The special use, however, of xt^P" in NT is in reference to the mind of God as manifested towards sinners, His redemptive mere}', whereby He grants pariion to ollences, and bids those who have gone astray return and accept His gift of salvation and everlasting life. It is x<ip'S ^°" 6eov, Ko .5", 1 Co lu'", 2 Co 6' 8', and other pa.ssages ; in Tit 2" the phrase is expanded into ^ xt^'p'S '■oO SeoO ij (Tujnjpios ; in 2 Ti 2' into ^ Xf'P" V i'' Xpim^ as manifested in and through Christ, whence, by a natural transference, it becomes ij x^P" 'roO Kvpiov T)ij.Civ XpiUToO, as in the above-mentioned salutations, and linally establishes itself as a well-understood expression, able to stand alone without further exjilanation, as in the i] x^P" of Ro 5"- ™. It is in this connexion that the full meaning of X"P" 's brought out as involving spontaneous favour. Its fundamental thought is that the benefit conferred is recognized by giver and receiver alike as not due ; it is that to which the receiver has no right, which has not been earned, or perhaps desen-ed, but wliicli the giver freely, out of pure goodness, bestows. This spontaneous character, along with the niore or less direct reference to the pleasure or joi/ either designed or experienced, — which is indeed suggested by the connexion of the word with xo-tpei", ' to rejoice,' — is always implied, and, singularly enour;h, comes out more clearly in the scriptural tli.an in the classical use of the term. It has been justly remarked that ' it depended upon Christianity to realize its full import, and to elevate it to its rightful sphere' (Cremer). Thus (card
On the distinctive meaning of lD!J,cf.W. E. Smith, Prophett^, 160 f., 460 f.
Xo'pii' is contrasted with Kara 6(pel\7jfta, Ko 4', while Xopij is cimlra^ted with (pya, l{o IP, and with rdfiot Jn I'", Ro 4'" 6'* ", Gal 5" ■•.
From signifying the disposition and design to bring about the salvation of men, xop" comes to bo used of the power or intluencc by which this purpose is executed, Ac 18'-'', 2 Co 4'* (i', 2 Th 1'-', and then further of the results, general and spceilic, of that action. Thus it stands for the spiritual state of those who have come under tlie power ot divine grace, Ko 5-, 2Ti 2', 1 V o'-, 2 P 3"" ; and for the evidences or tokens of such experience, as when the alms contributed by the Christian Churches are so designated, 1 Co 16', 2 Co 8"- '■', or the sum of earthly blessings (irScra x^P's, 2 Co !C), or the various powers and gifts manifested by Christians (in the striking phrase iroidX?; xi^P's. 1 P 4'"), or the power and equipment for the exercise of the apostolic ollice, Ro P 12-'-' 15", 1 Co 3'", Gal 2», Eph 3^-'. .M the same time x^P'^ does not ap]iear to be emiiloj-ed in NT for the act or gift apart from that reference to the pleasure or benefit conveyed by it, which we have already noted. The word for gift in itself is S^pov or Sapid. Hence it ha-s been pointed out that ' SiSbvat Xf^P'" in Scripture must not be confounded with the same expression in profane Greek, where it means to perform an act of kindness ; in Scrip- ture it sijjiiifies " to give grace," " to cause grace to be experienced" ; see Eph 4', 1 P5», Ja4'>, Ro 120, 1 Co P, 2 Co 6' 8> (cf. Ac 1 r^) '—Cremer. The gift which enables the recipient to be in his turn a source of pleasure or profit to others is more fre- quently xtip'^M" ; where x^ip'S 'ind x^-P'-'^l'^ ajiproxi- mate in signification, it will usually be found that the former is more general, — as, e.g., when x^P" ToD Beou is used by St. Paul in reference to his office, it applies to the whole of his ministry, rather than to specific equipments for it. Einally, the use of x''P" for ' thanks,' the correlative of favour, — the 'return favour,' as it were, — illus- trates the iiroeess of growth and transference in the use of the word whicii we have so far traced.
The teaching of the Bible as to grace cannot, however, he exhausted by the analysis, however minute, of any one word or expression. Its funda- mental implication of a kind and merciful dis- position, manilesting itself in acts of unmerited goodness, especially towards the sinful and erring, brings grace as one of the divine attributes into close relation with others, and the revelation of it may, it is obvious, be even more frequent in act than in word, conveyed therefore rather by de- scription than direct exprcL^sion. Not in declara- tions merely, but in the whole series of the divine dealings with mankind, grace is exhibited. The whole biV)lical history might be claimed as a record of its manifestation. It thus takes different forms, and includes a wide area of operation. It is allied to the gvodne.is which God shows to all His crea- tures, and which the Psalms so frequently celebrate — 33' 119"^ 14.5, etc.; to the compassion which has as its objects the needy and unfortunate, Ps 25' 103», Lk 1", 2 Co P ; to the long-suffering which bears with the unthankful and the evil. Ex 34°, Ro 9'^ ; to the patiente which defers as long as possible the punishment of sin, Ps 145', Ro 2'. It belongs therefore to the circle of divine attributes, the keynote of which is Love. In all the phases of what we have already seen to be its liighly complex significance, — whether as mercy and favour in general, or as the manifestations of God's goodwill in the form of temporal or spiritual advantages, or as His disposition to pardon the sinner, or His redemptive scheme as a whole, or the influences by which souls are turned to Christ, kept, strengthened, and increased in faith and love, and impelled to the exercise of Christian virtues,— in all of these, grace implies that God overcomes,