What is the grace of God?

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Here is the answer: # What is the Grace of God? Grace is one of the most fundamental themes running through Scripture — and yet, as J. N. Darby observed, "there is nothing so hard for our hearts as to abide in the sense of grace." To understand what grace is, we must understand that it has everything to do with what God is, and very little to do with what we are. ## Grace Defined Morrish's Bible Dictionary gives a concise starting point: The favour and graciousness shown by God to guilty man. It stands in contrast to law, John 1:17; Gal. 5:4; also to works and to desert or reward, Rom. 4:4; Rom. 11:6; "by grace ye are saved." Eph. 2:5, 8. ... "Grace refers more to the source and character of the sentiment; mercy to the state of the person who is its object. Grace may give me glory; mercy contemplates some need in me. Mercy is great in the greatness of the need; grace in the thought of the person exercising it." This distinction is important: mercy looks at the misery of the one in need; grace looks at the heart and character of the One who gives. Grace flows from who God is — not from anything deserving in us. ## Grace Supposes the Worst About Us — and Reveals the Best in God J. N. Darby addresses this with great force in his paper "The True Grace of God Wherein We Stand": There is sometimes the thought that grace implies God's *passing over sin*, but no, grace supposes sin to be so horribly bad a thing that God cannot tolerate it: were it in the power of man, after being unrighteous and evil, to patch up his ways, and mend himself so as to stand before God, there would be no need of *grace.* The very fact of the Lord's being gracious shows sin to be so evil a thing that, man being a sinner, his state is utterly ruined and hopeless, and nothing but *free grace* will do for him — can meet his need. And further: Grace has reference to what GOD is, and not to what we are, except indeed that the very greatness of our sins does but magnify the extent of the "Grace of God." ... Be we what we may (and we cannot be worse than we are), in spite of all that, what God is towards us is LOVE. Neither our joy nor our peace is dependent on what we are to God, but on what *He is to us*, and this is *grace.* Grace, then, is not God overlooking sin. Grace fully acknowledges that sin is so terrible that man is utterly helpless before it. But grace reveals that God, knowing the full extent of our ruin, came to us — and that is what makes it grace. ## Grace and Truth Came by Jesus Christ F. B. Hole shows how grace entered the world in a Person — Jesus Christ: Fulness of grace and fulness of truth are the portion of each, even of the feeblest though they will never have explored all the fulness thereof. Grace is specially emphasized. We needed it, piled mountains high — "grace upon grace." Through Moses the law was given, formulating God's demands but establishing nothing. Grace and truth came into being down here and were actually established by the advent of Jesus Christ. The law told man what God required; grace brought what God *gives*. And writing on Luke's Gospel, where Christ first proclaimed grace in the synagogue at Nazareth, Hole notes how grace works in practice: This beautiful presentation of grace in its practical working did not suit the people of Nazareth. Gracious words were all very nice in the abstract, but the moment they realized that grace presupposes nothing but demerit in those who receive it, they rose up in proud rebellion and great fury... The good things that grace brings were acceptable enough, but they did not want them on the ground of grace, since it assumed they were no better than Gentile sinners. This is the scandal of grace: it puts everyone on the same level — utterly undeserving — and offers everything freely. ## Grace as God's Disposition Toward Sinners G. W. Boyd develops a striking perspective: Forgiveness is the aspect of the mind of God toward all in this day of grace. Indeed, this is what makes the present dispensation the day of grace. Soon His mind will revert to judgment, for He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world, but that day is being delayed while grace is preached. He explains that grace is not simply a transaction but a revelation of God's heart: In Him, in this day of salvation, God addresses men in grace. He is the wisdom of God, and He speaks from heaven... Sins are no barrier, forgiveness is declared in His name. ## Grace in Daily Life Darby brings grace down from doctrine to daily experience — perhaps the most searching part: The Lord that I have known as laying down His life for me, is the same Lord I have to do with every day of my life, and all His dealings with me are on the same principles of *grace.* The great secret of growth is, the looking up to the Lord as *gracious.* The having very simple thoughts of *grace* is the true source of our strength as Christians; and the abiding in the sense of *grace*, in the presence of God, is the secret of all holiness, peace, and quietness of spirit. ## Hamilton Smith on Grace in Romans Hamilton Smith, writing on Romans, ties grace together with God's righteousness, power, and love: The Apostle has brought before us the righteousness of God in proclaiming forgiveness to all, and in justifying the believer; the grace of God in blessing the ungodly; and the power of God in raising the dead and setting the believer before Himself as clear of all sins and judgment as the risen Christ. Grace here is the specific attribute by which God blesses the ungodly — not the deserving, but those who have no claim whatsoever. ## William Kelly — Grace Is Repulsive to Nature William Kelly captures the paradox with characteristic brevity: Grace is repulsive to nature; man shrinks from God and slights His call. The natural heart would rather earn its standing than receive it freely. This is why grace must be received by faith — it cannot be earned, worked for, or demanded. "Anything that I had the smallest possible right to expect could not be pure, free grace," as Darby put it. The grace of God, then, is not mere leniency or kindness in a general sense. It is the free, sovereign, unmerited favour of God flowing out toward guilty, ruined, and helpless sinners — not because of anything in them, but entirely because of what God is. Grace supposes the worst about the human condition (that we are beyond self-repair) and reveals the best about God (that He is love, and has acted in Christ to meet our need at infinite cost to Himself). It stands in direct contrast to law, which demands; to works, which earn; and to merit, which deserves. Grace gives what could never be claimed, through the Person and work of Jesus Christ, and it is received by faith alone. And it is not only the ground of salvation — it is the daily atmosphere in which the Christian lives, grows, and finds strength.