Before looking at the meaning of grace it would be worthwhile noting the emphasis that is put upon it in the New Testament. The Greek word for grace, charis, occurs 154 times. It can have meanings such as graciousness, favour, goodwill, gracious deed or gift, thanks or gratitude. However, 127 times it is used of the grace of God, 89 of these occurring in the letters of Paul. To wish for grace to those to whom they are writing is the most common form of greeting in the letters of the New Testament, and a further wish for grace is the most common form of signing off. Paul begins and ends each of the thirteen letters that are traditionally attributed to him in such a manner. As Philip Yancey explains in his popular book What’s So Amazing About Grace? (3) , “Knocked flat on the ground on the way to Damascus, Paul never recovered from the impact of grace: the word appears no later than the second sentence in every one of his letters.” Frederick Buechner adds in The Longing for Home, “Grace is the best he can wish them as grace is the best he himself ever received.”

It is worth noting in passing that “Grace” or “Grace to you” sounded like a standard Greek greeting, but for Paul it was infused with theological meaning. He usually combines it with “Peace” which was a Jewish blessing. Paul combines these to construct a distinctive Christian blessing, “Grace and peace”.

Paul can speak of God’s “glorious grace” (Ephesians 1:6), “the riches of God’s grace” (1:7), and “the incomparable riches of his grace” (2:7). He has “lavished” this grace on us (1:8). God’s grace is something that “overflows” to many (Romans 5:15). We have received “abundant provision of grace” (Romans 5:17). John tells us that Jesus was “full of grace” and “out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given” (John 1:14, 16). A literal translation of this last phrase is “grace after grace” or “grace upon grace”. W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich, in their Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, suggest the meaning, “grace pours forth in ever new streams.” William Hendriksen, in A Commentary on the Gospel of John, says, “the limitless supply or reservoir indicated by the words his fullness would seem to suggest a limitless outflow: grace upon grace.”

Harnack, in his History of Dogma, asks:

Where in the history of mankind can we find anything resembling this, that men who had eaten and drunk with their Master should glorify Him, not only as the Revealer of God, but as the Prince of Life, as the Redeemer and Judge of the world, as the living power of its existence, and that a choir of Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish, should along with them immediately confess that out of the fullness of this one man they have received grace for grace?

The gospel is described as “the message of his grace” (Acts 14:3). The Scriptures are “the word of his grace” (Acts 20:32). R. C. H. Lenski, in The Interpretation of The Acts of the Apostles, said, “God and the Word of his grace always go together; God lets his grace flow out through that Word.” Paul describes the spread of the gospel simply as “grace … reaching more and more people” (2 Corinthians 4:15). He speaks of understanding the gospel as understanding God’s grace (Colossians 1:6). As the prophets looked forward to the coming of Christ, his sufferings and glory, they spoke of “the grace that was to come” (1 Peter 1:10).

And grace will be the hallmark of God’s new creation. Paul indicates that God’s ultimate purpose is to “show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus” throughout all the ages of eternity (“in the coming ages”—Ephesians 1:7). And it is this grace, that is “to be brought to [us] when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming”, that we are to “set [our] hope on” (1 Peter 1:13).

An old hymn fittingly describes God's grace:

Its streams the whole creation reach,

So plenteous is its store,

Enough for all, enough for each,

Enough for evermore.

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(3) Zondervan Publishing House, 1997, ©.