Grace: A Fundamental Spiritual Concept

 

Romans 5:20 - “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:”

 

2 Corinthians 9:8 - “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:”

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Titus 2:11 - “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men”

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Ephesians 2:8 - “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”

 

Grace in Christianity is the free and unmerited favor of God as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowing of blessings. Common Christian teaching is that grace is unmerited mercy (favor) that God gave to humanity by sending his son to die on a cross, thus delivering eternal salvation.

-Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org)

 

Salvation – the act of saving someone from sin or evil: the state of being saved from sin or evil. – Merriam-Webster Dictionary

 

         In all disciplines and academic subjects each has its own vocabulary and terms that express fundamental concepts and principles. Religion and spirituality is no exception to this fact. Words express concepts that in turn carry with them connotations and a general ethos that is indigenous to the field of endeavor. However, I propose that connotations can lead us a stray from the basic concepts that need to be understood in order to move along successfully in every field of endeavor. Connotations and ideologies can do a lot to alienate those that would otherwise jump in, partake, and participate.  In very field of education, when the students gain a true grasp of the fundamental principles true growth is underway and his/her progress is unstoppable. This is because the fundamental is basic and the basic is simple. Simplicity is the core idea, from which the ornamentations can be built. It is like the ballet dancer that does a fouette or a pirouette. She can only accomplish this if her center is strong and secure. I propose that, like the ballet dancer, the God principle is our core, our center from which we proceed and grow. Religious terminologies such as Grace, Sinner, and Salvation have even more basic concepts that we apply, naturally, in our daily lives without resistance or upset. Yet, for some these religious term invoke guilt, shame, indignation and profound apathy. And still yet the teacher in a school that corrects a student who is in error is preventing the student from the bad (or evil) that comes from not knowing the truth (or a principle) about math, english, or whatever the subject may be.

 

         This article is asserts that Grace ( or the Grace of God) is not just unmerited favour but is an act of God (Truth/Christ) as it comes in contact with sin/error (or the sinner). To sin is to ‘miss the mark’ or to be in error about a particular thing. Every day, someone gives us information that we need at a particular time, an article in the newspaper is the thing we were looking for all along, or a billboard indicates how we can help a loved one. These incidents are acts of correction because they either took us out of our ignorance or pointed us in the direction we should go. We accept this corrective principle in a school setting, but we do not say that it is the grace of the teacher by which the student avoided failing the exam and could become the pilot he/she always wanted to be.  In a true sense it is the unmerited favour (grace) of the teacher that the student can grow and succeed but even more accurately it is the teacher’s corrective actions that lifted the student (sinner in religious terminology) and saved him/her (salvation) from failing in life.

 

         So Grace is the corrective act of Truth at the point of contact with Error that helps us avoid all the pitfalls in life. This Truth (Christ) is free to all, hence it is unmerited and is not a respecter of person. Thus, in a spiritual context we speak of Divine Grace which is the Gift of god. Divine Grace is the corrective application that comes from having God as the fundamental reference point in all that we do in daily life. Divine Grace is God’s constant, unfailing, and automatic correction in all that we do. Our salvation is not just getting the help we need to get us out of trouble BUT ALSO the assistance we need to keep us out and away from trouble. However, we need to listen. We listen in two ways. One, we wait to hear messages and instructions from God as the need arises; or two, we have God so much a part of our daily life as our living breathing Principle, that his Divine Grace will correct us, spiritually, even before we act.

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2 Corinthians 13:14

May the grace of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all now and forevermore. Amen.

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--© 2016 Rev. Maurice J. Gordon

 

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