What does grace mean in the Bible?
Grace, in the Bible, means kindness given without being earned; the concept stands at the center of Christian faith, especially in the New Testament. The Greek word "charis" carries the senses of gift, favor and that which delights. Paul's sentence in Ephesians is the best-known…
Grace, in the Bible, means kindness given without being earned; the concept stands at the center of Christian faith, especially in the New Testament. The Greek word "charis" carries the senses of gift, favor and that which delights. Paul's sentence in Ephesians is the best-known summary: "for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast." The emphasis is clear: salvation is a gift, not a wage or a reward. Romans builds the same thought from the other side: the proof of God's love is that Christ died while people were still sinners; grace is given not to the deserving but to the needy. The concept is not foreign to the Old Testament either: in Exodus, God introduces himself as "a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth," and the prophets keep recalling that steadfastness despite the people's unfaithfulness. The Bible does not present grace as a license for carelessness: the letter to Titus says grace "trains" people to live sensibly and rightly; a forgiven life is expected to change. Grace becomes concrete in the father of the parable of the lost son: a father who sees his returning child from far off, runs to him and receives him without conditions. On this site the theme is gathered on the "Salvation and Grace" topic page along with the related chapters; the references below link straight to the text.