What is God's grace
The Greeks, under voluntary undeserved patronage, accepted karis, charisma; the apostles borrowed this word to designate a gift from the Creator, expressing to them undeserved mercy from the Lord. Karis cannot be earned by one's good deeds; it is a gift from God, given to Christians by the great mercy of the Creator.
If you think deeply, the manifestation of the Lord’s presence in the lives of Christians, admission to the Sacraments, protection and patronage of the Almighty is that gift of grace, for the acceptance of which you need so little and so incredibly much, you need faith.
God's grace is a kind of elusive force that the Almighty directs to a Christian
Many people, not understanding the very essence of God’s grace, try to work all their lives, trying to earn what has already been given to them, but do not know how to take the great promise due to their unbelief or ignorance.
The Apostle Paul in Romans 11:6 says that grace is not charisma if it is given by works. Every Christian who does not understand the great mercy of the Creator tries to earn the right to eternal life by deeds, although this was given by God from the very beginning free of charge, free of charge!
Jesus said that He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6), and whoever receives this automatically receives the gift of salvation, for it is a gift. What do you need to receive a gift? Nothing but recognition of the One who gives this gift. In Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul explains that faith alone is sufficient to receive grace freely, for if we could earn it or deserve it, then we could boast in the reward, but we have received the gift.
The gracious touch of the Lord can be compared to an invisible force directed by the Creator to a Christian. The devil has placed his snares of fear, unbelief, uncertainty, and vices everywhere, but the Lord covers believers with his protection, a cover of security, and the power to resist sin. When adherents of the true religion find themselves in life's problems, they feel the charisma of the presence of the Creator and Savior through the breath of the Holy Spirit, peace and tranquility come to their souls.
Important! A Christian who receives a good gift from the Lord is filled with His power, but at the same time remains a person filled with grace, but not with God.
The essence of the concept
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In Orthodoxy, grace is a fairly broad concept. In church dogma, it is understood as certain actions of the Almighty directed towards a person. Christian literature notes that grace demonstrates God's mercy and love for his creatures. A person can feel this mercy and love in the form of an active and living force that helps to be reborn after heavy blows of fate. This force can be saving a person, illuminating the path before him.
In general, grace can be boiled down to a few basic concepts.
- This is Divine uncreated power.
- Grace descends on a person through the Holy Spirit.
- The possibility of Grace for people appeared exclusively thanks to the feat of the Savior, who atoned for the sins of mankind.
- Human nature does not undergo any changes from the descent of God’s grace, but is capable of changing radically. After all, a person begins to be transformed by the action of the Holy Spirit.
This phrase appears repeatedly in Holy Scripture. Often under synonymous concepts: “gift of the Holy Spirit”, “gift of grace”. All these influences have an individual character and a mystical nature. The grace of the Holy Spirit is given in a special way in church sacraments. Mentioning it in prayer, the clergyman notes that it helps a person to improve, relieves diseases, and transforms the entire nature of a person.
The Power of Grace
Every believer can check whether he has the power of charisma by analyzing his life, behavior, and relationships with other people based on their fruits.
If a person does not have faith and the gift of grace, he will constantly be stressed and nervous, which means that in this case the door is open to illness and family troubles. It is impossible to walk alone against the hurricane wind of the current world, but everything changes when the Savior takes you by the hand.
Only the Lord is able to fill the soul of a believer with His mercy
Jesus will never force it, every person should allow God to touch his soul, filling it with peace, love, forgiveness and patience, these are also the fruits.
When a Christian is filled with charisma, he leaves sins, because it is impossible to remain dirty around the holy Teacher; His purity flows into a trusting, open Christian soul.
A person filled with the gift of grace has no questions about smoking, deception, anger, civil marriage, abortion or anything unclean; the conscience will guide a Christian covered with God’s love past all this to knowledge of the will of the Lord.
Of course, any person can fall and fall into temptation, but a Christian who has known the gracious touch of the Creator will be tormented by conscience, the feeling of touching dirt. He will go to confession, repent, take communion and will continue to walk along the path of purity under the cover of the gracious power of the Almighty.
Important! One of the blessed fruits is tenderness, which will never stoop to condemnation and exaltation, for it understands that all purity is bestowed by the Creator.
There is no need to knock on an open heart
From the realization that God is always nearby and not only to support in times of need, joyful peace comes, because a person begins to feel that he has the closest and most reliable friend. It manifests itself in every moment of everyday life, in every little thing, even seemingly unnoticeable. Not a single detail passes by the gaze of the Almighty. That is why, with sincere faith, everything happens with God’s help, and not solely by one’s own strength. The biblical church is trying to convey this truth to all the laity. Grace, according to its churchmen, is deserved by everyone. To gain access to it, you just need to enjoy every moment of your life and not rely only on your own strength.
To whom does God's grace descend?
In Romans chapter 3, the Apostle Paul emphasizes that before the Almighty there is none who is without sin. Everyone sins, and no one has the glory of God, but the great Father loved people so much that he sent His Son so that everyone who believes in Him would be redeemed by grace, freely!
To receive a great gift, you need to fulfill one condition, to become a child of the Lord, to have faith in Christ. Then the law, for the observance of which it was necessary to make efforts, ceases to operate, charisma comes into force, granting salvation and eternal life for free.
The grace of God is an action aimed at saving a person
Keeping all the commandments of the law, spending days in fasting and prayer, without faith in the saving Blood of Christ it is impossible to become righteous before the Creator.
Christians live a righteous life before the Lord, for Jesus is the guide, the guide through the Holy Spirit, His presence in the life of the righteous is a gift. The source of our salvation is the Creator, the Almighty Lord, and there is no human merit in it, it is a gift from Heaven.
What blocks the path to God?
There are three ways to demean your faith and thereby distance yourself from God: pride, self-pity and complaints. Pride manifests itself in the fact that a person ascribes to himself those merits that were awarded by the grace of the Heavenly Father. In this way the sinner “robs” God of glory. The proud man considers himself independent, but he can truly do nothing without Christ. Having visited a biblical church, in which grace is felt as a single stream, every layman will hear from a mentor that the sinfulness of such a plan destroys a person’s soul.
Self-pity can be classified as idolatry. A person, all the time reflecting on his miserable fate, in fact, worships only himself. His thoughts: “What about me?” - lead to deep misconceptions. True philanthropy is manifested less and less in him. He loses spiritual strength, since pity contributes to this.
Complaining is the first way to forget about gratitude to the Heavenly Father. By complaining, a person belittles everything that the Supreme One has done for him, is doing and will do. Having carefully studied law and grace, a person understands that God needs to be grateful even for small gifts. He also knows better what is right for a person and what is wrong, what he needs more.
What happens when Divine energy and the Holy Spirit descend on a person
When approaching the Creator, through His touching the heart, soul, and spirit of a Christian, he is filled with perfection in human understanding. A person’s life values, character, perception of trouble and reaction to aggression and injustice change.
The closer a believer feels to the throne of God, the brighter the Lord’s fire burns in him, the brighter his thoughts; in this saving process, the transformation of man’s unity with the Creator occurs. The acquisition of the gift of grace can be carried out in the presence of icons or holy relics, but the emphasis is not on the object itself, but on the faith with which a person is filled; the power of God’s anointing depends on the internal state.
Important! The presence of icons or relics helps the prayer book to tune into God's presence, focusing on the visible image. With the descent of the Lord's charisma in the life of a Christian, everything changes, prayer causes tenderness and a surge of strength, the presence of God in the heart charges with the energy of love.
Many believers often ask the question that if we are under grace, then we do not need to keep the law and the 10 commandments. The answer is clear: being under God’s charisma, it will never even occur to you to break at least one of the commandments, so as not to upset the Creator, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
About the Commandments of God:
- Commandment to respect parents
- Commandment: “Do not remember the name of the Lord in vanity”
- Commandment “Do not make yourself an idol”
Conversation between Seraphim of Sarov and landowner Motovilov
Photo: Rusorel.info
In the recording of this conversation, this concept appears more than 50 times; it is believed that this is the most complete and detailed teaching about grace.
Seraphim claims that any good deed that is done for the sake of the Savior gives God's Grace. But it manifests itself most strongly after prayer. Saying “The Kingdom of God is within you,” Christ means by the “Kingdom of God” the grace-filled state of a person in which he resides, leading a righteous life. According to Seraphim of Sarov, this is one of the ways to become closer to the Almighty.
The saint emphasizes another important nuance. A person receives grace from the Almighty, but then loses it because he is unable to retain it. And this needs to be done, we need to increase and accumulate this grace.
Who remains without Christ
(Gal 5:4) You, who justify yourselves by the law, are left without Christ, you have fallen from grace.
“We were left without Christ” - who was left without Christ? Who are we talking about? Those who sin? No. Many pastors teach this: “If you have sin in your life, you will be left without Christ.” We are all against sin. We are all for the greatest good for man, and this good is to gain Christ. Who remains without Christ? Those who justify themselves by law remain without Christ.
What happened to them? They have fallen from grace. Who has fallen from grace? One who justifies himself by law (deeds).
If you have fallen away, then grace is a kind of height from which you can fall. If they fall away from it, then grace is above the law. This means that when a Christian returns to the law, then he falls away from grace, from God’s favor. It is worth noting that a person falls from grace not when he sins, but when he tries to keep the law in order to be righteous. It is scary to be left without Christ.
We want Christ to manifest Himself and act in areas of our lives where there is some kind of struggle. We want to see the manifestation of God's healing, God's provision, and the freedom from addiction that God has promised us.
Falling from grace does not mean beginning to sin. Long before a person begins to sin, he falls from grace.
Teachings of hesychasm
The Byzantine theologian and mystic of the 14th century, Gregory Palamas, in his teaching of hesychasm, revealed the essence of grace. Hesychasm (translated from ancient Greek as “solitude, tranquility”) is a mystical worldview in Christianity, which forms the basis of asceticism in Orthodoxy.
It takes the form of a polemic with the monk Barlaam of Calabria about the Light of Tabor. According to the Gospel texts, at the moment of the transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor, he was transformed in front of his companions, his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white like light.
Supporters of hesychasm believed that by praying, they come to direct communication with God, when a person sees the Divine light and feels grace in the soul. This light is a visual expression of the power of God, or Divine energy, his action in the created world, that is, the material world created by him. While this light itself is uncreated.
Is it a miracle?
The ceremony itself is truly beautiful - the appearance of the Fire is preceded by flashes of light and lightning in the temple itself, in addition to the fire, dew descends on the church, and believers can wait for several hours for the descent of the Fire, pray, and ask the Lord for forgiveness. And when the Fire is finally lit, the people in the temple rejoice, have fun, congratulate each other, transfer the fire from the temple to the square, then it is taken to different countries and different continents. For the removal of the Holy Fire symbolizes the exit from the Tomb of the true Light, that is, the risen Lord.
Of course, there are many conflicting theories and hypotheses about this. The most common one is that the clergy themselves light the fire and present it as a miracle.
They say that the Patriarch of Jerusalem allegedly secretly carries a lighter with him. There are rumors that a lamp with a ready fire was hidden in the temple a week before Easter, and this is not a miracle at all. Or, if you believe some legends, this secret lamp miraculously lit up somewhere in the 5th century, and since then the clergy have kept it burning. In other words, the Holy Fire did miraculously descend, but only once.
One of the latest versions is an interview with a representative of the Armenian Patriarchate, Samuil Agoyan, who said that there is nothing supernatural in the Holy Fire and it is lit from a special oil lamp. For a long time they have been trying to expose the miracle; at all times it has been subject to criticism, many have tried to prove the artificial origin of fire. For example, Pope Gregory IX in 1238 issued a statement of disagreement regarding the Holy Fire. Some Arabs tried to prove this fact, but without success. Islamic historian Biruni described a case when the Arab leadership ordered all the wicks in the temple to be replaced with copper wire, in the hope that the lamps would not light up and a miracle would not happen. But the fire still went down and even the copper wire caught fire.
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Representatives of the Ottoman Empire even conducted searches of the Edicule and the entire Temple complex. Catholics repeatedly initiated a search of the Patriarch's pockets for items from which fire could be made. Until now, the entire process is controlled by the police and clergy of different faiths and different countries. But the miracle remained a miracle, despite what was happening in front of tens of thousands of people, including scientists. No one has been able to prove that fire is produced using any devices, means or substances.
Earthly work and grace
The Word of God says that something can be given to a person by goodness, as a gift from above. This can come to someone who, at first glance, according to earthly laws, absolutely does not deserve it, who has done nothing for this. We must understand that grace and work cannot coexist at the same time. Because it is difficult for Christians to understand and accept this fact, instead of enjoying what they already have and using it to comprehend the full depth of their relationship with God, they always try to get through work what they already have .
It is believed that grace is what God gave for the best of heaven and thereby saved the worst of earth. Therefore, everyone can count on it, but this does not mean that you can no longer do anything, not improve, not honor the Almighty. He bestows strength first of all on those who believe in him with all their hearts, then every day of a person will pass in joy. The main thing is to trust in his goodness and wisdom.
Can grace be called God, Divinity?
In addition to the fact that the Church distinguishes between essence and persons in God, it also recognizes the reality of the manifestation of God’s essence. In principle, any entity manifests itself in one form or another: by definition, there is no unmanifestable entity, because the very existence of an entity is already its manifestation. And of course, the essence of Him who is (Ex. 3:14) in the most precise and exclusive meaning of this word is constantly manifested.
The manifestation of the essence of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is called in Orthodox Dogmatics Divine energy or Divine action. Due to the fact that Divine energy is inseparable from essence, and essence is inseparable from its manifestation or energy, it is called God (see for more details: What is God's grace, and how is it “depicted” on Orthodox icons?; Introduction to concepts: “essence” , “hypostasis”, “accident”).
Likewise, the manifestation or action of the nature of fire - the incandescent, radiant movement of gases, contemplated in the form of tongues - we call not only combustion, but also fire. Just as when we touch fire, we participate not in its essence, but in its action (after all, it is the action that burns), so participation in the Divine manifestation or energy, participation in grace, is participation in God Himself.
In this regard, the grace of God is often called the same as the third Person of the Holy Trinity - the Holy Spirit, although it can also be designated by a more detailed expression: the grace of the Holy Spirit or the grace of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is called the Holy Spirit because Divine action always flows from the Father through the Son and is manifested in the Holy Spirit.
Difference from happiness
People often wonder what is the difference between happiness and grace? However, some of them believe that this is one and the same thing. However, there is a very significant difference between these two concepts. Having examined the question of grace in detail, let us turn to the concept of happiness.
This phenomenon of human life is studied in many fields of knowledge, for example, in philosophy, psychology, sociology and religion. Let's consider it in a general sense. According to the dictionary definition, happiness is:
- A state inherent in the human psyche, expressed in the highest satisfaction with life circumstances, a feeling of deep joy and contentment. And also the manifestation of this feeling outside.
- The luck that accompanies a person, the benefit he receives.
Among the synonyms given for the word “happiness” are success, bliss, well-being, grace. As we see, here happiness is correlated with grace.
The concept of “Grace of God” in Holy Scripture
The word “grace” is found very often in the Holy Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, and is used in various senses:
- sometimes means favor, favor, favor, mercy (Gen.6:8; Eccl.9:11; Esther.2:15, 8:5);
- sometimes a gift, a good, every good, every gift that God bestows on His creatures, without any merit on their part (1 Pet. 5:10; Rom. 11:6; Zech. 12:10), and natural gifts with which all things are filled earth (Ps. 83:12, 146:8-9; Acts 14:15-17, 17:25; James 1:17) and the supernatural, extraordinary gifts of God that are given by God to various members of the church (1 Cor. 12: 4-11; Rom.12:6; Eph.4:7-8);
- sometimes means the whole great work of our redemption and salvation, accomplished by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11), (Titus 3:4-5);
- but grace itself is the saving power of God, which, communicated to us through the merits of Jesus Christ for our sanctification and salvation, revives us into spiritual life and, strengthening and perfecting, accomplishes our sanctification and salvation. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Do not get carried away by different and alien teachings; For it is good to strengthen
Dogmatic definitions about grace
(From the book: “Canons or Book of Rules.” Rules of the Holy Local Councils.
Rules of the Holy Local Council of Carthage (393–419))
125.
It is also determined: if anyone says that the grace of God, by which one is justified in Jesus Christ our Lord, is valid only for the remission of sins already committed, and does not provide additional help so that other sins are not committed, let him be anathema, so how the grace of God not only gives knowledge of what is appropriate to do, but also breathes love into us, so that we can do what we know.
126.
Also, if anyone says that the same grace of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord, helps us only so as not to sin, since by it the knowledge of sins is revealed and appears to us, so that we know what we should seek and what we should avoid, but that it does not give us love and strength to do what we have learned to do: let such be anathema.
For when the Apostle says: reason makes you proud, but love builds up (
1 Cor. 8:1): then it would be very wicked to believe that we have the grace of God to make us proud, but not to build up;
whereas both are the gift of God: and knowledge. what is appropriate to do, and love for the good that is appropriate to do, so that with creative love the mind cannot become arrogant. For as it is written from God: teach man understanding
(Ps. 93:10): so it is also written:
love is from God
(1 John 4:7)
.
127.
It is also determined: if anyone says that the grace of justification was given to us so that we could more conveniently fulfill what is possible by free will through grace, as if we had not accepted the grace of God, we, although with inconvenience, could nevertheless fulfill the Divine commandments without it, - Let such be anathema.
For the Lord did not say about the fruits of the commandments: without Me you can do nothing, but He said: without Me you can do nothing (
John 15:5).
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God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
“Every God-fearing soul is faced with two great feats: the first, to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, because it is impossible for anyone to enter the path of salvation, much less walk along it, if he does not first receive the mysterious grace of the All-Holy Spirit; the second, more difficult, so as not to lose this grace, received with much sweat and labor... And this great feat, so as not to lose God’s grace, already received, lies ahead of the soul until our last breath.” Venerable Simeon the New Theologian
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See DIVINE ENERGIES, DIVINE ESSENCE, GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, FRUITS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Varlaam's reasoning
As for Barlaam and his supporters, they believed that contemplation of God was not an Orthodox thing, and ridiculed the position of the hesychasts in which they prayed - sitting, leaning forward. He admitted that the light that shone on Tabor was created to enlighten the apostles, and then disappeared without a trace.
Varlaam reasoned that everything that is visible is created, and since the light on Tabor was visible, it means that it was created. It follows from this that the contemplation that the hesychasts talk about is false; there can be no real communication either with the Almighty or with his energies.
Is communion of grace possible for non-Christians?
Acquiring the grace of salvation is one of the most important goals of Christian life. At the same time, grace contributes to the spiritual transformation and deification of Christians, as a result of which their ability to further acquire grace increases.
Orthodox Christians are given the grace of salvation through the Church Sacraments, during participation in church services, through private prayers (etc.), and finally, at the special discretion of God, for the purposes of general and private Providence.
Both people of other faiths and non-believers are deprived of the opportunity to participate in those grace-filled Gifts that are given exclusively to members of the Church (of course, they are not deprived unconditionally, but only until they join the ranks of Christians).
However, this does not mean that they are completely deprived of the opportunity to partake of Divine grace.
Firstly, saving grace acts on them in a calling manner (this corresponds to the concept of “calling action of Divine grace”). Even before His Passion, the Lord announced: “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Me” (John 12:32).
Let us remember how Saul, the future Apostle Paul, was called into the Church, and he was called when he acted as an ardent persecutor of the Church (Acts 9:1-18). And how could the apostles, if Divine grace had not assisted their preaching, “fill” the Church with (former) pagans?
Secondly, a special beneficial effect on unbelievers and people of other faiths can be exerted through Christian prayers, according to the promise of the Lord: “whatever you ask in prayer with faith, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22).
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According to the teaching of the Church, grace is a supernatural gift of God to man. “All gifts of grace are found on those who are worthy beyond nature,” says St. Mark of Ephesus - and they are different in comparison with the natural gifts that are in us and formed as a result of our efforts. And also, every life of those who live according to God is different in comparison with natural life, being spiritual and God-like.”
Divine grace is uncreated, ungenerated and personal (hypostatic). In the Holy Scriptures, it is often called strength (“...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you” (Acts 1:8), “... the Lord said to me: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”" (2 Cor. 12:9)).
The Holy Fathers call grace “rays of the Divine”, “Divine glory”, “uncreated light”... All three Persons of the Holy Trinity possess the action of Divine grace. “The action of an uncreated essence,” writes St. Cyril of Alexandria, “there is something common, although it is characteristic of each Person.” St. Irenaeus of Lyons, reflecting on the economic manifestation of the Holy Trinity, notes that grace comes from the Father and is communicated through the Son in the Holy Spirit. According to St. Gregory Palamas, grace is “the general energy and Divine power and action of the Trinitarian God.”
The action of Divine grace opens up the possibility of knowing God. “...Without grace, our mind cannot know God,” teaches St. Silouan of Athos, “...each of us can talk about God to the extent that he has known the grace of the Holy Spirit.” The action of Divine grace gives a person the opportunity to fulfill the commandments, salvation and spiritual transformation. “Acting within himself and around himself, a Christian brings his entire personality into his exploits, but he does this, and can do it successfully, only with the continuous assistance of Divine power - grace,” teaches St. Justin Popovich. “There is no thought that a Christian can think in an evangelical way, there is no feeling that he can feel in an evangelical way, there is no deed that he can do in an evangelical way without the gracious help of God.” The action of Divine grace imparts to man the invaluable gift of union with God - deification. In this state of grace, a person, according to the word of St. Macarius the Great, becomes like Christ and becomes higher than the first Adam.
The action of Divine grace is carried out in cooperation (in synergy) with the free will of man. “Theanthropic synergism is a significant difference between Christian activity in the world. Here man will work with God and God will work with man,” explains St. Justin Popovich. -... Man, for his part, expresses his will, and God expresses grace; from their joint action a Christian personality is created.” According to the teachings of St. Macarius the Great, creating a new man, grace acts mysteriously and gradually. Grace tests human will, whether he retains complete love for God, noticing in him agreement with his actions. If in spiritual feat the soul turns out to be well-skilled, without in any way upsetting or offending grace, then it penetrates “to its deepest compositions and thoughts” until the whole soul is embraced by grace.
