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“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ…”
The gift no one deserves and everyone is receiving
The word “grace” signifies “a gift.” It also has other renderings, such as “grace at meals” — i.e., thanksgiving. Coup de grâce implies the mercy of a quick death. In translating the Bible, Martin Luther used the same word in the Old Testament for “steadfast love” (hesed) as grace in the New Testament: Gnade. Grace is gift, thanks, mercy, unchanging love.
Its most important meaning is God’s attitude and action toward us. God’s steadfast love is shed upon us without any other reason than God’s free choice. We cannot merit divine favor, other than simply to accept it. “Abraham believedGod and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” This verse from Genesis (15:6) is a cornerstone of both Paul and James’ understanding of salvation (Gal. 3:6; Rom. 4:3; James 2:23) — in other words, really basic. Abraham trusted God, and that trust, that confidence, is what made him God’s Friend, as James says.
The opposite of accepting grace is demanding certainty about it. What does God accuse Job of (see chapter 38)? Certainty that he is right and God is wrong. Not to mention the certitude of the false prophets (see, e.g., I Kings 22). As such, this desire to be certain is inherently sinful, for it insists there is more to salvation than faith, or that we are…
