We’ve probably all heard it said that grace is getting from God what we don’t deserve, and mercy is not getting what we do deserve, in other words, not getting eternal punishment as a result of our fallen state.
I think this is a plainly wrong interpretation of scripture.
Grace is NOT undeserved favor.
Luke 2:40 says that Jesus “grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.” If grace is undeserved favor, then the Bible is saying that Jesus did not deserve grace. But of all people who ever lived, the perfect Jesus DID deserve God’s favor.
Grace is NOT undeserved favor!
The definition of grace is as follows:
The Greek word is charis.
According to Strong’s, grace “is preeminently used of the Lord’s favor – freely extended to give Himself away to people.” There is nothing in this definition to warrant the idea that it’s undeserved.
Of course it’s true that in our flesh we don’t deserve anything from God. But this applies to every single good gift, fruit, and provision he provides. To single out grace as an undeserved gift is not a biblical idea. While we understand that all of Christ’s atonement is undeserved, we don’t define love as being undeserved, or joy as undeserved, or patience as undeserved, or any of the other fruits of the Spirit or gifts of the Spirit as undeserved. Why do we want to single out grace?
DEFINITION OF GRACE
Again from Strong’s: “Both [the use of grace in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament] refer to God freely extending Himself (His favor, grace), reaching (inclining) to people because He is disposed to bless (be near) them.”
It has everything to do with God’s love for us and his faithfulness to us, and nothing about whether or not we deserve it. You are not part of the equation! God’s grace has been extended to every single person who has ever lived, whether they choose to accept it or not.
Literally, the word “charis” means grace or kindness. Period. No qualification. Grace is God’s loving favor, period. He bestows this favor upon all who call on his name simply because of his great love for us. Simply because of who He is.
Other proper meanings of the word include kindness, good will, loving-kindness, sweetness, loveliness, and charm.
Charis comes “From chairo; graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstract or concrete; literal, figurative or spiritual; especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude) — acceptable, benefit, favour, gift, grace(- ious), joy, liberality, pleasure, thank(-s, -worthy).”
Why does all this talk matter?
Because the idea of grace as undeserved favor, by definition, places a qualification upon us. It brings you and me into the equation, when you and I actually have nothing to do with it. It’s a free gift from God, period, and it has nothing to do with whether we deserve it or not. We need to learn to leave our worthiness out of the equation altogether. Of course we don’t deserve grave, but we don’t deserve anything that Jesus has provided for us. He has done it all purely and solely out of His love for us.
MERCY
A closely related topic is that of mercy.
Once again, we have often heard it said that grace is getting what we don’t deserve, and mercy is NOT getting the punishment that we do deserve.
I don’t think so.
The Greek word for mercy is eleos, and it literally means “covenant-loyalty” or “covenant love.” It also encompasses the term “compassion.” In this sense, it us much like grace, except that it also has a tendency to be shown toward those in need or those who are afflicted. It’s more like loving, compassionate relief for the afflicted.
Once again, this is far from the definition of “not getting the punishment we deserve.” There is actually nothing in the definition of eleos that warrants this claim.
I think these common definitions that I am trying to debunk are the result of an action-oriented or fundamentalist view of God’s attitude toward us, one in which he really wants to blast us but his grace and mercy prohibit it.
No, God has no desire whatsoever to judge us for anything, ever. Jesus paid the price for all that. God poured out every ounce of indignation and wrath toward sin on His son Jesus and there is none left for you and me. His grace and mercy are beautiful free gifts that talk about his love, his compassion, his covenant promises, his joy in having us as his kids.
Luke 1:57 says “Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her.”
Miraculously giving a woman a child that she has been praying for is not consistent with the definition of NOT receiving the punishment we deserve. It was a beautiful gift of compassionate covenant love from the Father toward a woman who desperately wanted a child.
When we understand that even Jesus grew in grace, it brings a whole new meaning to the word. If I were to summarize all the definitions above, and look at the biblical context of the words mercy and grace, I would offer that grace is simply God’s divine influence in our hearts, meant to illuminate our minds as we strive to become more like Jesus, and mercy is his active covenant love and loyalty toward us.
CRUCIAL TO RENEWING OUR MINDS
This is a crucial element in the renewing of our minds. We don’t deserve anything included in Christ’s atonement in and of ourselves, that is, in our flesh. But if we understand that the gifts of grace and mercy are acts of loving-kindness from God, that they are expressions of his loving-kindness and his covenant love for us, then we perhaps have new motivation for renewing our minds. As a dad, I can understand what this means. My kids might be acting up and disobeying, but I will still give them a birthday present. I don’t make this event conditional upon their behavior, it’s because of my love for them. Period.
No longer do we cower under the understanding that mercy is being saved from a God who really wants to give us punishment. It’s a gift of love, and we can be more confident in trusting our hearts and minds to a God like that.
So the transformation of the mind is the thing that aligns us to receive power from God. The grace is always abundant, the flow is always on, we just need to come into alignment with it.