When
I look up the word “grace” in various dictionaries, the meanings
of the word are multitudinous. Sometimes a dictionary will
include archaic or obsolete definitions, and one of those that
comes up occasionally is “ready willingness to help”.
This
relates strongly to a theological concept that was a part of early
separatist (Puritan) theology in the 1600s in England. David
Clarkson (1622-1686), a well known separatist minister in England,
wrote and preached and described God’s grace as a great willingness
of the part of God “to do good freely, willing to help in
time of need”, going on to discuss the throne of grace and the
mercy-seat of God as description of a God full of both grace and
mercy, writing “And what is mercy but a willingness to pity
and relieve? And what is grace but a willingness to do it freely,
a free willingness”.
His
writings were widely published and studied for the next two
centuries, including during Joseph Smith’s lifetime. You can find
this subject outlined in volume 3 of his works which was published by
a group of Presbyterian scholars in 1865 in Edinburgh. (Works of
David Clarkson, volume 3, p. 140-141)
In
the LDS Bible Dictionary, as well as in many modern Protestant
glossaries, the focus of the definition of grace is on the divine
means of help or strength given through the bounteous mercy
and love of Jesus Christ, It is portrayed as the means by which
we receive divine assistance or it is portrayed as as the enabling assistance or power itself.
However,
by Clarkson’s definition, what that Bible Dictionary is describing
as grace is actually not grace, but rather it is the result
of grace in a believer’s life. To Clarkson and others grace is God’s
great willingness
to extend His powerful help and strength to us.
I
find that when I read the scriptures with that more obsolete
definition in mind, my understanding of God takes a slight change,
and I read the passages of grace reflecting more in the very nature
and willingness of God to help, instead of simply the majesty and
power of that help which He bestows.
It transforms my relationship with Him and my understanding of
His approachability.
I
think it not unlikely that Joseph Smith would have been familiar with
that Clarkson/Presbyterian definition
of grace as he translated the Book of Mormon, considering his various
family members who had been “proselyted to the Presbyterian church”
and had joined it.
And
considering the huge plethora of situations outlined in the Book of
Mormon where good people
face very difficult and often fearful personal or community problems
that they plead to God for help with, it seems fitting that this
older definition and understanding of grace would be appropriate
for its translation as well.
