Let’s talk about the “grace” of the Trinity. Grace is an extremely common word in Christianity and it gets tossed around a lot. We know for sure that the gospel (good news) is a “gospel of grace.” Paul uses the term “grace” very frequently in his letters to describe what God had done through Christ. What then, does the “grace of God” really mean?
When Powerful Words Grow Stale
It’s sad that over time certain words lose their power. The word “grace” in the first century caused an explosion of love, joy, and peace, which this universe had never seen before. The word “grace” in the first century was a Greek word called “charis.” It was a commonly used word, which simply meant “kindness.” Thousands of people in the first century came to a realization that the Creator of the Universe was kind! This shook the culture to its core!
Think about how even today there is this subtle (yet not so subtle) belief that God is angry with the world. If not angry, certainly at least disappointed! And if not disappointed, certainly He is distant and doesn’t really care! Oh how far this is from the original truth of the way of Christ!
To make matters worse, the Church, over hundreds of years, has made the word “grace” to be a boring, religious, and irrelevant word. When you look in a Greek Bible dictionary and find the word grace you find two things: The first thing you find is what the word actually meant to the people of the first century (kindness, delight, sweetness).
Second, you find a nice definition that Scholars have put together. It’s usually something like: “Grace is the merciful kindness of God exerting His holy influence upon souls, turning them to Christ, keeping them, strengthening them, and increasing them in the Christian faith.” Now hear me out, that is a great definition that I appreciate and rejoice in. But here’s the thing: That’s a definition that only a Christian would understand. Not many in the world are attracted to a word with all of this Christian lingo attached to it.
In the first century, “grace” was simply a common word associated with kindness and sweetness. It was a word that everybody valued and used for people or things that were actually amazing, kind, nice, sweet, delightful, tasty, and beautiful. It wasn’t a fancy word that only church people used. It was a universal word about something amazingly kind and people discovered that they could use it to describe the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace is the Overflow of God’s Happiness
Now allow me to drop one more bomb on you. The Greek word for grace “charis” was actually a word that came from another root word known as “chairo.” It’s important to understand the root word because the first century hearers of the gospel would have 100% immediately associated the word “grace” with the root word. The words were very close, like a big brother to a little brother. What then did the root word “chairo” mean?
Well, I hate to break it to any Pharisees out there but the word “chairo” meant “to rejoice exceedingly, to be cheerful or happy.” Again, this was a common word to simply describe someone who was happy. And not “kind-of-happy,” but exceedingly happy. The first century listeners of the gospel would hear that God was a God of grace and understand that He was a smiling God who was exceedingly happy.
This, my friends, is what caused all that commotion in the Book of Acts. This is what “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). It was a whole bunch of people who believed that the Living God was exceedingly happy, kind, and sweet. It was a complete disruption to all of the religions, cultures, politics, and systems that ran off of fear and control.
The Apostles were calling the world to repent from their sin and trust in a happy and rejoicing God who showed the world kindness through the blood of Jesus. Some people discovered that this was the greatest news to ever hit planet earth and others thought the Apostles were absolutely crazy and should be either put in a mental institution or killed.
To put it simply: God’s “grace” is His overwhelming happiness overflowing into kindness towards His creation. Just as “chairo” is the root word for “charis,” the happiness of God is the root and foundation of His kindness. This was how the simple Greeks and Jews heard these things when the gospel was first announced. These are the word associations they made in their heads.
Think about it like this: Does someone who is filled with anger naturally show kindness? Absolutely not. People who are generally happy with themselves and with life are more likely to be kind to others. As people made in the image of God, we reflect God’s nature. God’s kindness comes naturally out of His joyful disposition.
From Jesus We Received Grace Upon Grace
All of God’s attributes find their fulfillment in the death and resurrection of Christ. God isn’t just really amazing and yet left us down here to figure it all out on our own. His grace actually did something that saved us forever. It was God’s kindness that sent His Son to the cross to bear our sin and eternally bury it with Him.
Some twisted theologians have taught us that God’s “anger” sent His Son to the cross so that He could pour out all of His wrath on Jesus. These kinds of images completely distort the good news. As we discussed previously, God’s wrath was against the sin, which enslaved us. It was not a punishment on Jesus at the cross but a condemnation and judgment on sin. Jesus literally took our sin upon Himself so that we could actually step out of it and be free (2 Corinthians 5:21). The Father and Son were united in Their grace towards humanity and therefore also united in Their wrath that would destroy sin and set us free.
It was because “God so loved” the world that He sent Jesus to the cross. Not because God was so angry with the world. It’s not the fear of punishment (1 John 4:18), but His kindness that leads humanity to repentance (Romans 2:4). God’s loving-kindness destroyed sin for us in the person of His Son. This is the revelation that set the world on fire and upset the Roman Empire and led to great persecution. Emperors (as well as some pastors 😉 ) don’t particularly like a happy and kind God. It somewhat upsets the status quo. It is then that people sometimes get their heads cut off (or kicked off the ministry team and black-listed 😉 ).
Remember, Christ’s mission was not only to destroy our sin and raise us to new life, but it was also to “make the Father known.” (John 17:26) The cross reveals what the living God is like. The cross reveals the unconditional love of God for the whole world. As humanity killed God’s own Son, the Son said, “Father, forgive them.” The living Trinity of happiness, joy, and kindness, showed the universe that They are loving and kind in spite of humanity’s wickedness.
Much of the New Testament begins with “Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to the saints in…” Get beyond the stale images that are commonplace in today’s church and see what the first century audience saw: Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace…kindness…sweetness…rejoicing exceedingly…happy… the living God…the Creator of the universe….kind, sweet, exceedingly happy….forgave all my sins…gave me new life through His Son’s blood….
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