The third aspect of grace is that grace is the result affected in and through redeemed sinners who have been saved by grace. When Scripture uses the word charis in this third sense, it is translated as “thanks.” We “grace God” in the same sense that sinners “justify” God.
And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John (Luke 7:29 KJV).
God does not need either grace or justification. And if he did, sinners could certainly supply neither. Luke 7:29 means that sinners acknowledge that God is right in his actions just as they acknowledge how indebted they are to God’s grace with thanks and praise.
Here are several examples from the KJV of the use of the word charis.
Rom 6:17 – But God be thanked (charis), that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Luke 17:9 – Doth he thank (charis) that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.
Luke 6:32-34 – For if ye love them which love you, what thank (charis) have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank (charis) have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank (charis) have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
We have already noted Luke 17:9. The master is not obligated to show grace to a servant simply because the servant is a servant. We noted the necessity of always making sure that grace, when given to a sinner, must always be seen as something purely optional. The moment a sinner in any way earns or deserves it, it ceases to be grace. This is not the case with our Lord or when we grace (thank) God.
The passages in Luke 6 are clear. When you love someone reciprocally who loves you, your action is not one motivated by grace. Even the worst of sinners can love those who love them. However, the grace of God can love the unlovely without needing anything in return. The same is true of doing good deeds or lending money. Showing love and doing good for “Christ’s sake alone” is demonstrating grace. As long as I get something out of the deal, it is not grace but involves debt in some sense.
Romans 6:17 is a powerful text. We are exhorted to “charis” God. We are to thank him for his great grace given to us when we deserved his wrath and judgment. We do not actually give grace to God but we seek to favor (grace) him. We often hear a person introducing a singer by saying, “We will be favored by brother or sister so and so with a special musical number.” Sometimes it would have been a greater favor if they would have kept quiet. In the case of God, we shower our praise upon him because he so richly deserves it because of all he has done for us. This again is proof that the word charis cannot be reduced to “kindness shown to hell deserving sinners.”
Exactly why is it that God so richly deserves our thanks? What are the specific things that Paul exhorts us to acknowledge as special gifts of God’s grace to us? God gave us minds with which to think. We are rational beings. He made us with a heart capable of feelings. We are emotional beings. God gave us wills with which to make moral choices. We are volitional beings. We each have a mind, a heart, and a will. We are rational, emotional and volitional beings. We are not animals even if some among us have sunk to an animal-like life style. Sin has totally destroyed the ability of the mind, heart or will to honor God in any way. The mind is darkened, the heart is deceitful and the will is enslaved to self and sin.
Romans 6:17 shows that the gospel of God’s grace affects all three parts of our being. If the gospel of grace does not touch and set free all three parts of our humanity, then it is not the biblical gospel of free grace. Look at the words mind, heart, and will in the text.
But God be thanked (charis) [God alone deserves all the praise since his grace and power alone accomplishes a complete salvation] that ye were [by nature and choice] the [willing and helpless] servants of sin, but ye have obeyed [with a will set free by God’s grace and power] from the heart [the very center of your being] that form of doctrine [the Holy Spirit opened your mind to understand the gospel of sovereign grace] which was delivered you.
We could outline this great text this way. The gospel of grace must touch and affect every part of the sinner.
- 1.The mind must be illumined with the truth of the gospel.
- 2.The heart must be penetrated with the truth of the gospel.
- 3.The will must be liberated from sin with the truth of the gospel.
And God alone is to be “graced,” or thanked, for such a glorious and powerful act of emancipation.
If we make a “decision” for Christ based on emotions without the mind being enlightened with the truth about our sin and the atonement of Christ, there will be no valid conversion. If we understand and feel the power of sin and the gospel and do not “close with Christ” in a conscious choice of the will, there is no valid conversion. Likewise, if we “intellectually” adopt Christianity without feeling the power of the truth, we will still be unconverted. Many people have “taken up” Christianity who have never been taken up by Christianity. I repeat, the mind, heart and will must all be changed and set free from sin, and the only power that that can accomplish that is the gospel of God’s sovereign grace applied by the Holy Spirit.
The NJKV is a much better translation of Romans 6:17.
But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered (Rom. 6:17, NKJV).
We certainly “thank God” that the gospel was delivered to us, but even more importantly, we praise him because we were delivered to the gospel. The text is not just talking about the giving of the gospel, it is also talking about regeneration. The cause of praising God is being grateful for God showing his grace in electing us unto salvation, showing the power of his grace in breaking the chains of sin and ignorance, his making us “willing to believe in the day of his power.” We were literally “handed over” to the grace of God in election, in regeneration, and in sanctification.
We owe our whole salvation to the work of our triune God.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord (1 Cor 1:30-31, KJV).
Christ is made unto us wisdom to enlighten our minds to the truth of the gospel. Christ is made unto us righteousness to cover our guilt and shame before a holy God. Christ is made unto us sanctification to enable us to persevere until the day of our complete salvation. Christ is the absolute guarantee of a completed redemption when every vestige of sin, including our bodies, will be removed and we shall experience full redemption. We shall be “like him for we shall see him as he is.”
And of course, Paul must again remind us, that all of this is “of God” and is only possible as we are “in Christ.” We thank (charis) God because he indeed is worthy. His work of creation bears testimony to the greatness of his deity and power, but it is in his new creation in Christ that we see the glory of grace as an even greater display of his power.
Thanks [charis] be unto God for his unspeakable gift (2 Cor 9:15, KJV).