Most people today-when asked what 'grace' is, call it 'unmerited favor'... This thread is strictly for those folks. If you do not call grace 'unmerited favor', please do not comment. Having said that...
For those of you that describe grace as 'unmerited favor', please give a basic description of 'unmerited favor' as you have learned it. Please DO NOT post any sermons or quotes from preachers or pastors and please do not link to any videos on YouTube. Just give the definition that YOU believe fits 'unmerited favor' according as you understand it. Please do not comment on other peoples posts either. Just give your definition of 'unmerited favor'. I am asking the mods to remove any post that refers to someone else's post, so please do not waste the moderators time. Thanks in advance! ( BTW I am not compiling 'a list' of people nor am I going to comment on their posts. I am looking specifically at how many different descriptions I get and how much they vary from each other) It is for a reseach project. At some point I will end the posting and post the results, as well as make one general comment regarding my 'findings') Thank you for participating!
Grace is a very unique word in Hebrew, which is where we should start don't you think? I hope you make it to the end of this:
Grace
(found in 160 verses in the KJV)
In Hebrew:
חן
Pronunciation:
chen (guttural
h)
Trans-literal spelling: (
chn)
Letter meaning:
separate, life; secure, people; and my favorite:
life Seed!
We are to live a separated life!
Proverbs 18:1 (KJV)
Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.
2 Corinthians 6:17-18 (KJV)
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
We are to live a peculiar life!
1 Peter 2:9 (KJV)
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
We are protected!
Psalms 91:1-2 (KJV)
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJV)
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Life Seed
Matthew 13:23 (KJV)
But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth [it]; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Luke 8:11 (KJV)
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
John 8:37a (KJV)
I know that ye are Abraham's seed...
John 1:17 (KJV)
For the law was given by Moses, [but] grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
More Hebrew:
The first letter of
Grace is
het,
ח
The Jewish rabbis teach that
het (
ח) in the word
life (
חיים), whose full expression is
love; so much so that
life literally uses the plural form (
ים–) of alive – “alives” (
חיים).
John 10:10 (KJV) “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
The second letter of
Grace is
nun,
נ - when the last letter it looks like this:
ן
The Jewish rabbis teach that
nun (
נ) means
fish, continue or
seed, like the word for son (
בן) literally meaning by it's letters,
in seed; or
in continuation. What is the son? The continuation of the generational line.
Grace's word is proven to be linked to the number five (
http://abdicate.net/blog/?p=293).
Here's another example:
John 5:2 (KJV)
Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue
Bethesda, having five porches.
Beit-Esda (
בית חסדא) means
House of Grace, Mercy or Kindness
The fifth time Noah is mentioned, it's mentioned with grace:
Genesis 6:8 (KJV) But Noah found
grace in the eyes of the LORD.
The same for Ruth:
Ruth 2:2 (KJV) And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find
grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter.
The fifth time Joseph is used is:
Genesis 35:24 (KJV)
The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin:
Rachel means
ewe of God, Joseph means
God increases, and Benjamin means
son of the right hand
Or you could say:
The Lamb of God increases (because of God) and is the Son, the right hand of God!
The fifth time Joseph is mentioned after he goes to Egypt is:
Genesis 39:2 (KJV)
And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
So what IS grace? Well it's honestly hard to define in any language. In Hebrew the word
Grace is actually a root word and the following words come from the word
Grace:
- Beauty (as in to show beauty)
- Room (as in As surrounded by walls, a tent)
- Spear (from tent poles which support the tent)
- Camp (same word for prayer, mercy, supplication, plea)! from An encampment of tents also translated in KJV: pitch, encamp, camp, abide, dwelt, lie, rest
- Freely (translated in the KJV: without cause, for nought, causeless, in vain, free, without cost, freely, innocent, cost me nothing, for nothing, without)
- Compassion (translated in the KJV: favour, gracious, supplication, intreaties)
- Grind
- Mill
Amazing range of meanings from one word. Now I would be remiss if I didn't include a cousin word to
Grace and that's translated as
Loving Kindness חֵסֵד chesed. Notice the first letter (
het) is the same for
Grace. The word's letter meaning is:
wall supporting door like when one walks into a tent he must
bow to get in, and that's what the word means:
showing kindness to one as an equal
In the KJV it is also translated as:
mercy, kindness, lovingkindness, goodness, kindly, merciful, favour, good, goodliness, pity, reproach, wicked
It is very interesting that both these words (and many more in Hebrew) have an opposite to the initial meaning - like
curse and
bless are the same word
בָּרַך barak!
Here is an interesting verse:
John 1:16 (KJV)
And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
The phrase
grace for grace is literally in the Greek (χάρις charis) is
charis anti charis
I find that amazing because anti normally means
against, or
opposed to, but here is means
in addition to. So literally this verse says:
And of His fulness have all we received, and grace in addition to grace!
Life super-abundant! (John 10:10)
When we think we've reached the end of God's grace, there's more! And if anyone believes Paul never taught grace, the book of Romans has the most verses with the word
Grace it is at 20 verses, then 2 Corinthians with 13, Ephesians with 12 and 1 Peter with 8 as well as the rest of the books attributed to Paul.
With all these meanings for the same word and similar meanings from other words, Grace is really boiled down to mean:
unworthy, unearned favor, treated as an equal
Nothing more to say.