What is Grace?

[boughtwithaprice]

This may seem like a simple question, but how you answer has profound implications. Some say grace is unmerited favor that forgives us from sin by faith in Jesus Christ. That is correct, but I believe only half right. Grace not only forgives sin, but cleanses us from all sin, and causes us to walk with God and obey His law. As Christ said to the woman caught in adultery, Go away and don't sin any more. She did not object and say, Lord that is impossible but thanks for the unmerited favor. I am posting the Catholic catechism based on Scripture. I would be interested if you disagree and why. This is an honest question, and I will respect all opinions though I don't agree with them. I ask the same, and let's see if we can keep this civil
God bless you all.

ARTICLE 2
GRACE AND JUSTIFICATION

I. JUSTIFICATION

1987 The grace of the Holy Spirit has the power to justify us, that is, to cleanse us from our sins and to communicate to us "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ" and through Baptism:34



But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves as dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.35
1988 Through the power of the Holy Spirit we take part in Christ's Passion by dying to sin, and in his Resurrection by being born to a new life; we are members of his Body which is the Church, branches grafted onto the vine which is himself:36



[God] gave himself to us through his Spirit. By the participation of the Spirit, we become communicants in the divine nature. . . . For this reason, those in whom the Spirit dwells are divinized.37
1989 The first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion, effecting justification in accordance with Jesus' proclamation at the beginning of the Gospel: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."38 Moved by grace, man turns toward God and away from sin, thus accepting forgiveness and righteousness from on high. "Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man.39

1990 Justification detaches man from sin which contradicts the love of God, and purifies his heart of sin. Justification follows upon God's merciful initiative of offering forgiveness. It reconciles man with God. It frees from the enslavement to sin, and it heals.

1991 Justification is at the same time the acceptance of God's righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. Righteousness (or "justice") here means the rectitude of divine love. With justification, faith, hope, and charity are poured into our hearts, and obedience to the divine will is granted us.

1992 Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men. Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy. Its purpose is the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life:40



But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.41
1993 Justification establishes cooperation between God's grace and man's freedom. On man's part it is expressed by the assent of faith to the Word of God, which invites him to conversion, and in the cooperation of charity with the prompting of the Holy Spirit who precedes and preserves his assent:



When God touches man's heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without God's grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice in God's sight.42
1994 Justification is the most excellent work of God's love made manifest in Christ Jesus and granted by the Holy Spirit. It is the opinion of St. Augustine that "the justification of the wicked is a greater work than the creation of heaven and earth," because "heaven and earth will pass away but the salvation and justification of the elect . . . will not pass away."43 He holds also that the justification of sinners surpasses the creation of the angels in justice, in that it bears witness to a greater mercy.

1995 The Holy Spirit is the master of the interior life. By giving birth to the "inner man,"44 justification entails the sanctification of his whole being:



Just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification. . . . But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.45
II. GRACE

1996 Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.46

1997 Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life: by Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of his Body. As an "adopted son" he can henceforth call God "Father," in union with the only Son. He receives the life of the Spirit who breathes charity into him and who forms the Church.

1998 This vocation to eternal life is supernatural. It depends entirely on God's gratuitous initiative, for he alone can reveal and give himself. It surpasses the power of human intellect and will, as that of every other creature.47

1999 The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification:48



Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.49
2000 Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love. Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God's call, is distinguished from actual graces which refer to God's interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification.

2001 The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace. This latter is needed to arouse and sustain our collaboration in justification through faith, and in sanctification through charity. God brings to completion in us what he has begun, "since he who completes his work by cooperating with our will began by working so that we might will it:"50



Indeed we also work, but we are only collaborating with God who works, for his mercy has gone before us. It has gone before us so that we may be healed, and follows us so that once healed, we may be given life; it goes before us so that we may be called, and follows us so that we may be glorified; it goes before us so that we may live devoutly, and follows us so that we may always live with God: for without him we can do nothing.51
2002 God's free initiative demands man's free response, for God has created man in his image by conferring on him, along with freedom, the power to know him and love him. The soul only enters freely into the communion of love. God immediately touches and directly moves the heart of man. He has placed in man a longing for truth and goodness that only he can satisfy. The promises of "eternal life" respond, beyond all hope, to this desire:



If at the end of your very good works . . ., you rested on the seventh day, it was to foretell by the voice of your book that at the end of our works, which are indeed "very good" since you have given them to us, we shall also rest in you on the sabbath of eternal life.52
2003 Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church. There are sacramental graces, gifts proper to the different sacraments. There are furthermore special graces, also called charisms after the Greek term used by St. Paul and meaning "favor," "gratuitous gift," "benefit."53 Whatever their character - sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of miracles or of tongues - charisms are oriented toward sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. They are at the service of charity which builds up the Church.54

2004 Among the special graces ought to be mentioned the graces of state that accompany the exercise of the responsibilities of the Christian life and of the ministries within the Church:



Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.55
2005 Since it belongs to the supernatural order, grace escapes our experience and cannot be known except by faith. We cannot therefore rely on our feelings or our works to conclude that we are justified and saved.56 However, according to the Lord's words "Thus you will know them by their fruits"57 - reflection on God's blessings in our life and in the lives of the saints offers us a guarantee that grace is at work in us and spurs us on to an ever greater faith and an attitude of trustful poverty.



A pleasing illustration of this attitude is found in the reply of St. Joan of Arc to a question posed as a trap by her ecclesiastical judges: "Asked if she knew that she was in God's grace, she replied: 'If I am not, may it please God to put me in it; if I am, may it please God to keep me there.'"58

35 Rom 6:8-11.
36 Cf. 1 Cor 12; Jn 15:1-4.
37 St. Athanasius, Ep. Serap. 1,24G 26,585 and 588.
38 Mt 4:17.
39 Council of Trent (1547): DS 1528.
40 Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1529.
41 Rom 3:21-26.
42 Council of Trent (1547): DS 1525.
43 St. Augustine, In Jo. ev. 72,3L 35,1823.
44 Cf. Rom 7:22; Eph 3:16.
45 Rom 6:19,22.
46 Cf. Jn 1:12-18; 17:3; Rom 8:14-17; 2 Pet 1:3-4.
47 Cf. 1 Cor 2:7-9.
48 Cf. Jn 4:14; 7:38-39.
49 2 Cor 5:17-18.
50 St. Augustine, De gratia et libero arbitrio, 17L 44,901.
51 St. Augustine, De natura et gratia, 31L 44,264.
52 St. Augustine, Conf. 13,36 51L 32,868; cf. Gen 1:31.
53 Cf. LG 12.
54 Cf. 1 Cor 12.
55 Rom 12:6-8.
56 Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1533-1534.
57 Mt 7:20.
58 Acts of the trial of St. Joan of Arc.

 

[childeye 2]

I interpret grace as a positive prejudice towards others, the opposite of cynicism.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Maintaining the Energies/Essence distinction of Gregory Palamas, and that God presents Himself in His Energies, aka His Acta--His Works; whereas God in His Essence is entirely unknowable, I would therefore put forward that Divine Grace is nothing other than God in action to love and save us. Grace is God as God gives Himself to us in His Divine works and gifts, namely Word and Sacrament.

Grace is not a created substance, but God as God is toward His creation in love. God became man, the Incarnation is, therefore, Grace: it is the grace of God come down in the midst of a sinful, sick, dying world to redeem, heal, and save it.

When God meets us through His Means of Grace--Word and Sacrament--here is God full and real, in His Grace to save us.

Hence the sinner who is given faith has been transformed by God's grace, is a new creation in Christ. And the sinner, justified by God's grace has had the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed as Grace--in this the sinner no longer stands a guilty and condemned sinner before God, but righteous on Christ's account.

That is grace: God-come-down.

Which is why grace is offensive to human reason.

"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.'

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.'" - 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

The natural man, St. Paul says, "cannot comprehend the things of God", for without faith the folly and weakness of the cross will always be repugnant, only faith receives the beauty of the foolish, weak, scandalous Cross of Jesus Christ. But as the Apostle says above, Christ is for us "wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption"--we have received wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption from God in Christ, not of any human power, wisdom, or ambition. No amount of striving will ever get us anywhere, but Christ Alone.

Here, because Grace is nothing less than God for us in Jesus Christ, Grace absolutely is an unmerited favor; for having earned no favor from God, God nevertheless has favor on us sinners on Christ's account. In Christ, God is for us. In Christ, God is with us. In Christ, God meets us in the deepest and most wretched parts of ourselves. And this Gospel sets captives free, "For whoever the Son sets free is free indeed", and this Gospel creates faith, "for faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" even making exist where nothing previously existed, "who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist." So that this Gospel, so sweetly come to us, creates faith, sustains faith, and has brought the dead to life (Ephesians 2:4-5). And thus we can join with the blind man and the lame man in the Gospels, that God has made us see, God has made us walk and run and laugh.

Grace is nothing less than life, true life, from God and in God--which is ours in Jesus Christ, who gives us these things in Word and Sacrament. The Holy Spirit does these things, for "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" and we have all drank of the same drink, having been washed by the same washing; for Holy Baptism has washed us in which we were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit; and we receive true drink, the very cup of Christ's blood which is in the Holy Eucharist, even as we receive also Christ's flesh, the true bread of life. So in all things, we are held together in the Life of the Holy Trinity, God giving us Himself. That's Grace.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[com7fy8]

This may seem like a simple question, but how you answer has profound implications. Some say grace is unmerited favor that forgives us from sin by faith in Jesus Christ. That is correct, but I believe only half right. Grace not only forgives sin, but cleanses us from all sin, and causes us to walk with God and obey His law. As Christ said to the woman caught in adultery, Go away and don't sin any more. She did not object and say, Lord that is impossible but thanks for the unmerited favor.

Yes, we do not merit God's grace. And by grace we are forgiven, but also cleansed. And grace does work in us to have us walk with God and obey Him.

It depends on what you mean by obeying "His law".

Favor can be a distant thing which might not actually do us good, right now. We need how grace actually works in us, now, changing our character to be like Jesus, and with this character of Christ comes how we love like Jesus. And this is commanded >

"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, and offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma." (Ephesians 5:2)

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." (Colossians 3:15)

Grace, then, has us personally submitting to how our Father rules us in His very own peace.

So, grace does not only have us obeying some law of do's and don'ts, and regulations for how to practice sacraments. But . . . all the time we are ruled. Ruling is not only at certain times. We need to be ruled by God's peace in us. Being attentive to Him, sensitive and submissive to how He rules us in His peace . . . this is commanded in God's word.

And Philippians 4:6-7 guarantees how we become in this peace while we pray the way God's word says to pray > "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus". This peace is of God who is almighty; and so this peace is almighty in God's own immunity against any and all cruel and foolish things, of worry and hurry and boredom and loneliness and depression and dominating and demanding desires and drives.

And so, I think we can see how God's grace does not favor how we are. But God's favor is for His own Son Jesus who is so pleasing and delighting to our Father. And therefore grace is here on a mission > to change us to become like Jesus >

"For whom He foreknew, He also called to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." (Romans 8:29)

 

[com7fy8]

[God] gave himself to us through his Spirit. By the participation of the Spirit, we become communicants in the divine nature. . . . For this reason, those in whom the Spirit dwells are divininized.37

So, it seems there is a lot of wording about being sanctified and made divine, but how does this mean we will become in our character?

Jesus says the ones who are blessed are "poor in spirit", "meek", "merciful", and "pure in heart". And Jesus Himself is "gentle and lowly in heart", He says in Matthew 11:28-30. And we have 1 Peter 3:4 >

"rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (1 Peter 3:4)

And we see a description of love, in 1 Corinthians 13.

This is how God's grace cures our character to become . . . in the almighty immunity of His peace. So, in being gentle and quiet and merciful and kind we are in almighty power. This does not at all favor how we have been! lolololol

"So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God." (James 1:19-20)

"Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation," (in Philippians 2:13-16)

So . . . by stopping our arguing and complaining, we can become God's way of His love in our character > here in this evil world's "crooked and perverse generation" > because God's grace is almighty to do this in us.

 

[Soyeong]

This may seem like a simple question, but how you answer has profound implications. Some say grace is unmerited favor that forgives us from sin by faith in Jesus Christ. That is correct, but I believe only half right. Grace not only forgives sin, but cleanses us from all sin, and causes us to walk with God and obey His law. As Christ said to the woman caught in adultery, Go away and don't sin any more. She did not object and say, Lord that is impossible but thanks for the unmerited favor. I am posting the Catholic catechism based on Scripture. I would be interested if you disagree and why. This is an honest question, and I will respect all opinions though I don't agree with them. I ask the same, and let's see if we can keep this civil
God bless you all.

ARTICLE 2
GRACE AND JUSTIFICATION

I. JUSTIFICATION

1987 The grace of the Holy Spirit has the power to justify us, that is, to cleanse us from our sins and to communicate to us "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ" and through Baptism:34



But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves as dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.35
1988 Through the power of the Holy Spirit we take part in Christ's Passion by dying to sin, and in his Resurrection by being born to a new life; we are members of his Body which is the Church, branches grafted onto the vine which is himself:36



[God] gave himself to us through his Spirit. By the participation of the Spirit, we become communicants in the divine nature. . . . For this reason, those in whom the Spirit dwells are divinized.37
1989 The first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion, effecting justification in accordance with Jesus' proclamation at the beginning of the Gospel: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."38 Moved by grace, man turns toward God and away from sin, thus accepting forgiveness and righteousness from on high. "Justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man.39

1990 Justification detaches man from sin which contradicts the love of God, and purifies his heart of sin. Justification follows upon God's merciful initiative of offering forgiveness. It reconciles man with God. It frees from the enslavement to sin, and it heals.

1991 Justification is at the same time the acceptance of God's righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. Righteousness (or "justice") here means the rectitude of divine love. With justification, faith, hope, and charity are poured into our hearts, and obedience to the divine will is granted us.

1992 Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men. Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy. Its purpose is the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life:40



But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.41
1993 Justification establishes cooperation between God's grace and man's freedom. On man's part it is expressed by the assent of faith to the Word of God, which invites him to conversion, and in the cooperation of charity with the prompting of the Holy Spirit who precedes and preserves his assent:



When God touches man's heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without God's grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice in God's sight.42
1994 Justification is the most excellent work of God's love made manifest in Christ Jesus and granted by the Holy Spirit. It is the opinion of St. Augustine that "the justification of the wicked is a greater work than the creation of heaven and earth," because "heaven and earth will pass away but the salvation and justification of the elect . . . will not pass away."43 He holds also that the justification of sinners surpasses the creation of the angels in justice, in that it bears witness to a greater mercy.

1995 The Holy Spirit is the master of the interior life. By giving birth to the "inner man,"44 justification entails the sanctification of his whole being:



Just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification. . . . But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.45
II. GRACE

1996 Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.46

1997 Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life: by Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of his Body. As an "adopted son" he can henceforth call God "Father," in union with the only Son. He receives the life of the Spirit who breathes charity into him and who forms the Church.

1998 This vocation to eternal life is supernatural. It depends entirely on God's gratuitous initiative, for he alone can reveal and give himself. It surpasses the power of human intellect and will, as that of every other creature.47

1999 The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification:48



Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.49
2000 Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love. Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God's call, is distinguished from actual graces which refer to God's interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification.

2001 The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace. This latter is needed to arouse and sustain our collaboration in justification through faith, and in sanctification through charity. God brings to completion in us what he has begun, "since he who completes his work by cooperating with our will began by working so that we might will it:"50



Indeed we also work, but we are only collaborating with God who works, for his mercy has gone before us. It has gone before us so that we may be healed, and follows us so that once healed, we may be given life; it goes before us so that we may be called, and follows us so that we may be glorified; it goes before us so that we may live devoutly, and follows us so that we may always live with God: for without him we can do nothing.51
2002 God's free initiative demands man's free response, for God has created man in his image by conferring on him, along with freedom, the power to know him and love him. The soul only enters freely into the communion of love. God immediately touches and directly moves the heart of man. He has placed in man a longing for truth and goodness that only he can satisfy. The promises of "eternal life" respond, beyond all hope, to this desire:



If at the end of your very good works . . ., you rested on the seventh day, it was to foretell by the voice of your book that at the end of our works, which are indeed "very good" since you have given them to us, we shall also rest in you on the sabbath of eternal life.52
2003 Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church. There are sacramental graces, gifts proper to the different sacraments. There are furthermore special graces, also called charisms after the Greek term used by St. Paul and meaning "favor," "gratuitous gift," "benefit."53 Whatever their character - sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of miracles or of tongues - charisms are oriented toward sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. They are at the service of charity which builds up the Church.54

2004 Among the special graces ought to be mentioned the graces of state that accompany the exercise of the responsibilities of the Christian life and of the ministries within the Church:



Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.55
2005 Since it belongs to the supernatural order, grace escapes our experience and cannot be known except by faith. We cannot therefore rely on our feelings or our works to conclude that we are justified and saved.56 However, according to the Lord's words "Thus you will know them by their fruits"57 - reflection on God's blessings in our life and in the lives of the saints offers us a guarantee that grace is at work in us and spurs us on to an ever greater faith and an attitude of trustful poverty.



A pleasing illustration of this attitude is found in the reply of St. Joan of Arc to a question posed as a trap by her ecclesiastical judges: "Asked if she knew that she was in God's grace, she replied: 'If I am not, may it please God to put me in it; if I am, may it please God to keep me there.'"58

35 Rom 6:8-11.
36 Cf. 1 Cor 12; Jn 15:1-4.
37 St. Athanasius, Ep. Serap. 1,24G 26,585 and 588.
38 Mt 4:17.
39 Council of Trent (1547): DS 1528.
40 Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1529.
41 Rom 3:21-26.
42 Council of Trent (1547): DS 1525.
43 St. Augustine, In Jo. ev. 72,3L 35,1823.
44 Cf. Rom 7:22; Eph 3:16.
45 Rom 6:19,22.
46 Cf. Jn 1:12-18; 17:3; Rom 8:14-17; 2 Pet 1:3-4.
47 Cf. 1 Cor 2:7-9.
48 Cf. Jn 4:14; 7:38-39.
49 2 Cor 5:17-18.
50 St. Augustine, De gratia et libero arbitrio, 17L 44,901.
51 St. Augustine, De natura et gratia, 31L 44,264.
52 St. Augustine, Conf. 13,36 51L 32,868; cf. Gen 1:31.
53 Cf. LG 12.
54 Cf. 1 Cor 12.
55 Rom 12:6-8.
56 Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1533-1534.
57 Mt 7:20.
58 Acts of the trial of St. Joan of Arc.

In Psalms 119:29-30, David wanted to put false ways far from him, for God to be gracious to him by teaching him to obey His law, and he chose the way of faithfulness, so this has always been the one and only way of salvation by grace through faith. In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him His way that he might experience knowing Him, and Israel too, and in John 17:3, the gift of eternal life is the experience of knowing God and Jesus, which is again salvation by grace through faith. In Romans 1:5, we have received grace in order to bring about the obedience of faith, and in Titus 2:11-14, our salvation is described as being trained by grace to do what is godly, righteous, and good, and to renounce doing what is ungodly, so God graciously teaching us how to experience knowing Him by obeying His law for how to experience these aspects of His nature is itself part of the content of His gift of salvation.

 

[Davy]

There is no "half-right" to what Apostle Paul declared of how we are saved in Jesus Christ.


Eph 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
KJV

We are NOT saved by 'works', but by God's Grace, a free gift that is given by our Faith.

It is a Gift we can never earn. It is like someone promises to give you something and you don't have to do anything to earn it, yet you believe that person will give it to you, showing your faith. That is what The Father does through His Son Jesus Christ, Promises you eternal life as a free gift according to your Faith on Him and His Son's death and resurrection.

Abraham was first to be given that Gospel Promise; he believed God, and Abraham's Faith was counted as righteousness. That is why Apostle Paul says those of 'Faith' have become the "children of Abraham." (Galatians 3).

Thus Catholic claims as usual, are bogus nonsense. Any idea trying to attach works to God's free gift of Grace is pushing attempts to hold political fleshy power over the Christian.

 

[boughtwithaprice]

There is no "half-right" to what Apostle Paul declared of how we are saved in Jesus Christ.


Eph 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
KJV

We are NOT saved by 'works', but by God's Grace, a free gift that is given by our Faith.

It is a Gift we can never earn. It is like someone promises to give you something and you don't have to do anything to earn it, yet you believe that person will give it to you, showing your faith. That is what The Father does through His Son Jesus Christ, Promises you eternal life as a free gift according to your Faith on Him and His Son's death and resurrection.

Abraham was first to be given that Gospel Promise; he believed God, and Abraham's Faith was counted as righteousness. That is why Apostle Paul says those of 'Faith' have become the "children of Abraham." (Galatians 3).

Thus Catholic claims as usual, are bogus nonsense. Any idea trying to attach works to God's free gift of Grace is pushing attempts to hold political fleshy power over the Christian.

The words of Christ tell you, strive to enter by the narrow gate. Narrow is the way, straight is the gate that leads to life and few there be that find it.
He also tells us that not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but those that DO the will of my Father.
We are not saved by works, but once we know the truth of Jesus, it is time to get to work building virtue. Our flesh wars against our spirit and we have to fight the battle.
The problem people have is that they think they do not have to do anything because Jesus paid the penalty for their sins. Granted, but Jesus died for the whole world, even the reprobate. He grants us free will to love Him or not, to follow Him or not. He commands us to repent, and if we love Him, keep His commandments. If you love Him, you will seek Him and follow Him and get to know Him. He will empower you to follow His commands, if you ask. Eye has not seen, ear has not heard what God has in store for those that love Him
If you don’t repent and don’t do any works, you will not get to know Him and when you see Him, He will say, I do not know you, depart from Me.
Grace will empower you to follow Him, but you have to ask. You cannot go to God and tell Him his claims are bogus.

Fleshy power? We are called to mortify the deeds of the flesh. God calls us to obedience as those that live by the flesh do not the things of God

 

[Davy]

The words of Christ tell you, strive to enter by the narrow gate. Narrow is the way, straight is the gate that leads to life and few there be that find it.
He also tells us that not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but those that DO the will of my Father.
We are not saved by works, but once we know the truth of Jesus, it is time to get to work building virtue. Our flesh wars against our spirit and we have to fight the battle.
The problem people have is that they think they do not have to do anything because Jesus paid the penalty for their sins. Granted, but Jesus died for the whole world, even the reprobate. He grants us free will to love Him or not, to follow Him or not. He commands us to repent, and if we love Him, keep His commandments. If you love Him, you will seek Him and follow Him and get to know Him. He will empower you to follow His commands, if you ask. Eye has not seen, ear has not heard what God has in store for those that love Him
If you don’t repent and don’t do any works, you will not get to know Him and when you see Him, He will say, I do not know you, depart from Me.
Grace will empower you to follow Him, but you have to ask. You cannot go to God and tell Him his claims are bogus.

Fleshy power? We are called to mortify the deeds of the flesh. God calls us to obedience as those that live by the flesh do not the things of God

That still gives NO EXCUSE for putting 'saved by works' over the actual Truth that we can ONLY be saved by God's Grace, which is a free gift for those who believe. This is why Apostle Paul said in Galatians 3:22 that the Scriptures have concluded all under sin so that the Promise by Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

And Jesus and His Apostles showed us what to do if we slip up in future sin, to repent of it and ask Him forgiveness (1 John 1). This is the difference between Christianity and all other faiths, because those non-Christian faiths push the false idea that good works only is what gets one into Heaven.

 

[boughtwithaprice]

We cannot do good works that merit God’s favor on our own, but we must by the power of God and His promise of help to those that love Him, press forward in well doing.
Faith, Hope and Charity are virtues that only come from God. If you don’t have them, you can’t do anything good and you won’t do anything good. If you do have them, you will want to be constantly working to please the Lord. You will build the Cardinal virtues of prudence, Justice, temperance and fortitude.
The Cardinal virtues are built by human effort, and even unbelievers can get them. We see many atheists that are well disciplined and kind.
The most outrageous state is one that claims to be a Christian, but refuses to repent of habitual sin or work to build virtue, because he thinks works can’t save him so why bother? This is a disgrace and the reason that the word of God is blasphemed among the gentiles. A Christian is not saved by work, but a Christian is saved to work. If one does not know what to do, then one is to pray and ask God until he figures it out. Mocking others and telling them they practice a works based salvation does no one any good, and it certainly does not glorify God.

 

[Davy]

Going against Scripture, like Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2 where he makes it clear... that we are saved by God's Grace, a free gift, and NOT by works, is speaking men's traditions instead, and is an abomination against God's written Word, and will be judged as such.

 

[boughtwithaprice]

Going against Scripture, like Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2 where he makes it clear... that we are saved by God's Grace, a free gift, and NOT by works, is speaking men's traditions instead, and is an abomination against God's written Word, and will be judged as such.

Catholics believe that Pelagianism is condemned by the Church. It is only by the grace of God that we are forgiven through repentance. We would not repent unless we were told to repent, as faith comes by hearing.
Faith is not a magic wand where you command God to forgive you or enter into some kind of legal transaction. It is one of the gifts given at repentance.
As I said, when we are born again, we are five the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. These come only from God and cannot be arrived at by human effort.
Once we are saved, we are required to get to work, and would actually be overjoyed to work in God’s kingdom, as the epistle to the Corinthians says we will be rewarded according to our works. If we don’t know what to do, begin with the basics, prayer, fasting and alms giving. They are simple to do, and if one does not find them enjoyable, we question their love for God.
Rebirth involves more than just Faith, as the Bible says Faith without works is dead, and Faith without Charity is nothing.
We have faith to believe that God is and rewards those that diligently seek Him. We are given Hope to know that God will fulfill His promises and complete His work in us in this life and cleanse us from sin here and now. We don’t say it’s impossible for us to keep God’s commands. If we lack ability, we pray and ask God and He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness now, as we ask. He promised to do so. We are given Charity to fill us with the love of God, so that we look for ways to further repent and please God because we love Him. We are given examples in life as we know when we love someone we seek to please them

To do no work is one of the seven deadly sins known as Sloth. Sloth always complains, never does anything, and mocks the others working by saying their labor is futile. Sloth is very irritating.
God is not the author of sin, and He does not save us from sin to turn us into whining slothful slugs

 

[sawdust]

Proverbs 3:34
Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble. (also cmp. James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5)

2 Corinthians 12:9
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Grace is God's power given freely to the humble to effect His will within the believer that He might be glorified.

 

[Davy]

Catholics believe that Pelagianism is condemned by the Church. It is only by the grace of God that we are forgiven through repentance. We would not repent unless we were told to repent, as faith comes by hearing.
Faith is not a magic wand where you command God to forgive you or enter into some kind of legal transaction. It is one of the gifts given at repentance.
As I said, when we are born again, we are five the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity. These come only from God and cannot be arrived at by human effort.
Once we are saved, we are required to get to work, and would actually be overjoyed to work in God’s kingdom, as the epistle to the Corinthians says we will be rewarded according to our works. If we don’t know what to do, begin with the basics, prayer, fasting and alms giving. They are simple to do, and if one does not find them enjoyable, we question their love for God.
Rebirth involves more than just Faith, as the Bible says Faith without works is dead, and Faith without Charity is nothing.
We have faith to believe that God is and rewards those that diligently seek Him. We are given Hope to know that God will fulfill His promises and complete His work in us in this life and cleanse us from sin here and now. We don’t say it’s impossible for us to keep God’s commands. If we lack ability, we pray and ask God and He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness now, as we ask. He promised to do so. We are given Charity to fill us with the love of God, so that we look for ways to further repent and please God because we love Him. We are given examples in life as we know when we love someone we seek to please them

To do no work is one of the seven deadly sins known as Sloth. Sloth always complains, never does anything, and mocks the others working by saying their labor is futile. Sloth is very irritating.
God is not the author of sin, and He does not save us from sin to turn us into whining slothful slugs

Works is a SEPARATE ISSUE from God's Grace by Faith.

Some here keep trying... to join the two like 'works' is part of how we are given God's free gift of Grace, and thus goes directly against what Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2:8-9. Paul made it simple, and the matter is to be kept simple.

 

[boughtwithaprice]

Works is a SEPARATE ISSUE from God's Grace by Faith.

Some here keep trying... to join the two like 'works' is part of how we are given God's free gift of Grace, and thus goes directly against what Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2:8-9. Paul made it simple, and the matter is to be kept simple.

Ephesians 2:8-9 does not say we are saved BY faith, rather THROUGH faith. Faith is not a work, it is a gift to those that repent.

Works and Faith are inseparable, as faith without works is dead. When we repent, we receive the gifts of Faith, Hope, and Charity through which we are prepared for every good work. It is no longer we that live but Christ lives in us.
No one can claim to have faith in Jesus yet continue to sin. No one can claim to have faith yet ignore His commands. The scriptures say if you love Him, keep His commandments. Also, if anyone says that he loves God, yet hates his brother, he is a liar and the truth is not in him

Being born again is not just accepting a gift of forgiveness of sin, but a cleansing of sin

 

[Davy]

Ephesians 2:8-9 does not say we are saved BY faith, rather THROUGH faith. Faith is not a work, it is a gift to those that repent.
....

You just like to argue against the WRITTEN BIBLE SCRIPTURE.

Apostle Paul said we are saved by FAITH and not... works. There is NO OTHER INTERPRETATION AVAILABLE with that.

Eph 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
KJV

And the Greek word for "through" there is just a preposition, and means by FAITH.

 

[boughtwithaprice]

You just like to argue against the WRITTEN BIBLE SCRIPTURE.

Apostle Paul said we are saved by FAITH and not... works. There is NO OTHER INTERPRETATION AVAILABLE with that.

Eph 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
KJV

And the Greek word for "through" there is just a preposition, and means by FAITH.

No, I like to argue for the truth. Jesus said, not everyone that says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those that DO the will of my Father. You cannot just say you believe and do nothing. We are not saved by works, but once we are born again, we are required to get to work. Sloth is a deadly sin.

Revelation 20 tells how it will be:

12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up their dead that were in them; and they were judged every one according to their works.

emphasis added

 

[IoanC]

In my knowkedge, Grace is one of the following: God's Gift, The Uncreated Energies of God that manifest through us. God both helps us and does so directly.

 

[prodromos]

Maintaining the Energies/Essence distinction of Gregory Palamas, and that God presents Himself in His Energies, aka His Acta--His Works; whereas God in His Essence is entirely unknowable, I would therefore put forward that Divine Grace is nothing other than God in action to love and save us. Grace is God as God gives Himself to us in His Divine works and gifts, namely Word and Sacrament.

Grace is not a created substance, but God as God is toward His creation in love. God became man, the Incarnation is, therefore, Grace: it is the grace of God come down in the midst of a sinful, sick, dying world to redeem, heal, and save it.

When God meets us through His Means of Grace--Word and Sacrament--here is God full and real, in His Grace to save us.

Hence the sinner who is given faith has been transformed by God's grace, is a new creation in Christ. And the sinner, justified by God's grace has had the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed as Grace--in this the sinner no longer stands a guilty and condemned sinner before God, but righteous on Christ's account.

That is grace: God-come-down.

Which is why grace is offensive to human reason.

"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.'

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.'" - 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

The natural man, St. Paul says, "cannot comprehend the things of God", for without faith the folly and weakness of the cross will always be repugnant, only faith receives the beauty of the foolish, weak, scandalous Cross of Jesus Christ. But as the Apostle says above, Christ is for us "wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption"--we have received wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption from God in Christ, not of any human power, wisdom, or ambition. No amount of striving will ever get us anywhere, but Christ Alone.

Here, because Grace is nothing less than God for us in Jesus Christ, Grace absolutely is an unmerited favor; for having earned no favor from God, God nevertheless has favor on us sinners on Christ's account. In Christ, God is for us. In Christ, God is with us. In Christ, God meets us in the deepest and most wretched parts of ourselves. And this Gospel sets captives free, "For whoever the Son sets free is free indeed", and this Gospel creates faith, "for faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" even making exist where nothing previously existed, "who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist." So that this Gospel, so sweetly come to us, creates faith, sustains faith, and has brought the dead to life (Ephesians 2:4-5). And thus we can join with the blind man and the lame man in the Gospels, that God has made us see, God has made us walk and run and laugh.

Grace is nothing less than life, true life, from God and in God--which is ours in Jesus Christ, who gives us these things in Word and Sacrament. The Holy Spirit does these things, for "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" and we have all drank of the same drink, having been washed by the same washing; for Holy Baptism has washed us in which we were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit; and we receive true drink, the very cup of Christ's blood which is in the Holy Eucharist, even as we receive also Christ's flesh, the true bread of life. So in all things, we are held together in the Life of the Holy Trinity, God giving us Himself. That's Grace.

-CryptoLutheran

How odd that no one is willing to even comment on your excellent post.

 

[childeye 2]

How odd that no one is willing to even comment on your excellent post.

Thanks for bringing the post by ViaCrucis to the attention of myself and others. This to me is a well-constructed articulation of the sentiment expressed by the term "Grace". In response to your post, I don't see what other commentary I could add other than to reiterate what you've already said, it is an excellent post.