grace, in Christian theology, the spontaneous, unmerited gift of the divine favour in the salvation of sinners, and the divine influence operating in man for his regeneration and sanctification. The English term is the usual translation for the Greek charis, which occurs in the New Testament about 150 times (two-thirds of these in writings attributed to Paul). Although the word must sometimes be translated in other ways, the fundamental meaning in the New Testament and in subsequent theological usage is that contained in the Letter of Paul to Titus: “For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men” (2:11). From the time of the early church, Christian theologians have developed and clarified the biblical concept of grace.
The word grace is the central subject of three great theological controversies: (1) that of the nature of human depravity and regeneration (see Pelagianism), (2) that of the relation between grace and free will (see also predestination; Arminianism), and (3) that of the “means of grace” between Catholics and Protestants, i.e., whether the efficacy of the sacraments as channels of the divine grace is dependent on good works performed or dependent on the faith of the recipient.
Christian orthodoxy has taught that the initiative in the relationship of grace between God and man is always on the side of God. Once God has granted this “first grace,” however, man does have a response to give and a responsibility for the continuance of the relationship. Although the ideas of grace and of merit are mutually exclusive, neither Augustine nor the Protestant defenders of the principle of justification by “grace alone” could avoid the question of reward of merit in the relationship of grace. In fact, some passages of the New Testament seem to use charis for “reward.” The Roman Catholic theology of grace stresses the habitual character of the life created by the gift of grace and therefore ascribes merit to obedience to the law of God; classical Protestantism spoke of a cooperating grace after conversion as a way of including man’s activity in the life of grace, but it avoided language that would suggest that man earns something by his obedience in grace.
Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and some Protestants agree that grace is conferred through the sacraments, “the means of grace.” Reformed and Free Church Protestantism, however, has not bound grace as closely to the sacraments as have Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans.
Baptists speak of ordinances rather than of sacraments and —as do evangelical Christians and those in the Reformed and Free Church traditions generally—insist that participation in grace occurs on the occasion of personal faith and not at all by sacramental observance.