What is Grace? - Grace and our salvation
Introduction:
- The word "Grace" is very important word in our lives as Christians
- "Grace" generally refers to a free gift or courteous goodwill
- The word "Grace" comes from being "graced" with something, or something being bestowed on you or given to you
- i.e. The teacher graced me by allowing me to re-take my exam
- In Christianity, "Grace" refers to a free divine gift or divine contribution (The divine role in the life of man)
- "Grace" simply means a divine help that is sent to us
- "Grace" is a free gift we received from God, It is like a magnetic field that surrounds us
- Any gifts or talents we have are considered "grace" that we received from God
- "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: " Romans 12:6
- Everything we do in our lives and even our salvation is connected with God's grace.
Examples of "graces" in our life:
- The first grace we received is the grace of "being" ... existence
- Another grace is being created in the image and likeness of God
- Having a family is a grace from God
- The food on table and the drink in our cup are considered from God's grace
- Therefore whenever something good happens in our lives we say by "God's grace"
- I arrived from my travel
- I passed the exam
- I was sick and now I am healed
- Even in our greetings we say "peace and grace"
- We are surrounded by God's grace every second of our lives
- We live in the covenant of grace
Grace and our Salvation
- In the beginning
- When God created Adam and Eve, He surrounded them by His grace.
- Describe their initial state, being like children
- God's grace covered them
- As a result of Adam's sin, Adam and Eve lost God's grace, hence they felt naked
- Describe their state after the sin being exposed to corruption and sin
- This state continued throughout the Old Testament
- People longed and desired for God's grace and they could not find it
- The righteous people wanted to live righteously and overcome sin but they were not capable of doing so without God's grace
- Then the Lord gave the law through Moses
- The Law did not help but on the contrary showed that the individuals are even more transgressors "sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful" Romans 7:13
- Even though the law was good, it revealed how sinful man is.
- Therefore, people needed divine intervention - righteousness became impossible to achieve without an aid
- When God created Adam and Eve, He surrounded them by His grace.
- In the New Testament
- Now comes the new testament - St John in his gospel says
el"Fornamosthebelawmosawaso3tagiven crucifixionthrough-Moses,resurrectionbut-gracegivingandustruthacamenewthroughlifeJesus Christ."- The beginning of the grace of the new testament is the incarnation
Because we needed a divine intervention - the Lord was incarnate- Following the incarnation, the whole economy of salvation is a grace from our Lord Jesus, His Crucifixion, His Resurrections, His Ascension, blessing and renewing our nature
- Righteousness is now attainable - However, not by ourselves but with God's grace
- We live in the covenant of grace
- Now comes the new testament - St John in his gospel says
How are we saved? (Grace and works)
- The points under this title can be found in these two articles:
- https://www.suscopts.org/messages/lectures/soterlecture4.pdf
- https://www.suscopts.org/messages/lectures/soterlecture11.pdf
- Some people thought that God
doesdis everything for us to be saved so we do not need to work - Some people thought that man
mustcandoattainall the workrighteousness without depending on God in anything (Pelagianism) TheInOrthodoxOrthodoxy,waysalvation is a collaboration between God and man. God gives grace and man responds to this grace andworkdoes good works- St Augustine said “God created us without us: but He did not will to save us without us”
WhereBiblical do we get grace?examples:
"ForThetheWarlawwithwas given through Moses,butgrace and truth came through Jesus Christ." John 1:17We recieve grace on a personal level and on a church levelEverything that happens in the Church (storage of grace)Amalek- The
churchMiraclehasof Feeding theauthority to despense to us God's grace - baptism The grace of baptism - takes us to the grace of myron (temple of the holy spiritRepentance and confession - getting rid of sinsNo salvation outside of the churchChurch sacraments - gracesNo one can come to the sacraments without repentancee -and without faithOn a personal level - God gives according to the need - my grace is suffesient to youI didn't do anything to recieve any of these graces by my role is to use them and to bring fruitEach person's response to the sacrament is differentMultitudes
Faith - prayer - humility (almotawade3oon yagedon ne3ma - nazar ila eteda3 amato - momtale2a ne3ma
Grace and our salvation
In anything there is a divine work and there is a human workIn salvationThe Divine work is God's desire for us to be savedThe human work is us accepting His economy
Without the Blood of Christ - no effort will be countedTo be worthy of this blood we need, we need faith, acceptance, doing the commandments, bapotism, mayroun , communion, etc"being justified[g]freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus romans 3:24incarnation is a free gift - grace
What is grace?
Grace is sent to those who are weak and strengthens them, and those who are strong to increase their strengthGrace leads to repentance - encourages us to attain virtues
Biblical examples:
Amalik WarThe miracle of feeding the multitudes