Grace and Gift are not Exactly the Same

Over the past decade or so, a new word has made its way into the American vocabulary by means of the advertising industry.  It is the word “gifting”.  It is an odd word since we already have the word “giving” which had been used in the same way that “gifting” is today.  The presumed distinction is the focus on the “gift” itself rather than the act of giving—which is a spirit and an attitude and can be expressed in being helpful, giving monetarily, and many other ways.  The advertising industry wants you to focus on the gift.

Words mean things, and sometimes there are nuances of differences between words we normally think of as synonyms.

Maybe the most remarkable word in our New Testament is the word charis.  It is translated both as grace and as gift because the two ideas are so closely related. It is closely related to the biblical concept of love (agape). However, as closely as these ideas are, there are differences between meanings that matter. The difference is not found in the biblical words used, but rather in the insufficiency of our English words to communicate the nuances.

Grace and gift are alike.

Both words signify favor given in some way.  It can be kindness, an object, an opportunity, or even a relationship.  Both are often an expression of active love, not in the emotional sense of love as we normally think of it, but in the giving sense of the biblical word agape.  This is why we refer to salvation, spiritual gifts, answers to prayer, and all aspects of common blessings as grace.

In this sense, grace is love.  It is not love in the emotional or filial sense but in the biblical agape sense.  It is giving love.

Grace and gift are different.

Think of grace as a category of gift or a certain kind of love. As Alexander Whyte describes, grace is love [and the idea of a gift] operating under certain restraints or limitations.

Grace means favor, mercy, pardon. Grace and love are essentially the same, only Grace is love manifesting itself and operating under certain conditions, and adapting itself to certain circumstances.  As, for instance, love has no limit or law such as Grace has. Love may exist between equals, or it may rise to those above us, or flow down to those in any way beneath us. But Grace, from its nature, has only one direction it can take. GRACE ALWAYS FLOWS DOWN. Grace is love indeed, but it is love to creatures humbling itself. A king’s love to his equals, or to his own royal house, is love; but his love to his subjects is called grace. And thus it is that God’s love to sinners is always called GRACE in the Scriptures. It is love indeed, but it is love to creatures, and to creatures who do not deserve his love. And therefore all His does for us in Christ, and all that is disclosed to us of His goodwill in the Gospel, is called Grace.[i]

The essential difference is that we can love God.  We can even give God things, but we cannot show Him grace. Grace always flows from the superior position to the inferior.  It is His gift to us, not ours to Him.

 

[i] Alexander Whyte quoted by Thomas Spurgeon, “Salvation by Grace,” The Fundamentals (Volume 3), (Bible Institute of Los Angeles, 1917, reprinted by Baker, 2000) p. 112.