Webster’s 1828 dictionary points to the understanding of the word “grace” nearly 200 years ago. In that dictionary the following definitions are found.
1. Favor; good will; kindness; disposition to oblige [willingly assist]; as a grant made as an act of
grace
2. The free unmerited love and favor of God
3. Favorable influence of God; divine influence or the influence of the spirit, in renewing the heart
and restraining from sin
4. Virtuous or religious affection or disposition, as a liberal [generous] disposition, faith meekness,
humility, patience, etc. proceeding from divine influence
5. Favor, mercy, pardon
God is full of grace (that generous good will, kindness and desire to assist etc) . When grace is presentin a being who is omnipotent and omniscient as well as fully good, the result in your life when you are a recipient of his willingly given help can be powerful and wise and good beyond comprehension. (for a prime example: the Atonement on our behalf performed by Jesus Christ; a nearly incomprehensible act of love which he did for us due to his grace)
Understanding this definition of grace helps me to understand a phrase that shows up in scripture: "grace for grace"
For example: "Therefore, blessed are they who will repent and hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; for these are they that shall be saved. And may God grant, in his great fulness, that men might be brought unto repentance and good works, that they might be restored unto grace for grace, according to their works.
The above scripture we are called upon to repent, and turn to the voice of the Lord, which repentance changes the way we behave, becoming more involved in "good works". (Good works are "charitable acts"). In other words, as people repent they become more like God, more open-hearted, more loving, more willing to assist, ie. more full of grace. They change how they treat others, are more often aware of others’ needs, and are more often, therefore, in a place where they are consciously trying to help and bless others. They have incorporated grace (generous good will, kindness, desire to assist) more fully in their lives. The grace that they have incorporated into their lives and into their responses to others puts them in a position where they respond to others more like God does.
This can become a continuing pattern: repentance (changing the desires of your heart so that they more closely align with God) leads to more communion with Him which leads us to respond to others with grace, which leads to our receiving greater divine understanding and assistance (grace) from Him and further repentance and communion and engagement with God, which increases our capacity to respond and act with grace, etc….
So, as we turn to God, repent and increase our commitment to acting in grace (ready, willing to wisely respond and act towards others with love) that, in turn, causes us to be in a position to receive and recognize and put to good employ the blessings that he, with great grace gives us to assist us in that work. His grace becomes manifest in is his ready willingness to wisely and lovingly respond and help us with our efforts to, readily and willingly and wisely and lovingly respond to others.
It is a continual pattern: God, who is full of grace, freely gives us greater capacity for grace in our own character and interactions with others as we welcome the invitation and seek to respond with grace to others in a manner that is similar to the way He responds to them, and to us.
We receive grace for grace.
Try reading these verses of scripture with this definition for the word “grace” inserted for clarity.
32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall
deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, [a life of
repentance] then is his ready, wise, open-hearted willingness to assist (his grace) sufficient for you, that by his ready, open-hearted willingness to assist (his grace) ye may be perfect in Christ; and if due to God’s ready, wise, open-hearted willingness to assist (his grace), ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
16 And of his fulness have all we received, [His powerful] ready, wise, open-hearted willingness to assist (grace) for [our imperfect] ready, wise, open-hearted willingness to assist.
17 For the law was given by Moses, but divine ready, wise, open-hearted willingness to assist (grace), and truth, came by Jesus Christ.
(If I think about the change in understanding from the Mosaic law which people tended to interpret as
the law of a God focused on justice and performance, which was the understanding when John the
Baptist said the above, and contrast it with the message of Christ’s forthcoming gift to all of amazing atonement which is an epitome of willingness to assist, this passage is profound to me.)
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the
church of God.
10 But through God’s powerful ready, wise, open-hearted willingness to assist (grace) I am what I am: and his ready, wise, open-hearted willingness to assist (grace), which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the ready, wise, open-hearted assistance (grace) of God which was with me.
Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth ready, wise, powerful open-hearted assistance (grace) unto the humble.
So now try reading these two with that understanding of what grace is. What do you think they teach us about the meaning and purpose of grace?
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
11. And I, John, bear record that I beheld his glory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, which came and dwelt in the flesh, and dwelt among us.
12 And I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace;
13 And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace , until he received a fulness;
In that last one I think that John is trying to describe Jesus' early life, a process, as he learned about the Father and His ways, of experiencing, learning from, and choosing to live a life that was epitomized by choosing to have grace be the essence of his interactions with others, and in that process, receiving willingly given and powerful divine assistance and increased comprehension (a gift of grace) from the Father as he did so.
I believe that such is the kind of life that we are also called to choose.
