Christians: What is the definition of "grace"?

[MorningGlow]

I've been hearing that term bandied about more and more often lately, in many different contexts. And yet I can't quite pin down what "grace" is. (Yeah, I went to Catholic school--maybe my brain checked out on the day this was covered?) Does it have many definitions, many uses? Is it so very elusive that I haven't been able to understand the term? Any and all definitions are welcome! :hi:

[stillcool]

1. I'm not a Christian...

but I love the word 'grace'. And I do think it has different meanings in that people exhibit 'grace', in a 'gracious' attitude, meaning to me they are open, understanding, and accepting of others. While the...'there but go the grace of God..oh go I'.. grace I think is a reprieve from pain and suffering.

[MorningGlow]

13. Do you think it's being overused at this point?

I keep hearing it "name dropped" SO MUCH and it seems to have so many different meanings. But from what I can gather, it mostly seems to mean, when it's used in reference to God, that God suddenly noticed a person and bestowed his divine juju upon that person for the moment. I don't mean to be flip, but what bugs me is that I thought God was always there for anyone at all times, and "grace" sounds like the person won the lottery.

[ananda]

2. Depends on who's defining it.

Is grace something "God" bestows only on the elect?

This serves the mindset that some are chosen or
more deserving or worthy than others.

Is it something like mercy or clemency bestowed
by a judge or someone in a position of authority,
so that a person is subject to another's good
grace?

Is grace arbitrary or an eternal, unchanging
verity?

If arbitrary, we get the above questions on
definitions that tend to promote and support
the mindset that fosters oppression.

If an eternal, unchanging verity like the ideas
of beauty and elegant movement, charm, love,
and sanctity, then it belongs equally to everyone.

Sue

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. as in "full of Grace?"

I always thought it referred to a Honeymooner's episode.

Grace should be considered a natural descriptor, when talking about ballet, at least before today's mechanical modernists took aim at dance.
Grace is usually coupled with poise, when discussing the successful teaching of a rich debutante at her expensive finishing school.
Grace has referred to the recitation of a set of words, allegedly a collect call to a non-existent heavenly critter, possibly asking that the food on the table has not been wrongly approved by the FDA despite high mercury content, salmonella, and prions.

[elocs]

4. unmerited favor n/t

[Dervill Crow]

9. Right on. nt

[dipsydoodle]

5. George Burn's wife.

.

[Dragonfli]

6. There is a favorite saying of Fundy Calvinists

"By grace alone are ye saved."
Tied strongly to the doctrine of the elect.

By their definition grace is that which God bestows to one upon "being saved".
The above saying is further elaborated by pointing out that works are meaningless in regard to salvation.

Those that believe this also believe that nothing one may do, positive or negative, can interfere with their salvation or the damnation of others, all was predestined before birth.

Their is only one path - theirs
And only one means - grace

Luckily I do not believe in this tripe as I happen to be a witch (neo-pagan)

I did spend a year after being raised catholic in one of the calvinist churches during my long road trip through comparative religion before arriving at my current alignment.

I know them well, and consider them dangerous.

Funny that I forgot the catholic definition just as you have considering all the time I spent in Catholic schools, must not have been quite as memorable of a definition.

edited to add, I just love your avatar! (for obvious reasons)

[MorningGlow]

14. Hi Dragonfli

And I love your sig pic! That's really cool. Dragonflies are a totem of mine--are they one of yours? :)

Thanks for the post. I'm still trying to figure out just what's confusing to me about it. Having ruminated about this since I did the OP, I've come to the conclusion that I'm bothered that "grace" seems like a one-shot deal. What I mean is, when someone says, "Oh, that person was granted divine grace (for that particularly troublesome moment)", it's like like God noticed a person and went "zap" and gave the person a temporary goody, one "get out of jail free" card. But if God is supposed to be there for everyone all the time, just for the asking, what's up with winning-the-lottery aspect of it?

[DesertFlower]

7. i think is has something to do with

being saved.

[MorningGlow]

15. Hmmm

Yes, I can see that. But I think I was puzzling over the use that means "God just saved your butt"--"Oh, that person just received God's grace". I didn't think it was quantitative. :shrug: I'm still confused...

[grasswire]

8. yep -- unmerited favor

It is the foundation of the "gospel" message.

[ROakes1019]

10. grace

Grace is what the Protestants came up with to counteract the Catholic practice of granting salvation through works. Ultimately Catholicism devolved into a religion where salvation could be bought by indulgences. Protestants got rid of the middleman, the Pope and priests and such, and claimed salvation came through a personal relationship with God, who then granted salvation through "grace." I took a course in Reformation History in college many years ago but this I remember. The question on the final was which has had more influence on the present-day world--Catholicism or Protestant. The answer I gave and defended was Protestantism, which I saw a negative influence. I am neither Catholic nor Protestant and so I defend neither from a personal perspective.

[Dervill Crow]

11. From the Christian perspective, a simple mnemonic.

God's
Riches
At
Christ's
Expense.

These days I look more to personal responsibility and the threefold law and don't really see a need to be saved from anything, but I remember this from my decade as a Christian.

[JerseygirlCT]

12. That's one of those things I find easy to understand and harder to

explain.

Forgiveness, unlimited love, all without any "reason" or action from the person being loved. A gift.

Do you know the U2 song? I love it for what it has to say:

Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name

Grace
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything

Grace, she's got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She's got the time to talk
She travels outside of karma
She travels outside of karma
When she goes to work
You can hear her strings
Grace finds beauty in everything

Grace, she carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition

What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

Grace makes beauty out of ugly things

[Marrah_G]

16. from the catholic encyclopedia

Actual Grace


Grace (gratia, Charis), in general, is a supernatural gift of God to intellectual creatures (men, angels) for their eternal salvation, whether the latter be furthered and attained through salutary acts or a state of holiness.

Before the Council of Trent, the Schoolmen seldom distinguished actual grace from sanctifying grace. But, in consequence of modern controversies regarding grace, it has become usual and necessary in theology to draw a sharper distinction between the transient help to act (actual grace) and the permanent state of grace (sanctifying grace). For this reason we adopt this distinction as our principle of division in our exposition of the Catholic doctrine. In this article we shall treat only of actual grace. (See also SANCTIFYING GRACE.)

Actual grace derives its name, actual, from the Latin actualis (ad actum), for it is granted by God for the performance of salutary acts and is present and disappears with the action itself. Its opposite, therefore, is not possible grace, which is without usefulness or importance, but habitual grace, which causes a state of holiness, so that the mutual relations between these two kinds of grace are the relation between action and state, not those between actuality and potentiality. Later, we shall discuss habitual grace more fully under the name of sanctifying or justifying grace. As to actual grace, we have to examine: (1) its Nature; (2) its Properties. The third, and difficult, question of the relationship between grace and liberty shall be reserved for discussion in the article CONTROVERSIES ON GRACE.