word" (2Thessalonians 2:16,17).

Not only does His grace makes us accepted into the family of God, but it also provides the power we need to live the Christian life. Two scriptures indicate the two aspects of God's grace in every believer.

1. God's Unmerited Favor

"For it is by grace [God's umerited favor] you have been saved, through faith _ and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God _ not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9).

2. God's Enabling Power

"....In love he has predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will _ to the praise of his glorious grace [enabling power],which he has freely given to us in the one he loves" (Ephesians 1:4-6).

In salvation, not only is God's unmerited favor expressed (in that we receive forgiveness and restored relationship with Him even though we don't deserve it), but so also is God's enabling power _ for it is only by His power that we can be transformed.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17.

This principle of grace continues throughout our walk with God. In every area of our Christian lives, it is God's grace that causes us to grow and be strong _ God's enabling power given to us without any merits on our part.

"....grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ..." (2 Peter 3:18).

THE WORD