Someone wrote me asking about things I have written about grace. Here was my response:

1. The theory of living out “grace.”

First, grace is a made up word. The Greek word charis (pronounced Ka-rees) sounds like grace. “Grace” is a transliteration, a word that is simply a foreign word brought into English with the same or similar pronunciation regardless of actual meaning. Another example is “baptize.” It comes from the Greek baptizo. We did not translate it. If we did, we would read “immerse” or “soak.” (Baptizo does not always mean immersion, but it always means to completely soak. Waves baptize a beach in Greek.) Angelos is another example. It means “messenger,” but rather than translate it accurately, we have simply brought the Greek word into English as is.

So, charis means favor, as in a favorable feeling or attitude towards or a relationship with someone. Charisma, often translated “spiritual gift,” in the Bible, is a gift of favor, so you can translate it favor as well because in English “favor” is both a verb and a noun. So you can favor (verb) one employee over another, or you can do a favor (noun) for someone.

Thus, when we are saved by favor through faith, God chooses to favor us because we have believed that Jesus is the Son of God. There are all kinds of benefits God gives to us and does to us when we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but all of them can be summed up under “his favor.” So, Romans 6:14 says that sin will not have dominion over us because we are not under law but under favor. This means that God has done us the favor, through the death of Christ, of condemning sin in the flesh (Rom. 8:3) and bringing the body of sin to nothing (Rom. 6:6).

Everything he has done and is doing for us is out of his favor towards us. In a real sense, we, as followers of Jesus the Son of God, are his favorites. He does things for us that he does for no one else because it is following Jesus that brings you into God’s favor (makes you his favor-ite).

2. The practicality of living out favor

In my experience, this is really complicated. The easy part is that when someone makes the decision to follow Jesus, sealing it immediately or soon by being buried with Christ in water and then raised from death and burial to the new life in Christ (Rom. 6:3-4), things change. When you enter God’s favor, things change. That simply happens. That part is easy. In his favor, he begins teaching you to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously, and godly (Tit. 2:11-12).

A good picture is 2 Peter 1:3-5. You are immediately equipped with everything you need for life and godliness (v. 3). Then Peter tells us we can become more and more like God (“a partaker of his divine nature”) if we take advantage of his “great and precious promises” (v. 4). Then we begin to add virtue to our faith (v. 5). This simply means that the first thing we do as believers is to start living as virtuously as we can. The next couple verses tell us how to progress from there. Add knowledge (learn how God wants you to live) and self-control (do what you learn) and perseverance (don’t give up). In my opinion, the next three–godliness, brotherly kindness, and love–are the fruit of learning, obeying, and persevering in obedience (cf. Rom. 2:7; Gal. 6:9).

Romans 7 describes the terrible state of a sin-enslaved human living under the law. We can live that even as Christians if we don’t live by favor.

Romans 8:1-13 describe the fact that God has destroyed that “sin in me” that caused us to sin under the law in Romans 7. Now, we can walk by the Spirit, yielding our members to him as servants of God (Rom. 6 & 8).

A lot of this is about renewing our minds (Rom. 6:11; 8:5-8; 12:1-2). Believe what God says about you and give yourself to obedience in trembling and fear BECAUSE YOU KNOW that God is at work in you both to will (want to) and do his good pleasure (Php. 2:12-13).

If we will give God full effort and wholehearted repentance when we fail, we will find God giving us his presence, his peace, his joy, and “everything we need for life and godliness.”

To me, this makes Hebrews 4:16 a dream verse: “Let us come BOLDLY to the throne of FAVOR so that we can find mercy (forgiveness) and FAVOR (all God’s kindness and benefits) to HELP IN TIME OF NEED.”

Going to God as one of his favorites time and time again, learning who we are and who he is, leaving condemnation behind (we’re not condemned; we’re favor-ites; Rom. 8:1), we can walk in heavenly power and fellowship, being transformed from glory to glory into the image of God, something accomplished not by our effort, though we must give effort to pursuing God and his interests (his kingdom), but by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18).

I hope that helps. I feel like God helped me write this.