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The apostles took an ordinary Greek word, charis—and that word has been translated into English as grace—but they turned it into a word of very profound theological and spiritual significance. The word all by itself, as it would be used in secular Greek, is "gratifying in manner," or we might say, "that which causes delight." It is the causing of it that gives the word its distinctive usage. The emphasis of the word is on the causes. It has the delight that we receive. The apostles used this word to indicate unearned or unmerited favor. It always has the idea of something completely undeserved, something that we could never have achieved by ourselves. For example, John 1:14 teaches us that God came to earth to live and to die, and that is not something which humanity could manipulate or deserve because we earned it. It was something that He freely did. He gave of Himself. Men did not have this in mind, that God would come here and demand that this occur because we are so good and we need to be saved. God, on His own, decided that He would use this means to introduce Himself into the flow of life on earth and provide man with a Savior. In addition to this, the word also has the idea of beauty contained within it. Its opposite, its antonym, in the Greek is erga, which is translated into the English "work." Now "work" or erga carries the connotation of something deserved because it has been earned by conduct or activity. So you have these two opposites, these two contrasts. Grace on the one side, something that is given and provides delight, favor that is unearned. On the other side, we have erga—work—something that is earned. It is merited because of things that we have done.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Grace Upon Grace
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