– The word presents in Sacred Scripture, as well as in Portuguese, several meanings: physical or psychic endowments, of the body or soul, which attract the benevolence of others:
Ex 3:21 : I will make this people win the favor of the Egyptians, and when you leave, you will not go empty-handed.
Ps 44,3 : Grace spreads on your lips, because of which God has filled you with eternal blessings.
Pr 1,9 : This will be a crown of grace for your head and a necklace for your neck.
Pr 11:16 : A gracious woman obtains honors, but the industrious achieve fortune.
Pr 31,30 : Grace is deceitful and beauty is vain; the intelligent woman is the one to be praised.
– The term grace can simply indicate physical beauty:
Ps 44,3 : Grace spreads on your lips, because of which God has filled you with eternal blessings.
Eclo 9,8 : Avert your eyes from the elegant woman, do not stare insistently at an unknown beauty.
Pr 31,30 : Grace is deceitful and beauty is vain; the intelligent woman is the one to be praised.
– It can also denote moral goodness and pleasantness:
Ecclesiastes 10:12 : The doctor cuts short a brief illness; so one who is king today will die tomorrow.
Eclo 26,16 : The grace of a careful woman rejoices her husband.
Luke 4:22 : All bore witness to him and marveled at the gracious words that proceeded from his mouth.
– Benevolence itself:
Gen 6:8 : Noah, however, found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Gen 18:3 : If I have found favor in your eyes, do not go on without stopping at your servant’s house.
Gen 30:27 : If I have found grace in your eyes… I know that the Lord has blessed me because of you.
Gen 32:5 : Thus says thy servant Jacob: I dwelt in Laban’s house, where I have been to this day.
Gen 33 :8 : “What does all this encampment that I found mean?” “It is,” said Jacob, “to win my lord’s favor.”
Gen 39:21 : He showed him his kindness and made him win the favor of the head of the prison.
Ex 12:36 : The Lord had won them the favor of the Egyptians, who had granted their request.
Ex 33,12 : And yet you said to me: “I know you by name” and: “You have all my favor”.
Judges 6:17 : If I have found favor in your eyes, prove to me by a sign that it is you who speak to me.
Ps 83:12 : Because the Lord God is our sun and our shield, the Lord gives grace and glory.
Lk 1:30 : The angel said to her: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God”.
Acts 7:46 : He found favor with God and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
– Give thanks in gratitude:
Eph 5:19-20 : Give thanks without ceasing and for all things to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Col 3:15 : Let the peace of Christ triumph in your hearts, for which you were called […] And be thankful.
– Free divine help is grace:
Ps 83:12 : Because the Lord God is our sun and our shield, the Lord gives grace and glory.
Jn 1,16s : We have all received grace upon grace from his fullness.
Rom 11:6 : And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works; otherwise grace would cease to be grace.
1Cor 3:10 : According to the grace God gave me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it.
– Grace is considered a special gift of God:
Ex 34,6-7 : Lord, Lord, compassionate and merciful God, […] who preserves his grace for a thousand generations.
Ps 85,15 : But you, Lord, are a kind and compassionate God; slow to anger, full of mercy and faithfulness.
– It is divine help absolutely free:
Deut 7:7 : It is not because you are more numerous than all other peoples that the Lord has united with you and chosen you.
Deut 8:17 : Do not say in your heart: “My strength and the strength of my arm have acquired all these goods for me”.
Deut 9:4 : After the Lord your God has driven them out from before you, do not say it in your heart.
Ps 83:12 : The Lord gives grace and glory. He does not withhold his goods from those who walk in innocence.
Jn 1,16s : We have all received grace upon grace from his fullness.
Rom 11:6 : And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works; otherwise grace would cease to be grace.
1Cor 3:10 : According to the grace God gave me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it.
– This aid is granted to everyone, especially to those who ask for it:
Mt 7:11 : You know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.
Mt 28:18 : All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
Jn 1:16 : We have all received grace upon grace from his fullness.
Eph 4 :7 : But grace was given to each one of us, according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
1Tm 2,4 : Who wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Titus 2:11 : Indeed, the grace of God, the source of salvation for all men, has appeared.
Heb 4:16 : Let us approach […] the throne of grace, in order to obtain mercy and find the grace of timely help.
Jas 4,6 : God, however, gives more abundant grace.
– It is a gift given out of pure love:
Deut 7,8-9 : But the Lord loves you and wants to keep the oath he swore to your fathers.
Ps 41,9 : May the Lord grant me his grace by day; and at night I will sing, I will praise the God of my life.
Ps 83:12 : The Lord gives grace and glory. He does not withhold his goods from those who walk in innocence.
Rm 11,5-6 : And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works; otherwise grace would cease to be grace.
1Cor 15,10 : But, by the grace of God, I am what I am, and the grace he has given me has not been in vain.
– Grace in God manifests itself as goodness, love, mercy, faithfulness, justice:
Ps 35,8-9 : How precious is your goodness, O God! In the shadow of your wings, the sons of men take refuge.
Ps 62,4 : Because your grace is more precious to me than life, my lips will sing your praises.
– It is necessary:
Ps 126 :1 : If the Lord does not build the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Mt 11:27 : All things have been given to me by my Father; no one knows the Son except the Father.
Lk 18,26s : “Who then can be saved?” Jesus answered, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
Luke 22:32 : But I have prayed for you, that your confidence may not fail; and you, in turn, confirm your brothers.
Jn 6,44s : No one can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
Jo 15,5 : Whoever remains in me and I in him, he bears much fruit; because without me you can do nothing.
– And our personal cooperation with the action of grace should not be lacking:
Mt 25,27-28 : You should then take my money to the bank and, on my return, I would receive with interest what is mine.
1Cor 15,10 : But, by the grace of God, I am what I am, and the grace he has given me has not been in vain.
2Cor 6,1 : As his collaborators, we exhort you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
1Th 5:19 : Do not quench the Spirit.
1Tm 4,14 : Do not neglect the charism that is in you and that was given to you by prophecy.
– In Jesus, gift of the Father, the grace of God was manifested:
Jn 1:17 : For the Law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
John 3:16 : God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish.
Mt 21:37 : Finally, he sent his own son, saying: “They will respect my son”.
Jn 15:13 : Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
Rom 8:32 : He who did not spare his own Son […] how will he not with him also give us all things?
1Jn 4:9: In this the love of God was manifested towards us, that he sent his only Son into the world.
– Indeed in him we have the grace and knowledge of the Father:
Jn 1,14.18 : We have seen his glory, the glory that the only Son receives from his Father, full of grace and truth.
Jn 10:30 : I and the Father are one.
Jn 12:49 : Truly, I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me.
Jn 14,9-10 : I have been with you for so long and you have not known me, Philip! He who has seen me has also seen the Father.
– And he may be said to be the very author of grace:
Mt 26,26-27 : Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to the disciples, saying: “Take and eat, this is my body”.
Jo 6,51-52 : I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.
1Cor 11,24-25 : After giving thanks, he broke it and said: “This is my body, which is given for you”.
– In Christ grace is a gift:
Jn 4:10 : If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me a drink, you would surely ask him yourself.
Rom 3:24 : They are justified freely by his grace; such is the work of redemption, wrought in Jesus Christ.
1Cor 1,29-30 : Thus, no creature will boast before God. It is by his grace that you are in Jesus Christ.
Gal 2:21 : I do not despise the grace of God; but, verily, if justice is obtained by the Law, Christ died in vain.
Eph 2 :8: For freely you were saved through faith. This does not come from your merits, but is a pure gift of God.
– From which no one is excluded:
Rom 5:18 : Thus by a single act of righteousness all men receive justification that gives life.
Rom 10:12 : There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because they all have one Lord, who is rich to all who call on him.
1Cor 1,4-5 : I never cease to thank God for you, for the divine grace given to you in Jesus Christ.
2Cor 5:15 : He died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves.
1Tm 2,4-5 : Who wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
– Not even sinners:
Mt 9,13 : Go and learn what these words mean. […] I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Lk 19:10 : For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.
Rom 5 : But here is a brilliant proof of God’s love for us: when we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1Jn 4 : 10.19: This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son.
– Because salvation is assured to all:
Rom 3:24 : And they are justified freely by his grace; such is the work of redemption, wrought in Jesus Christ.
Rom 4:5 : But whoever believes without any work in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.
Eph 2 :5 : When we were dead in our sins, he gave us life.
2Th 2:16 : Our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through his grace.
Titus 3:7 : So that the justification obtained by his grace may make us, in hope, heirs of eternal life.
1Pt 1:10 : This salvation has been the object of the investigations and meditations of the prophets.
– Abundantly God has poured out his grace upon us:
Eph 1:3-10 : Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who from heaven has blessed us with every blessing.
– Even where sin abounded, superabundant was the grace of God:
Rom 5,20–6,2 : The Law came so that sin might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.
– By grace the community is in Christ:
Gal 3:28 : There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
– Man is a new creature under the action of grace:
2Cor 5,17 : Everyone who is in Christ is a new creature. He passed what was old; behold, everything is done again!
– Grace makes men children of God:
1Jn 3,1-2 : Consider with what love the Father loved us, that we should be called children of God.
– Because animated by the Holy Spirit:
Rom 8,24-25 : Because by hope we were saved. Now, seeing the object of hope is no longer hope.
– Destined to participate in the fullness of God:
Eph 2:19 : You are no longer sojourners or pilgrims, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.
– Paulo prides himself in saying: “By the grace of God I am what I am”:
1Cor 15,10 : But, by the grace of God, I am what I am, and the grace he has given me has not been in vain.
– He knows that the grace of God is enough for him:
2Cor 12,9 : My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is fully revealed in weakness.
– In the letters, the issuer greeted Christians thus: “Grace be with you”, and also “Grace and peace be with you”:
Rom 1 : 7: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
Rom 16:20 : The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!
1Cor 1 : 3: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
1Cor 16,24 : The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
2Cor 1,2 : Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
Gal 6:18 : The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
Eph 6,23-24 : Peace to the brethren, love and faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Col 1,2 : To the brothers in Christ, saints and faithful of Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father!
Col 4,18 : My greeting, in my own hand: PAULO. Remember my chains. Grace be with you!
1Th 1,2 : We never cease to give thanks to God for all of you, and to remember you in our prayers.
1Th 5:28 : The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!
2Th 3:18 : The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all!
Titus 3:15 : Greet all those who love us in faith. Grace be with you all!
Fm 1 : Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
1Pt 1:2 : Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
2Pt 1,2 : Grace and peace be yours in abundance for a deep knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord!
– Abuse of divine grace:
Is 5,5 : Well, now I will show you what I will do to my vineyard.
Mt 11:23 : And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? Not! You will be thrown to hell!
Mt 13:12 : To him who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
Heb 3,7-13 : Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts […] as on the day of temptation in the desert.
Heb 10,26-29 : After […] knowing the truth, if we abandon it […] there will be no sacrifice to atone for this sin.
2Pt 3,17 : You […] warned beforehand, take care that you do not fall from your firmness, carried away by error.
