What is Grace?
Let’s start with the rabbinic understanding of grace.
We can’t dismiss this stuff. Be real. Imagine you are in the wilderness with Moses and the tribes. If you were one of those close to Moses, one of his immediate family perhaps, don’t you think he would have talked about these things; that within the bounds of what he was allowed to say, he would have shared his experiences of God and the understanding imparted to him by God?
And in the Hebrew tradition this would have been mentally recorded and would have informed their own understanding of God which has come down the ages. We should only dismiss these understandings if and when they contradict scripture.
So what is the rabbinic understanding of Grace? It is …..
1. The tension between mercy and judgement.
2. The sum difference between mercy and judgement.
The rabbis liken the act of creation to a king who had a number of empty vessels. He said to himself that if he filled them with hot water they would crack and if he filled them with icy water they would contract. So he filled them with a mixture of both and they survived.
So also they say Elohim said to Himself at creation …….. “If I create the world only with the attribute of mercy sins will multiply beyond all bounds; if I create it only with the attribute of justice, how can the world last? Behold I will create it with both attributes; would that it might endure!”
That is one form of grace – God’s long suffering nature for the greater good of His purposes.
And Paul with his rabbinic understanding of this challenges us in Romans 6:1
Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid..……
The rabbis also say that God in His foreseeing before He even created man, saw that both righteousness and wickedness would spring from him (created man). He therefore posed Himself a question ……
“If I create him, wickedness will issue from him; if I do not create him, how can righteous men spring from him?”
So what did He do? He removed the way of the wicked from before His eyes and allied Himself with the attribute of mercy and created him.
If compassion was the deciding attribute of creation they say, its victory over stern justice is the reason for the world’s continuance in the face of rampant wickedness.
This is grace they say. And its attribute exceeds that of judgement by a minimum of 500 times. This figure is derived from the scripture …..
Exodus 20:5-6 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
The Hebrew word translated thousands is “alafim” which is literally thousands and therefore must be at least two thousand because it is a plural word.
Retribution is exercised over four generations while mercy extends to at least two thousand generations – a minimum multiple of 500 to 1.
This is the rabbinic understanding of grace in a nutshell! It is the quality and attribute of God’s very nature which causes Him to behave in this way.
This is illustrated by…….
Psalms 103:8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
Here we see that graciousness, which is the application of grace in a person, in this case in the LORD, is slowness to anger and plenteous in mercy.
Now let’s examine the Hebrew Word for grace …..
from 2603; graciousness, i.e. subjective (kindness, favor) or objective (beauty):—favour, grace(-ious), pleasant, precious, (well-)favoured.
Grace is spelled “chet” plus “nun”
Step back a moment …..
The Hebrew language is unique in that it expresses itself both phonetically and pictographically. Of course for day to day use only phonics are used but for a deeper understanding of words and phrases the ancient pictographic values, used cautiously, can give considerable insight.
For example, Yeshua says, “I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.” In Hebrew which is the language this would have been delivered in, that would be, “I am the aleph and the tav.”
By studying the pictograms we see the huge truth embodied in that phrase. Apart from as it were its superficial obvious meaning, it also means that Yeshua is the both the strong leader and the sacrificial ox, while also being the sign of the covenant. These are the deep truths He was proclaiming. Wonderful! Hallelujah!
Bearing that in mind, what does chen mean when examined pictographically? This is wonderful!
The first consonant chet is representative of a tent wall or fence implying separation.
The second consonant nun is representative of a seed and life and activity.
So we see as we speak out the word chen we are moving phonetically through the word from separation to life by the activity of the Holy Spirit.
And now we can read Eph 2:8 with new understanding.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not only that but let us read Romans 5:1-2
Romans 5:1-2 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Hallelujah!
Amen.
