Thread: Grace Demystified

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†. 1Cor 1:3 . . Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I seriously doubt the average rank and file pew warmer even knows what grace is. I suspect that most are under the impression that grace is somehow a quantifiable substance like butter and gasoline; but in regards to God, grace is an abstract noun that expresses qualities apart from substance.

The New Testament Greek word for "grace" is charis (khar'-ece); which means: graciousness.

Webster's defines graciousness as: kind, courteous, inclined to good will, generous, charitable, merciful, altruistic, compassionate, thoughtful, cordial, affable, genial, sociable, cheerful, warm, sensitive, considerate, and tactful.

Cordial stresses warmth and heartiness

Affable implies easy approachability and readiness to respond pleasantly to conversation or requests or proposals

Genial stresses cheerfulness and even joviality

Sociable suggests a genuine liking for the companionship of others

Generous is characterized by a noble or forbearing spirit; viz: magnanimous, kindly, and liberal in giving

Charitable means full of love for, and goodwill toward, others; viz: benevolent, tolerant, and lenient.

Altruistic means unselfish regard for, or devotion to, the welfare of others; viz: a desire to be of service to others for no other reason than it just feels good to do so.

Tactful indicates a keen sense of what to do, or say, in order to maintain good relations with others in order to resolve and/or avoid unnecessary conflict.

Compassion defines a sympathetic awareness of others' distress, coupled with a desire to alleviate it.

The Old Testament Hebrew word for grace is chen (khane); and means the same as charis (e.g. Gen 6:8).

When you put all those lovely attributes together, you get a pretty good picture of the bright side of God's personality; and the extent of His good will towards the Corinthian church. There's a dark side too, and plenty of ill will; but grace doesn't go there.

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I picked up an interesting line from an exasperated father in the final episode of Downton Abbey that goes like this:

"As my son, I love you, but I have tried, and failed, to like you."

The father who spoke that line wasn't a difficult man. He was actually a very gracious man who had it up to here with his grown son's toxic personality.

That so reminds me of a passage in the book of John: here paraphrased a bit:

"For God so loved the world, that He offered His only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be rescued through him." (John 3:16-17)

Yes, God loves His human creations; enough to even sacrifice His only son's life and limb to protect them; but I honestly believe that he has tried, and failed, to like them. For example:

"Now the Lord observed the extent of the people's wickedness, and he saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them. It broke his heart. And the Lord said: I will completely wipe out this human race that I have created. Yes, and I will destroy all the animals and birds, too. I am sorry I ever made them." (Gen 6:5-7)

Bottom line: God doesn't owe humanity anything. God's offering of His only son wasn't an obligation; it was a courtesy. Far from deserving kindness, humanity deserves the cold shoulder. But God, being the sensitive person that He is, willing to go the extra mile, still finds it in Himself to extend humanity an opportunity to turn itself around and give Him cause to like them instead of humanity, with its overall toxic personality, always making it impossible for Him to do so.

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Grace is a lethal religion. It quite literally, in some mysterious way that I don't quite understand; put Christ's believing followers to death.

†. Rom 6:3 . . Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

†. Rom 6:6 . . Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him

†. Gal 2:20 . . I am crucified with Christ

†. Col 3:3 . . For you died when Christ died

The "old man" can be roughly defined as everything about people that's related to Adam; viz: their human life and their human nature.

One of my chronic fears as a Roman Catholic was that something fatal would happen to me in between confessions. Well; you can just imagine my relief at discovering that people punished on the cross with Christ are in no danger of double jeopardy; which Webster's defines as: putting someone on trial for an offense for which they have previously been put on trial under a valid charge viz: two adjudications for one offense.

In a nutshell, the principle of double jeopardy protects Christ's crucified followers from being put on trial for their lives all over again seeing as how that was done for them once and for all when Christ went to the cross.

†. Heb 2:9 . . Jesus was made a little lower than the angels, that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

The Great White throne event depicted at Rev 20:11-15 is for the purpose of putting people on trial for their lives. Afterwards they will be executed by a mode of death akin to a foundry worker falling into a vat of molten iron.

If I appear at that event at all, it will be only as a spectator and/or a witness for the prosecution because I was put on trial for my life when Christ was put on the cross, and I lost my life when he lost his. I have no clue how this works; I only know that I'm supposed to reckon it true. (Rom 6:3-11)

Grace offers a version of Christianity that guarantees a Ten Commandments proof, God proof, sin proof, Devil proof, temptation proof, fool proof, human nature proof, human error proof, mortal sin proof, fail-safe rescue from the wrath of God (John 3:14-18, John 5:24). It just amazes me the number of people, even those warming pews in old-school Christian churches, who want nothing to do with it.

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