What is Grace?
When I was growing up as a “Preacher’s Kid”,
I remember being shown this acrostic:
God’s
Riches
At
Christ’s
Expense.
Another definition I remember was
“undeserved favor”.
“The Age of Grace” began at the cross of Jesus Christ,
but I had no idea there was so much grace shown in the Old Testament. God wanted to show people His grace.
Most of the time in the Old Testament the word GRACE seems to mean
“to find favor in the eyes of someone,
to be acceptable to him”.
(Blue Letter Bible Tools)
This would apply to Noah in Genesis 6:8, where it says,
“Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”
Moses also found this kind of grace or favor when he asked of God
“…Show me now your way,
that I may know You
and that I may find grace in Your sight.”
(Exodus 33:13)
A manifestation of this grace to Moses was His Presence.
“My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
(Exodus 33:14)
Although Moses asked for God’s favor,
God showed him another side of grace.
“And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed,
‘The LORD, the LORD God,
merciful and gracious, longsuffering,
and abounding in goodness and truth.’”
(Exodus 34:6)
Word study in NKJV says that goodness/grace here represents God’s character of mercy, loving kindness …and a loyal, steadfast, voluntary, faithful and intimate love as in marriage!
One of the words David had for grace was LOVINGKINDNESS.
“How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!
Therefore the children of men put their trust
under the shadow of Your wings.”
(Psalm 36:7)
And in Psalm 63:3 he says because God’s LOVINGKINDNESS
“is better than life, my lips shall praise You.”
According to David, God’s grace
RESTORES JOY - Psalm 51:12
HEALS - Psalm 103:3
REDEEMS - Psalm 103:4
RENEWS - Psalm 103:5
There are a couple of Old Testament terms for grace
that really made me smile.
One of them is found in Deuteronomy 1:30-31 where it talks about the LORD carrying or nourishing Israel, carrying them like a son,
but in the New Testament where it refers to this passage, it says God
“PUT UP WITH” their ways in the wilderness. (Acts 13:18)
I’m glad that God “puts up with” me!
Another one to make you smile is that God’s grace is
SLOW TO ANGER or literally “LONG OF NOSE” !
This comes from Jonah 4:2 where it says,
“I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger,
and abundant in loving kindness, One who relents from doing harm.”
Word study from NKJV study Bible says
“The Hebrew idiom for patient or slow to anger is literally
‘long of nose’. “
It says that the nose is symbolic of anger because an angry person breathes heavily or noisily and the nose becomes hot!
And last of all in this session of “What is Grace?”,
GRACE IS LOVE.
No ordinary love.
One commentary said “To love from the womb”,
to LOVE DEEPLY,
to have mercy, to have compassion,
to have tender affection,
to be soft, soothing, gentle…
In other words, LOVE beyond description!
Jeremiah wrote, “Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.” Lamentations 3:32
The prophet Micah said, “Who is a God like You,
pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression…
He delights in mercy.
He will again have compassion on us…”
Micah 7:18-19
******************
A good verse to memorize is 2 Peter 3:18:
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.”
***************************************************
Study guides that can be copied for above lesson:
Is it what
Webster says in its first definition...
"a way of moving that is smooth and attractive and that is not stiff or awkward"?
Or do we need to scroll a little further down the page...
"unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification,
a virtue coming from God"?
What is Grace?
This is a study sheet that I've prepared for a class
that I'm leading beginning this Wednesday night to study GRACE.
I don't have all the answers, but I'm learning!
Do you want to come along and learn with me?
I've used the New King James Version to prepare this,
and if you can't figure it out, I will post the answers on a separate post
entitled "GRACE ANSWERS".
When I was growing up as a “Preacher’s Kid”,
I remember being shown this acrostic:
G___________
R___________
A___________
C___________
E___________.
Another definition I remember was
“_____________ _____________”.
“The Age of Grace” began at the cross of Jesus Christ,
but I had no idea there was so much grace shown in the Old Testament. God wanted to show people His grace.
Most of the time in the Old Testament the word GRACE seems to mean
“to find ____________in the eyes of someone,
to be ________________ to him”.
(Blue Letter Bible Tools)
This would apply to Noah in Genesis 6:8, where it says,
“Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”
Moses also found this kind of grace or favor when he asked of God
“…Show me now your way,
that I may know You
and that I may find grace in Your sight.”
(Exodus 33:13)
A manifestation of this grace to Moses was _____ ____________________.
“My ______________will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
(Exodus 33:14)
Although Moses asked for God’s favor,
God showed him another side of grace.
“And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed,
‘The LORD, the LORD God,
merciful and gracious, longsuffering,
and abounding in _________________and truth.’”
(Exodus 34:6)
Word study in NKJV says that goodness/grace here represents God’s character of mercy, loving kindness …and a loyal, steadfast, voluntary, faithful and intimate love as in marriage!
One of the words David had for grace was ___________________.
“How precious is Your ___________________, O God!
Therefore the children of men put their trust
under the shadow of Your wings.”
(Psalm 36:7)
And in
Psalm 63:3 he says because God’s ____________________
“is better than life, my lips shall praise You.”
According to David, God’s grace
_________________________ -
Psalm 51:12
__________ _______________-
Psalm 103:3
_________________________ -
Psalm 103:4
________________________ -
Psalm 103:5
There are a couple of Old Testament terms for grace
that really made me smile.
One of them is found in
Deuteronomy 1:30-31 where it talks about the LORD carrying or nourishing Israel, carrying them like a son,
but in the New Testament where it refers to this passage, it says God
____________________________their ways in the wilderness.
(Acts 13:18)
I’m glad that God “puts up with” me!
Another one to make you smile is that God’s grace is
____________________ or literally ___________________!
This comes from
Jonah 4:2 where it says,
“I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger,
and abundant in loving kindness, One who relents from doing harm.”
Word study from NKJV study Bible says
“The Hebrew idiom for ______________or slow to anger is literally
‘long of nose’. “
It says that the nose is symbolic of anger because an angry person breathes heavily or noisily and the nose becomes hot!
And last of all in this session of “What is Grace?”,
___________ ___ ___________.
No ordinary love.
One commentary said “To love from the womb”,
to ___________ ______________,
to have mercy, to have compassion,
to have tender affection,
to be soft, soothing, gentle…
In other words, __________ beyond description!
Jeremiah wrote, “Though He causes grief,
yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.”
Lamentations 3:32
The prophet Micah said, “Who is a God like You,
pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression…
He delights in mercy.
He will again have compassion on us…”
Micah 7:18-19
******************
Next week we’ll look at what GRACE means in the New Testament,
especially looking at Peter and Paul.
