Grace in Christianity

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Grace (Christianity)
)
For the prayer before meals, see Grace (prayer).

A series of articles on
Grace in Christianity
Part of a series on the
Attributes of God
in Christianity
Core attributes
Overarching attributes
Miscellaneous
Emotions expressed by God

In Western

Energies of God. Among Eastern Christians generally, grace is considered to be the partaking of the Divine Nature described in 2 Peter 1:4[4] and grace is the working of God himself, not a created substance of any kind that can be treated like a commodity.[5][6]

As an attribute of God it manifests most in the salvation of sinners and Western Christianity holds that the initiative in the relationship of grace between God and an individual is always on the side of God.

The question of the means of grace has been called "the watershed that divides

theological conservatism."[7] The Catholic Church holds that it is because of the action of Christ and the Holy Spirit in transforming into the divine life what is subjected to God's power that "the sacraments confer the grace they signify": "the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through [each sacrament], independently of the personal holiness of the minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them."[8][9] The Sacred Mysteries (sacraments) are seen as a means of partaking of divine grace because God works through his Church
.

Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and Protestants agree that faith is a gift from God, as in Ephesians 2:8: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God."

Lutherans hold that the means of grace are "the gospel in Word and sacraments."[10][11] That the sacraments are means of grace is also the teaching of John Wesley,[12] who described the Eucharist as "the grand channel whereby the grace of his Spirit was conveyed to the souls of all the children of God".[13]

Calvinists emphasize "the utter helplessness of people apart from grace." But God reaches out with "first grace" or "

grace of God as cooperating with one's free will in order to bring an individual to salvation. According to Evangelical theologian Charles C. Ryrie, modern liberal theology "gives an exaggerated place to the abilities of people to decide their own fate and to effect their own salvation entirely apart from God's grace."[7]

Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible

Grace is the English translation of the Greek χάρις (charis) meaning "that which brings delight, joy, happiness, or good fortune."[14]

Old Testament

The

Exile
.

Roman Catholicism

In the definition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "grace is favour, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life".[20] Grace is a participation in the life of God, which is poured unearned into human beings, whom it heals of sin and sanctifies.[20]

The means by which God grants grace are many.

sacramentals also are means of grace.[25] The sacraments themselves, not the persons who administer or those who receive them, are "the means of grace",[26] although lack of the required dispositions on the part of the recipient will block the effectiveness of the sacrament.[27]

The Catholic Church holds that "by grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any

merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works."[28][29] Both the Council of Orange (529) and the Council of Trent affirmed that we are "justified gratuitously, because none of the things that precede justification, whether faith or works, merit the grace of justification".[30]

The Council of Trent declared that the free will of man, moved and excited by God, can by its consent co-operate with God, who excites and invites its action; and that it can thereby dispose and prepare itself to obtain the grace of justification. The will can resist grace if it chooses. It is not like a lifeless thing, which remains purely passive. Weakened and diminished by Adam's fall, free will is yet not destroyed in the race (Sess. VI, cap. i and v).[31]

The joint declaration between Catholics and Lutherans on the doctrine of justification affirms:

We confess together that all persons depend completely on the saving grace of God for their salvation. Justification takes place solely by God's grace. When Catholics say that persons "cooperate" in preparing for and accepting justification by consenting to God's justifying action, they see such personal consent as itself an effect of grace, not as an action arising from innate human abilities.[32]

— Pontifical Councils, The Vatican, Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification

Sanctifying and actual grace

According to a commonly accepted categorization, made by

St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae, grace can be given either to make the person receiving it pleasing to God (gratia gratum faciens) – so that the person is sanctified and justified – or else to help the receiver lead someone else to God (gratia gratis data).[33][a] The former type of grace, gratia gratum faciens, in turn, can be described as sanctifying (or habitual) grace – when it refers to the divine life which, according to the Church, infuses a person's soul once they are justified; or else as actual grace – when it refers to those punctual (not habitual) helps that are directed to the production of sanctifying grace where it does not already exist, or its maintenance and increase it where it is already present. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church
:

Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love. Habitual grace, the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God's call, is distinguished from actual graces which refer to God's interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion or in the course of the work of sanctification.[34]

— Catechism of the Catholic Church

The infusion of sanctifying grace, says the Church, transforms a sinner into a holy child of God, and in this way a person participates in the Divine Sonship of Jesus Christ and receives the indwelling of the

Sacrament of Reconciliation (or Sacrament of Penance).[37]

Augustine versus Pelagius

See also: Pelagius § Evaluation

In the early 5th century, Pelagius, an ascetic who is said to have come from Britain,[38] was concerned about the moral laxity of society that he witnessed in Rome. He blamed this laxity on the theology of divine grace preached by Augustine of Hippo, among others.[39] He strongly affirmed that humans had free will and were able to choose good as well as evil. Augustine, drawing on the exaggerated statements of the followers of Pelagius rather than on Pelagius' own writings,[40] began a debate that was to have long-reaching effects on subsequent developments of the doctrine in Western Christianity. Pelagianism was repudiated by the Council of Carthage in 418, largely at Augustine's insistence. However, what Pelagius taught was likely what has come to be called semi-pelagianism.[41]

In semi-Pelagian thought, both God and the human person always participate in the salvation process. Humans make free will choices, which are aided by God through creation, natural grace, "supernatural" grace, and God's restrictions on demonic influences. God continually brings the human person to real choices, which God also aids, in the process of spiritual growth and salvation. Semi-Pelagianism is similar to

Society of Jesus.[45][46]

Catholic versus Protestant

In 1547, the Council of Trent, which sought to address and condemn Protestant objections, aimed to purge the Roman Catholic Church of controversial movements and establish an orthodox Roman Catholic teaching on grace and justification, as distinguished from the Protestant teachings on those concepts. It taught that justification and sanctification are elements of the same process.[47] The grace of justification is bestowed through the merit of Christ's passion,[48] without any merits on the part of the person justified, who is enabled to cooperate only through the grace of God.[48] The grace of justification may be lost through mortal sin, but can also be restored by the sacrament of Penance.[48] The sacraments are, together with revealed truth, the principal means of the grace, a treasury of grace, that Christ has merited by his life and death and has given to the Church.[22] This does not mean that other groups of Christians have no treasury of grace at their disposal,[49] for, as the Second Vatican Council declared, "many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside of (the Catholic Church's) visible structure".[50]

Jansenists versus Jesuits

At about the same time that Calvinists and Arminians were debating the meaning of grace in Protestantism, in Catholicism a similar debate was taking place between the

ascetic
circles.

Grace and merit

Citing the Council of Trent, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

With regard to God, there is no strict right to any merit on the part of man. Between God and us there is an immeasurable inequality, for we have received everything from him, our Creator. The merit of man before God in the Christian life arises from the fact that God has freely chosen to associate man with the work of his grace. The fatherly action of God is first on his own initiative, and then follows man's free acting through his collaboration, so that the merit of good works is to be attributed in the first place to the grace of God, then to the faithful. Man's merit, moreover, itself is due to God, for his good actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and assistance given by the Holy Spirit. [...] The charity of Christ is the source in us of all our merits before God. Grace, by uniting us to Christ in active love, ensures the supernatural quality of our acts and consequently their merit before God and before men. The saints have always had a lively awareness that their merits were pure grace.[51]

— Catechism of the Catholic Church

Eastern Christianity

In the

Energies of God. Among Eastern Christians generally, grace is considered to be the partaking of the Divine Nature described in 2 Peter 1:4.[4] The Holy Mysteries (Latin, "sacraments") are seen as a means of partaking of divine grace because God works through his Church, not just because specific legalistic rules are followed; and grace is the working of God himself, not a created substance of any kind that can be treated like a commodity.[5][6]

theosis – by merging with the uncreated Energies of God (revealed to the senses as the Tabor Light of transfiguration), notably through a method of prayer called hesychasm.[5][53]

Protestant Reformation

The

Protestant Reformation
reacted against the concepts of grace and merit as they were understood in late medieval Catholic theology.

Luther and Lutheran theology

ninety-five theses to the church door in Wittenberg in 1517 was a direct consequence of the perfunctory sacramentalism and treasury doctrines of the medieval church. The act was precipitated by the arrival of Johann Tetzel, authorized by the Vatican to sell indulgences
.

The effectiveness of these indulgences was predicated on the doctrine of the treasury of grace proclaimed by Pope Clement VI. The theory was that merit earned by acts of piety could augment the believer's store of sanctifying grace. Gifts to the Church were acts of piety. The Church, moreover, had a treasury full of grace above and beyond what was needed to get its faithful into heaven. The Church was willing to part with some of its surplus in exchange for earthly gold. Martin Luther's anger against this practice, which seemed to him to involve the purchase of salvation, began a swing of the pendulum back towards the Pauline vision of grace, as opposed to James's.

Luther taught that men were helpless and without a plea before God's justice, and their acts of piety were utterly inadequate before his infinite holiness. Were God only just, and not merciful, everyone would go to

Calvinism
and its relatives.

It is by faith alone (sola fide) and by grace alone (sola gratia) that men are saved. Good works are something the believers should undertake out of gratitude towards their Savior; but they are not sufficient for salvation and cannot earn anyone salvation; there is no room for the notion of "merit" in Luther's doctrine of redemption. (There may, however, be degrees of reward for the redeemed in heaven.) Only the unearned, unmerited grace of God can save anyone. No one can have a claim of entitlement to God's grace, and it is only by his generosity that salvation is even possible.

As opposed to the treasury of grace from which believers can make withdrawals, in Lutheranism salvation becomes a declaration of spiritual bankruptcy, in which penitents acknowledge the inadequacy of their own resources and trust only in God to save them. Accepting Augustine's concern for legal justification as the base metaphor for salvation, the believers are not so much made righteous in Lutheranism as they are considered covered by Christ's righteousness. Acknowledging that they have no power to make themselves righteous, the penalty for their sins is discharged because Jesus has already paid for it with his blood. His righteousness is credited to those who believe in and thus belong to him.

Calvin and Reformed theology

Calvin and Luther believed free will does not co-operate with God's grace which, according to them, cannot be rejected (see monergism). The Lutheran Augsburg Confession says of baptism, "Lutherans teach that it is necessary to salvation and that by baptism the grace of God is offered and that children are to be baptized, who by baptism, being offered to God, are received into God's favor."[54] The French reformer John Calvin expanded and further developed these Augustinian themes in his systematic Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536.

The logical structure of

Calvinism is often expressed as the acronym, TULIP. These five categories do not comprise Calvinism in its entirety; they simply encapsulate its central, definitive doctrines.[55]

The notion that God has foreordained who will be saved is generally called

double-predestination
", (in conjunction with limited atonement) is the most controversial expression of the doctrine. According to Reformed theology, the "good news" of the gospel of Christ is that God has freely granted the gift of salvation to those the Holy Spirit causes to believe; what he freely grants to some (the "elect" individuals), he withholds from others (the "reprobate" individuals).

Calvin sought to provide assurance to the faithful that God would actually save them. His teaching implied what came to be known as the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, the notion that God would actually save those who were his Elect. The actual status and ultimate state of any man's soul were unknown except to God. When assurance of election was rigorously pressed as an experience to be sought, especially by the Puritans, this led to a legalism as rigid as the one Protestantism sought to reject, as men were eager to demonstrate that they were among the chosen by the conspicuous works-righteousness of their lives.

The relatively radical positions of Reformed theology provoked a strong reaction from both Roman Catholics and Lutherans.

Classical and Wesleyan Arminian theology

In the beginning of the 17th century, the Dutch theologian

divine foreknowledge, and its incompatibility with theological determinism.[57] Predestination in Arminianism is based on divine foreknowledge, unlike in Calvinism.[58] Thus, the offer of salvation through grace does not act irresistibly in a purely cause-effect, deterministic method but rather in an influence-and-response fashion that can be both freely accepted and freely denied.[59] In Arminianism, God takes initiative in the salvation process and his grace comes to all people. This is done through prevenient grace which acts on all people to convince them of the Gospel, draw them strongly towards salvation, and enable the possibility of sincere faith.[60] As Roger Olson put it: "[Arminius]' evangelical synergism reserves all the power, ability and efficacy in salvation to grace, but allows humans the God-granted ability to resist or not resist it. The only "contribution" humans make is nonresistance to grace."[61]

Later, John Wesley also rejected the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, and had the same Arminian understanding as expressed in Wesleyan theology. It remains the standard teaching of Methodist churches.[62] Wesley also appealed to prevenient grace, stating that God makes the initial move in salvation, but human beings are free to respond or reject God's graceful initiative.[63] The doctrine of prevenient grace remains one of Methodism's most important doctrines.[62]

John Wesley distinguished three kinds of

sanctification and final salvation.[63] In particular Wesley taught that Christian believers are to participate in the means of grace and to continue to grow in the Christian life, assisted by God's sustaining grace.[64]

The Protestant Reformation and ecclesiology

Protestantism in all three major schools of theology – Lutheran, Calvinist, and Arminian – emphasize God's initiative in the work of salvation, which is achieved by grace alone through faith alone, in either stream of thinking – although these terms are understood differently, according to the differences in systems.

Classical Calvinism teaches that the sacraments are "signs and seals of the covenant of grace" and "effectual means of salvation", and Lutheranism teaches that new life, faith, and union with Christ are granted by the Holy Spirit working through the sacraments. However, for a large portion of the Protestant world, the sacraments largely lost the importance that Luther (and to a slightly lesser degree, Calvin) attributed to them. This happened under the influence of ideas of the

Baptist movements, and to Lutherans through Pietism
(although much of Lutheranism recoiled against the Pietist movement after the mid-19th century).

Where the sacraments are de-emphasized, they become "ordinances", acts of worship which are required by Scripture, but whose effect is limited to the voluntary effect they have on the worshipper's soul. This belief finds expression in the

age of reason
and have professed their faith. These ordinances are never considered works-righteousness. The ritual as interpreted in light of such ideas does not at all bring about salvation, nor does its performance bring about the forgiveness of sins; the forgiveness which the believer has received by faith is merely pictured, not effectively applied, by baptism; salvation and participation in Christ is memorialized ("this do in remembrance of me" in the Lord's Supper and baptism picturing a Christian's rebirth as death to sin and alive in Christ), not imparted, by the Eucharist. The Church to the Baptists becomes an assembly of true believers in Christ Jesus who gather together for worship and fellowship and remembering what Christ did for them.

Churches of Christ

The Churches of Christ believe that the grace of God that saves is the plan of salvation, rather than salvation itself. This plan includes two parts, 1) the perfect life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, 2) the gospel/New Testament/the faith.

Concerning Ephesians 2:8 which states: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God", it is noted that the word "it" is a pronoun and refers back to a noun. As the word "saved" is a verb, "it" does not refer to "saved" but to grace, giving the definition of grace as "the gift of God". Furthermore, as the

Book of James
distinguishes between a dead faith (a faith without works) and a living faith (a faith accompanied by works of obedience), it is believed that God's gift operates through an individual's living faith resulting in that individual being saved.

  1. Grace is contrasted with the Law of Moses (Romans 6:14; Hebrews 10:4; John 1:17) and the church of Christ believes that Paul's contrast between work and faith is as described under the
    Old Covenant and obedient faith under the New Covenant
    .
  2. Grace saves (Ephesians 2:5); justifies (Romans 3:24; Titus 3:7).
  3. Grace can not be added to (Galatians 5:4).
  4. Grace teaches (Titus 2:11); can be preached (Ephesians 3:8).
  5. Grace calls mankind (2 Timothy 1:9; Galatians 1:15).
  6. Grace is brought by revelation (1 Peter 1:13).
  7. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17)
  8. Grace is sufficient for mankind (2 Corinthians 12:9)

The Galatians were removed from the calling of the gospel (Galatians 1:6,7; 2 Thessalonians 2:14) unto another gospel (another message) which verse 7 says is not a gospel at all but a perversion.

The Church of Christ believes that grace provides the following plan, which, if followed, results in salvation:

See also

Notes

  1. Sacraments
    .

References

Citations

  1. ^ "Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life." "Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1996". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
  2. ISBN 978-0-8146-5609-9
    .
  3. ^ Diderot, Denis (1757). Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. pp. Vol. 7, pp. 800–803.
  4. ^ a b Fr. Tadros Malaty, The Divine Grace PDF Archived 2021-07-03 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^
    LCCN
    84-051294, pp. 257–261
  6. ^ a b Gregory (Grabbe), Archbishop. The Sacramental Life: An Orthodox Christian Perspective. Liberty TN: St. John of Kronstadt Press, 1986
  7. ^ a b Ryrie, Charles C. The Grace of God. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1963), pp. 10–11.
  8. ^ "Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  9. ^ "Sacraments". www.catholiceducation.org. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  10. ^ "What We Believe". WELS. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  11. ^ "The Means of Grace". clclutheran.org. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  12. ^ What is a sacrament?
  13. ^ John Wesley, "Sermon on the Mount—Discourse Six", III.11, quoted in "This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion" Archived 2020-08-01 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ a b c d Roetzel, Calvin J., PhD. The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, Paul J. Achtemeier, General Editor. HarperCollins, 1996. Pp. 386–387
  15. ^ Genesis 6:8
  16. ^ Deuteronomy 7:8
  17. ^ Numbers 6:24–27
  18. ^ Psalm 119:29
  19. ^ Psalm 27:7
  20. ^ a b "Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  21. ^ a b Catholic Bishops' Conferences of England & Wales, Ireland and Scotland, One Bread One Body Archived 2013-06-12 at the Wayback Machine, p. 7
  22. ^ a b "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Church". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  23. ISBN 978-1-59276-441-9
    ), p. 143
  24. ^ Rolfus, H. (Hermann); Brändle, F. J. (Florian J. ); Brennan, Richard (1894). The means of grace : a complete exposition of the seven sacraments, their institution, meaning, requirements, ceremonies, and efficacy : of the sacramentals of the Church, holy water, oils, exorcisms, blessings, consecrations, etc. : and of prayer, with a comprehensive explanation of the Our Father and the Hail Mary. The Library of Congress. New York : Benziger Brothers. p. 25.
  25. ^ Brennan (1894), p. 337
  26. ISBN 978-0-87779-044-0
    .
  27. ^ "Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  28. ^ "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  29. ^ Deal W. Hudson, "Grace Alone"
  30. ^ "Sola Gratia, Solo Christo: The Roman Catholic Doctrine of Justification by Richard A. White". www.philvaz.com. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  31. ^ (reg), CO Now LLC, Chicago, IL. ~The Council of Trent - Session 6~. Retrieved 1 December 2017.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  32. ^ Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  33. ^ Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologiae. I-Iae, a. 111, q. 1. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  34. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church. No. 2000.
  35. ^ Council of Trent. Decree on Justification. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  36. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church. No. 1855.
  37. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church. No. 1856.
  38. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21784. Retrieved 28 October 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership
    required)
  39. ^ "St. Augustine and Pelagianism | Stephen N. Filippo | Ignatius Insight". www.ignatiusinsight.com. Archived from the original on 2008-04-09. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  40. ^ "Pelagius". 2011-10-06. Archived from the original on 2011-10-06. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  41. S2CID 144950796
    .
  42. ^ Cassian, Inst. 12, Conf. 3, Conf. 13
  43. LCCN
    84-051294, pp. 257–261.
  44. ISBN 0-14-020592-6
    .
  45. ISBN 978-0-7546-6293-8
    .
  46. ISBN 978-0-8146-5856-7
    .
  47. ^ "Controversies on Grace"; "Sanctifying Grace". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909.
  48. ^ a b c "CT06". history.hanover.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  49. ISBN 978-0-8146-2895-9
    .
  50. ^ "Lumen gentium". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  51. ^ "Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  52. ^ Timothy Ware. The Orthodox Church, Revised Edition Penguin Books, 1992. pp.239ff.
  53. ISBN 0-14-020592-6
  54. ^ John MacArthur, Jr. The Salvation of Babies Who Die—Part 1. 1986. Accessed September 7, 2009.
  55. ^ Matthew J. Slick. "The Five Points of Calvinism." September 7, 2009
  56. ^ Stanglin & McCall 2012, p. 190.
  57. ^ Wiley 1940, Chap. 14.
  58. ^ Wiley 1940, Chap. 26.
  59. ^ Forlines 2001, pp. 313–321.
  60. ^ Picirilli 2002, pp. 154-.
  61. ^ Olson 2009, p. 165.
  62. ^ a b Cracknell & White 2005, p. 100.
  63. ^ a b Shelton 2015.
  64. ^ UMC 2018.
  65. ^ Jack Hoad, The Baptist, London, Grace Publications, 1986, page 32.

Sources

  • Cracknell, Kenneth; White, Susan J. (2005). An introduction to world Methodism. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Forlines, F. Leroy (2001). The Quest for Truth: Answering Life's Inescapable Questions. Randall House Publications.
  • Olson, Roger E. (2009). Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.
  • Picirilli, Robert (2002). Grace, Faith, Free Will: Contrasting Views of Salvation. Nashville: Randall House.
  • Shelton, Brian (2015). "Prevenient Grace: Two Helpful Distinctions". Seedbed. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  • Stanglin, Keith D.; McCall, Thomas H. (2012). Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace. New York: OUP USA.
  • UMC (2018). "The Wesleyan Means of Grace".
    The United Methodist Church
    . Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  • Wiley, H. Orton (1940). Christian theology (3 volumes). Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press.

Further reading

Orthodox

Roman Catholic

Protestant
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grace_in_Christianity&oldid=1213906981"