Grace (Christianity)

Grace (Christianity)

In Christian theology, grace can be defined as the love and mercy given to us by God because God wants us to have it, not because of anything we have done to earn it. It is understood by Christians to be a spontaneous gift from God to man - "generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved" - that takes the form of divine favor, love and clemency. It is an attribute of God that is most manifest in the salvation of sinners. Christian orthodoxy has taught that the initiative in the relationship of grace between God and an individual is always on the side of God. Once God has reached out in this "first grace," however, each person has the option to accept it or reject it, as well as a responsibility to abide in the Messianic covenant. The Calvinist doctrine of irresistible grace, however, states that a person dead in sin cannot resist the efficacious call of God to salvation, and only individuals whom God has predestined to salvation will receive that call.

The concept of grace has been called "the watershed that divides Catholicism from Protestantism, Calvinism from Arminianism, modern liberalism from conservatism." The Roman Catholic Church holds that grace is infused in a particular way (though by no means the only way) through sacraments, while Protestantism almost universally does not. Lutherans hold that the means of grace are "the gospel in Word and sacraments". That the sacraments are means of grace is also the teaching of John Wesley, who described the Eucharist as "the grand channel whereby the grace of his Spirit was conveyed to the souls of all the children of God". Calvinists emphasize "the utter helplessness of man apart from grace." Arminians understand the grace of God as cooperating with one's free will in order to bring an individual to salvation. According to Evangelical theologian Charles C. Ryrie, modern liberal theology "gives an exaggerated place to the abilities of man to decide his own fate and to effect his own salvation entirely apart from God's grace." He writes that theological conservatives maintain God's grace is necessary for salvation.