Grace is the Apostle Paul’s chosen word to explain to others how his life changed on the road to Damascus. He spent many years in Tarsus, his hometown, before being invited to join the public ministries of the Apostles. Imagine him as he was out and about in those earlier years testing words to find out which communicated best his new relationship with God. Luke used grace in his Gospel and Acts, but when you are reading Luke you are getting Paul’s theology since Luke was his protégé. In the other three Gospels, Jesus used the word for mercy.
Grace in Greek is charis, from which we get charity. This is God’s favor offered, his mercy. Call that Grace1. A second form is charisma, meaning receiving the gifts or benefits conferred by the Spirit to individuals. Call this Grace2. These words for grace were used only by Paul, with one exception later by Peter.
Grace1 is well known. We are saved by God’s grace, his mercy, not by our works. Grace2 received little attention in Reformation theology because it implies a revolutionary concept of ministry done by others than clergy.
There are two kinds of Grace2. The more familiar is the variety of ministries provided by all participants so that each has a manifestation of the Spirit contributed for the common good. Easily overlooked is the last verse of 1 Corinthians 12: “But eagerly desire the greater gifts (charismata).” Then comes Paul’s famous chapter on love and also faith and hope. These are human qualities produced by the Spirit, who influences the human spirit.
In his earlier letter to the Galatians, Paul described other qualities that the Spirit influences: the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Over the centuries when the Spirit was neglected, these attributes were regarded as virtues we are to pursue on our own, with guilt for not doing better. Rather they are human qualities that the Spirit influences. We are not on our own. Jesus did not leave us as orphans. Today he sends his Spirit to touch and empower his followers so they experience a higher quality of life in this world, not just in the future one.
Grace1 all by itself is wonderful Good News that the loving God comes to us; we don’t have to earn his favor. Grace2 adds to that Good News that we are not on our own to live a more virtuous life; Christ’s Spirit empowers us to experience a higher quality of life. By Grace1we are saved for eternity. By Grace2 we are empowered to have a higher quality of life in this world.
What does this double Gospel mean for doing effective ministry today? Those today who don’t know Christ are not walking around feeling guilty and thus seeking forgiveness. Few are worried about a better life in heaven. But most are seeking a better quality of life in this world. They are looking for more meaning and closer relationships. They are looking to be changed into someone better with higher purposes.
Grace1 is the starting point for a new relationship with God. But in our post-Christian times, Grace2 delivers the most impact. Christ’s redemption brings us new life with God. In Christ’s Spirit, we have the power to live that new life. Christ’s resurrected power became available in his time. Now he is with his Father beyond this present world. But he is also with us now through his life-changing Spirit. He did not leave us as orphans on our own.
The biblical world for salvation has two meanings. One is to rescue, as Jesus did with his disciples when their boat was sinking in a storm and they cried, Save us. The other meaning is to heal, as Jesus did with so many in his earthly ministry. Same word. We are saved for the next world. We are healed for this world.
The message about being justified and redeemed in Christ, Grace1, lends itself to words and symbols. But words alone do not deliver well the message about being healed and changed in this life, Grace2. That is better conveyed by evidence of lives changed. Stories do that the best, stories told by people today in circumstances we recognize.
Historically, Christian churches defined themselves by their beliefs. In the future, effective churches will have to define by evidence of what they add to this present world.
Does the distinction between Grace1 and Grace2 make sense to you? How is Grace2 (charisma) different from Grace1 (charis)?
I found this exposition on varying meanings and ways to interpret Grace helpful. I resonate with the observation that this post-Christian time isn’t focused on an afterlife or necessarily a relationship with God but rather how to live with purpose and relate well to those around us. So I agree with your conclusion that thriving Christian communities will need to meet that need.
I’m happy to read you recommend that Christian communities not replace one type of Grace with another but simply expand their proclamation of the Gospel more fully embracing both aspects. I believe proclaiming the Grace of God as both Grace(1) and Grace(2) is a little like the old “three legged stool” analogy. To just proclaim Christian beliefs is to ask for a change of mind. To just proclaim Christian relationship to God is to ask for a change in heart. But to proclaim a change in mind, heart and life (healed to live in this world) that’s the more firmly grounded “three legged stool”.
We just need to make sure we proclaim it fully and in order… meaning if we just start with living our lives “healed” we may forget who or how we were healed and again the stool collapses. I believe it was Augustine that said something like “Love God, and do whatever you please…but only in that order.” Even that statement leaves off the basis for that attitude-we can love God because God first loved us… back to grace(1).
I like your three-legged stool analogy. So Grace(1) is head, Grace(2) is heart and Grace(3) is the resulting healed life. That will work. The Spirit is closely associated with healing. Thanks
Hi, Pastor Luecke! I like your phrases at the end such as “healed” and “changed” to describe the new life; Luther called it The Great Transformation! Yes indeed, the Reformation slipped back into scholastic theology even after saying it had obscured the sanctifying Gospel back in the 1400s and 1500s. But there were exceptions such as in Salesia in the 1830s, where there was what some term a revival but what we would call a full reliance on the Spirit and a heightened awareness of his gifts in Word and Sacrament. Anyway I like “healed and changed” better than “higher quality of life,” your phrase in the first part of your article. No offense! I think people today would interpret that to mean (and I almost did, until I read further) that the Spirit brings us material goods and money, the ingredients of a higher quality of life as the world defines it. But, good Bible study and application, sir!
Thanks, Joel. The Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, and faith. That’s the kind of higher quality of life I meant. That’s far removed from material possessions.
Ah, I certainly understand that; communication, though, is a two-way street and it might be edited for clarity, as readers might draw material possessions or “best life now” principles from what you said, akin to Joel Olvatine and the like. Blessings
Hi, Joel. You are highlighting the job of preachers and teachers to interpret the biblical message to their audience. Sin remains basic to appreciate the salvation in the Gospel message. The challenge is to be provocative enough to gain attention. Then interpret the Gospel application.
I have learned to appreciate Joel Ohlstine, like Robert Schuller before him, as doing pre-Evangelism, pointing out the results of Christian behavior without emphasizing sin in all its depth. As I understand it, many of his audience soon recognize the shallowness and move on to more traditional churches to get the full Gospel.
I once heard a Prosperity Gospel preacher on a mission trip to Mexico. He wanted everyone to have as many shirts and cars as he had. He was addressing very poor people. This certainly gets their attention and offers hope. I think most recognized the shallowness, or maybe that is just my hope.
Great read! By Grace 1 we are saved, but without Grace 2 we become the lamp that has been placed under the basket:
Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
James 2:26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
It is only when the Spirit within truly comes to life and flows outwardly from us do we experience the full blessings that God has intended for us. The church’s role in this is to nurture and provide ways for the Spirit to well up within its members to the point where it spills over to one another and out into the community.
Hi, Lee. Right on.
Hello, David-
I appreciated your clarity on the Grace1 Grace2 concepts. As faith is the gift of the Holy Spirit, I presume that this is Grace1 perhaps giving insight to the concept of Grace2.
I think that some will have an issue that grace might be considered as a gradual in the construct (I work around STEM folk here in my library) as if it is a one + two, rather than the volume of grace – continuous grace upon grace, or grace x grace. I do of course believe that God grants gifts, and the fruit of the Spirit which grows within us- though I see that through the volume model rather than stage one stage two. It goes with my understanding of Trinity being not 1+1+1, but 1x1x1. As Grace upon Grace, or the volume of Grace (both giving salvation and having salvation working mercy and gift for the sake of the world) I get the Grace1 and Grace2 model.
This tends to move along the concept that the Blessings of God are not individual, but communal. Being in community- the People of God, the Body of Christ- creates certainly the gift of Grace in Baptism into Christ, which we know both individually and communally.
Thank you for your thoughts!
Interesting observations from someone who thinks with math and engineering insights. The mystery is that 1x1x1=1. Yes, the Spirit does work primarily through the community. I doubt anyone comes to faith without the influence of an other individual or community. Interesting to talk about volume of grace. I love it if you are saying that Grace1 and Grace2 results in greater volume of God’s work in our lives. The volume increases as we grow in the Spirit.
Please please don’t split Grace.
I split grace because Paul does. Charis is mercy. Charisma is gifts of the Spirit. The first is grace given. The second is grace received.