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In Western Christian beliefs, grace is God's favor, and a "share in the divine life of God". [1] It is a spontaneous gift from God – "generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved" [2] – that cannot be earned. [3] In the Eastern Orthodox Church, grace is the uncreated energies of God.
Divine grace is a theological term present in many religions. It has been defined as the divine influence [ 1 ] which operates in humans to regenerate and sanctify, to inspire virtuous impulses, and to impart strength to endure trial and resist temptation; [ 2 ] and as an individual virtue or excellence of divine origin.
In the words of Reformed scholar Louis Berkhof, “[Common grace] curbs the destructive power of sin, maintains in a measure the moral order of the universe, thus making an orderly life possible, distributes in varying degrees gifts and talents among men, promotes the development of science and art, and showers untold blessings upon the children of men,” (Berkhof, p. 434, summarizing Calvin ...
This act of divine grace is wrought by faith in the merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). Regeneration is the impartation of divine life which is manifested in that radical change in the moral character of man, from the love and life of sin to the love of God and the life of righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Peter 1:23).
Propitiation is the act of appeasing or making well-disposed a deity, thus incurring divine favor or avoiding divine retribution. It is related to the idea of atonement and sometime mistakenly conflated with expiation. [1] The discussion here encompasses usage only in the Christian tradition.
The theological virtues are so named because their object is the divine being (theos). Faith is the infused virtue, by which the intellect, by a movement of the will, assents to the supernatural truths of Revelation, not on the motive of intrinsic evidence, but on the sole ground of the infallible authority of God revealing. [ 14 ]
According to Wayne Grudem, "the God of the Bible is no abstract deity removed from, and uninterested in his creation". [16] Grudem goes on to say that the whole Bible "is the story of God's involvement with his creation", but highlights verses such as Acts 17:28, "in him we live and move and have our being". [16]
Joseph Francis Kelly writes that biblical writers leave no doubt that God enabled men such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Solomon to achieve wealth and that this wealth was a sign of divine favor. However, Kelly also points out that the Old Testament insisted that the rich aid the poor.