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favour manifested or bestowed by God, II Cor. 9:8 (referring to material blessings); I Pet. 5:10.
Furthermore, the word is expressive of the emotion awakened in the heart of the recipient of
such favour, and thus acquires the meaning “gratitude” or “thankfulness,” Luke 4:22; I Cor.
10:30; 15:57; II Cor. 2:14; 8:16; I Tim. 1:12. In most of the passages, however, in which the word
charis is used in the New Testament, it signifies the unmerited operation of God in the heart of
man, effected through the agency of the Holy Spirit. While we sometimes speak of grace as an
inherent quality, it is in reality the active communication of divine blessings by the inworking of
the Holy Spirit, out of the fulness of Him who is “full of grace and truth,” Rom. 3:24; 5:2,15,
17,20; 6:1; I Cor. 1:4; II Cor. 6:1; 8:9; Eph. 1:7; 2:5,8; 3:7; I Pet. 3:7; 5:12.
2. THE GRACE OF GOD IN THE WORK OF REDEMPTION.
A discussion of the grace of God in
connection with the work of redemption again calls for several distinctions, which should be
borne in mind.
a. In the first place grace is an attribute of God, one of the divine perfections. It is God’s free,
sovereign, undeserved favour or love to man, in his state of sin and guilt, which manifests itself
in the forgiveness of sin and deliverance from its penalty. It is connected with the mercy of God
as distinguished from His justice. This is redemptive grace in the most fundamental sense of the
word. It is the ultimate cause of God’s elective purpose, of the sinner’s justification, and of his
spiritual renewal; and the prolific source of all spiritual and eternal blessings.
b. In the second place the term “grace” is used as a designation of the objective provision which
God made in Christ for the salvation of man. Christ as the Mediator is the living embodiment of
the grace of God. “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us ... full of grace and truth,” John
1:14. Paul has the appearance of Christ in mind, when he says: “For the grace of God hath
appeared, bringing salvation to all men,” Tit. 2:11. But the term is applied not only to what
Christ is, but also to what He merited for sinners. When the apostle speaks repeatedly in the
closing salutations of his Epistles of “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he has in mind the
grace of which Christ is the meritorious cause. John says: “The law was given through Moses,
but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ,” John 1:17. Cf. also Eph. 2:7.
c. In the third place the word “grace” is used to designate the favour of God as it is manifested
in the application of the work of redemption by the Holy Spirit. It is applied to the pardon which
we receive in justification, a pardon freely given by God, Rom. 3:24; 5:2,21; Tit. 3:15. But in
addition to that it is also a comprehensive name for all the gifts of the grace of God, the
blessings of salvation, and the spiritual graces which are wrought in the hearts and lives of
believers through the operation of the Holy Spirit, Acts 11:23; 18:27; Rom. 5:17; I Cor. 15:10; II
Cor. 9:14; Eph. 4:7; Jas. 4:5,6; I Pet. 3:7. Moreover, there are clear indications of the fact that it
is not a mere passive quality, but also an active force, a power, something that labours, I Cor.