Subscribe to Ailbe Newsletters
In the face of this relentless information storm, this is no time for Christians to give up on reading. We need to equip ourselves to weather this information storm, and The Fellowship of Ailbe wants to help.
It's how God views us.
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: “The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”’” Numbers 6.22-26
Grace begins with God
We have said that grace is not merely a good feeling that we get, related somehow to our faith in God. Nor is grace a license to sin, as though grace flows toward sin like water toward a house fire. And grace is not a blank check to forgive everybody who may offend against God or us.
Certainly, grace includes aspects of assurance, joy, long-suffering, and forgiveness. But we can only really understand grace, and what it is unto and for, by beginning with God Himself. For grace is of God, by God, and unto the worship and glory of God. Grace is all about God before it is all about us.
The Old Testament idea of grace is captured in the word, חֶ֫סֶד, chesed, which means goodness or kindness, and is often translated “steadfast love”. Grace is God’s unchanging, unfailing, all-sufficient love. In the New Testament, the word, χάρις, charis, conveys the same idea of grace as a favorable attitude toward someone or something, a disposition of favor and good will.
Grace is thus, in the first instance, a divine disposition of favor. Grace indicates an attitude in God, if we may speak in such terms, which is focused on His creatures in a variety of ways. God’s favorable attitude extends to all His creatures, everything He has made or has allowed to come into being. God looks favorably and kindly upon His creatures, including people, and is disposed toward them for good. We see this throughout Genesis 1, where, as God unfolded His work of creation, He stopped to assess it at every stage, to make sure His good—and ultimately His very good—intentions have been realized. The entrance of sin in the world in Genesis 3 did not alter the disposition of God toward His creatures, although it radically changed their circumstances and prospects.
I suppose most of us realize this brief description of grace as a divine disposition of favor. But to grasp the unfathomable greatness of God’s grace, we need to consider two other aspects of the divine Being.
The aseity of God
Aseity is a term, deriving from the Latin a se, “to” or “in” or “of Himself”, that refers to the fact that God is complete and perfect, lacking nothing, and needing nothing outside Himself. Paul refers to the aseity of God in Acts 17.24 and 25: “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.” Preachers and writers who aver or insinuate that God somehow needs us, needs us to love Him and worship Him, are simply and dangerously wrong.
Because, to be succinct, God does not need you or me. God knows all purpose, meaning, satisfaction, completion, contentment, and joy in and of Himself. He does not need us. He doesn’t even need to look upon us with favor. If we didn’t exist, or the entire vast cosmos never came into being, God would be unaffected and unchanged. He depends on nothing external to Himself for everything that He wants or needs.
So complete and perfect and satisfied in Himself is God, that He is not moved even by our most pure worship or most devoted and sacrificial works. Our worship and devotion to God—which are enabled by His grace, as we shall see—are only what are due to Him, and what enable us, as His image-bearers, to realize the full hope and promise of our existence, as we enter through worship and good works into the Presence, promise, pleasure, and power of God as He is in and unto Himself.
This is the aseity of God. And yet, God, out of the fullness of His joy and goodness, wisdom and power, majesty and compassion, holiness and justice, and His complete self-satisfaction, looks on us His creatures with favor, intending to do us good. Amazing grace!
The transcendence of God
The enormity of grace is also magnified by the transcendence of God. This refers to the great distance that separates us from Him. The New Testament translates Psalm 8.5 as referring to humankind’s being made “a little lower than the angels” (Heb. 2.7) or, as some translations have it, “the heavenly beings”. Even though the word in Hebrew is the same as that for God, this translation is correct. Translations which state that human beings are created “a little lower than God” miss the point entirely.
We are not created “a little lower” than God. We are created infinitely lower than God. We make a mistake in thinking that God is like us, only bigger, better, wiser, more powerful, and so forth (Ps. 50.21). God is not like us. There is nothing in all the vast cosmos like God. He is sui generis among all beings, a Being unique within Himself, completely and entirely separate from all other beings, and altogether beyond their reach or grasp, save for His grace.
Yet because we are created in the image of God, the desire for God persists in the soul of every human person. God would be cruel, putting such a trait in each of our souls, if He did not also provide the means for us to connect with, know, enjoy, delight in, worship, and devote ourselves to God for His glory and our good.
And this is precisely what the grace of God accomplishes. Grace bursts through the veil that separates the uncreated and the created, overcomes the limitations of sinful flesh and the corruption of sinful desires, lavishes the goodness of God upon all His creatures, and floods the souls of His chosen ones with the revelation of His glory and the power that brings salvation.
And all this begins in God, in the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Who together have determined to look down upon us and all creation with a disposition of favor undeserved, unfailing, and incomparable in its scope and benefits.
Search the Scriptures
1. How does the aseity of God make the fact of grace so wonderful?
2. How does the transcendence of God make the fact of grace so amazing?
3. What is our proper response to such amazing and wonderful grace? When should we make this response?
Next steps—Conversation: Share with a Christian friend—in person or by text or email—your response to God’s grace as His disposition of favor toward you.
T. M. Moore
Additional Resources
If you have found this study helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
This part of our study of A Christian Guidebook is adapted from our book, Grace for Your Time of Need. You can order this book by clicking here or download a free PDF by clicking here. And while you’re at it, download the Leader’s Guide for teaching Grace for Your Time of Need by clicking here.
Support for ReVision comes from our faithful and generous God, who moves our readers to share financially in our work. If this article was helpful, please give Him thanks and praise.
And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or you may send your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore
In the face of this relentless information storm, this is no time for Christians to give up on reading. We need to equip ourselves to weather this information storm, and The Fellowship of Ailbe wants to help.