The word grace is a very important word in the Bible.

In the Hebrew language the word is hēn (pronounce the ‘h’ as ‘ch’, as in the Scottish word loch.) It means (i) favour, grace, elegance (of form or appearance, e.g. of a woman) or of speech, (ii) favour, acceptance with men or with God. You can see that the word has a range of meaning.

The Greek word is charis. This word was used in classical Greek long before the time of Jesus and the apostles. Over time, as is often the case in language, the original meaning developed. At first it referred to beauty, (just as we might also say in English that a woman has beauty or grace.) A person may be outwardly beautiful, but also inwardly, so charis also developed the meaning that a person was good, gracious and of beautiful character. Next, because a beautiful or good person is likely to do things that are good, his or her actions came to be called gracious; the actions were also grace. Finally the person who benefitted from the grace of the giver received grace.

Usually we think of grace in this last sense; as favour we receive from God. But consider the whole range of meaning of charis and apply it to God himself. God is utterly beautiful and good – isn’t this what we really mean when we say God is holy or God is love?

Because God is beautiful in his own being or nature, he has beautiful attitudes, (even to the unlovely and wicked), and because of his inner orientation of grace, he does gracious, beautiful things. The benefits that we receive from God, who sends the rain on the just and the unjust, are grace, but never forget that all blessings and even ‘educational’ experiences or the discipline of God, flow from One who is utterly beautiful, flawless and holy in every way. When we truly understand this, we are able to trust and worship him.

God is grace.