What would you say is the difference between grace and love?
More particularly, God’s grace and God’s love?
I was in a conversation the other day about the wording, and we hung up on whether we should use grace or love, and it got me to thinking about what the real difference is between the two. Both words come with their own presuppositions and baggage.
Both words come with their own presuppositions and baggage.
It’s troubling to think that so many Christian words have been misused for long, they’ve lost their real meaning. That, as Christian communicators, we have to over-concern ourselves with them due to fast food meanings people hold in their heads versus the concepts and ideas the words truly represent. We could run the gamut on words that have little or misapplied meanings to our society. There’s grace and love, of course, but also there’s evangelism, mission, mercy, faith, justice, holiness, and so on and so on. Maybe we should blog about them all individually (there’s an idea).
OK, back on topic. Grace and love.
Different or The Same
The two are ultimately inseparable. But the idea of grace, to me, forms the greatest expression of God’s love because of what it encompasses. Grace, for me, brings love into the story of the Gospel while properly accounting for justice. God is equal parts love and justice, which is why sin so separates us from him. To speak only of, or even to solely introduce God as, love, is to facilitate an ego-Christianity that sees God only for the benefits He brings us.
Without the proper understanding of grace, John 3:16 holds no real meaning to us. Or, it holds a weakened meaning. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son…” is not only nonsensical to the thinking non-believer, it’s a bad plan altogether. Why would an all-powerful god allow such a situation in the first place? Why is “sending his son” such evidence of love? Why not simply forgive and forget? These are question met with dismal answers without mention of grace.
Love, on its own, left undefined, is not powerful enough to change the heart. Because love is one of those slippery words that we bring our suppositions to when we define it.
But grace, amazing grace, takes the powerful nature of love to the next level.
It’s the grace of God that fuels my love for him, and fuels my service in his ministry. Grace is the way to introduce God to the world, because grace frames love in such a fashion that it reveals God’s character more fully to all who are willing to hear it.
Your Thoughts
I could go longer, but I think you guys get the gist. Comment below and tell me your thoughts on the matter. What would you say is the difference between love and grace?
Antwuan, love your thought that grace magnifies love. And they are ultimately inseparable as you mention. One of the repeated statements in the Bible is, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” The repeated plea to God asking Him to “be gracious to us/me” is based on His love. It is hard to imagine how God could show love to us without being gracious, or be gracious to us without being loving. Conceivably, if there were no sin – Adam and Eve before they fell – would God need to be gracious to be loving? There would be no need for grace in terms of justice for the unfallen. But I’m hard pressed to say that grace is not involved in the relationship between God and Adam & Eve. . . that He is Creator and they (we) are creatures still calls for grace even when justice is satisfied. For us who have the invitation and possibility to stand in Christ cleansed and righteous now before God, there remains forever a need for God’s grace to make it home. One of the differences between grace and love can be seen in how we know and experience them in Christ. We are called and commanded to love others – love brothers and sisters as Christ loves us, love your neighbors as yourself, even love your enemies. That we in a genuine way are loving people in all things as a reality of who we are is not only the measure of being like Christ in this world, but also the end of all the hard things He takes us thru. . . in Christ, at the heart of things, we are to be loving. . . that this is true about us. Grace, on the other hand, is from God and is meant to be received, by faith. While we are called to be gracious to others, we remain the fruit or product of God’s grace. We are being transformed by grace, but not into grace. That grace, and the glory of that grace, is His alone.
Thank you Alan. It’s really splitting hairs, but lately I’ve really been working on Love as God’s modus operandi. Thanks for the thoughtful comment!
Antwuan, it was a great question It is time well spent to meditate on things we think we know already. Your question helped me realize (again) how little I understand in view of the depth of these things. Had the same experience over the differences between soul and spirit and heart. You just keep splitting hairs.
You are right my friend
Grace This is something I put together some time ago which might be helpful in regards to this topic. Grace – a sharing in God’s life. The supernatural gift of God to intellectual creatures (men, angels) for their eternal salvation, whether the latter be furthered and attained through salutary acts or a state of holiness. There are two basic kinds of grace, actual and sanctifying. Actual Grace – meaning God is “actually” working in us. Therefore Actual Grace is necessary for a salutary act. Example, for a sinner, that is, one who has not sanctifying grace, a salutary act is totally impossible without the assistance of actual grace. Efficacious Grace – is grace actually applied by the recipient through the working or performing a salutary act. A good example is the parable of the “sower and the seeds.” Many will receive God’s grace, but only a few will actually apply this grace whereby sanctification and or holiness will can grow and ultimately be achieved ( Matthew 13:1-23). Sanctifying Grace – for holiness and sonship of God depend solely upon the possession of sanctifying grace. Sanctification is gained/possessed only through actual efficacious application of grace. The soul that has efficaciously applied God’s free gift of grace has been sanctified, thereby the soul sharing in God’s life is the soul which is pressing forward and upward, thereby no longer remaining stationary. The soul which has applied God’s grace and continues to apply this grace has been utterly set free of sin, all of his sins are completely obliterated and therefore now can stand justified in the presence of God. No sin can be in the presence of God, thus the soul that is presented before God cannot merely have sins covered over for he will be rejected and not permitted in the presence of God, for God sees the heart and the soul of every intellectual creature. Thus, the sins must be completely obliterated from the soul and the person thereby being utterly set free and cleansed from all stain of sin. Actual Grace enables the soul to act. God’s actual grace gives us the strength to act according to His “will.” Sanctifying Grace is a state in which God allows us to share in His life and love. When the faithful of God speak of being in the state of “grace,” the faithful mean the state of “Sanctifying Grace,” which means there is no stain of mortal sin upon the soul. Sanctifying Grace first comes to the soul in the sacrament of “Baptism” and then through the other sacraments of “Penance and Reconciliation” and “Holy Eucharist,” and “Holy Orders,” and “Anointing of the Sick,” and “Holy Matrimony.” It is only through Grace that the salutary act of faith, hope and charity can be lived. Love on the natural order is always tainted with the stain of sin. Sincerely in Christ, with Joseph & Mary; Ken
Hmm… Actual grace, eh. I think it’s interesting how you are applying Actual grace. I have tended to view grace simply as a solution to the just payment of sin. That is, grace itself it not active and participating in people’s lives in the way you describe, rather it was done one time for all time. Grace happened and it effected the world in the same way sin happened and effected the world. —- I suppose I should be careful about using the word “active” because I certainly believe that Grace still covers our sin. I guess I mean, in the same way that sin gets exceedingly sinful, grace abounds continually as well. It’s as if each are a pebble in the same pond, whose ripples are extending in all directions of time. —- Perhaps that is too poetic. It’s funny because I’m having a similar conversation over at the Calvinism post. I’ll have to look into these a little more. Thanks for your thoughtful response!
Love is the condition or reaction to certain things as seen from 1cor:13:3-8. Grace is the action with out any one,s initiation especially with the Almighty , Omniscient,Omnipotent and Omnipresent God who manifested himself in human form who is no other than The Lord Jesus Christ.
Seems to me we could say that grace is “God’s love in action.”
I think it’s impossible for us to be gracefull without love.
God is Love. That is what the bible says. Nowhere does it say God is grace. I can give you grace and not love you. But I can’t love you and not give you grace. Love is superior and above all things including grace. Love is the beginning and the end. Grace is means to the end of love – but then so are many things. For example – mercy, faith and truth are means towards love. Grace is NO more important than mercy or faith or truth. Love and grace cannot be compared to each other, because love trumps all. We do not split hairs with love. We can split hairs with mercy and grace, but not with love. I love God because He first loved me, before I knew grace He loved me first and I could have still experienced His love without New Testament grace as David did and pursued that love with all his heart. I could not be saved without His grace and in some sort of sense I get your idea that this might seem like we are splitting hairs (because of God’s love He has to give me grace). But still does it change what the bible says about love – it is the greatest. I Cor 13:13
Grace is a pre-requisite of God’s LOVE. Only by His grace we can truly experienced His amazing love for us. Without grace we cannot see His love. And Jesus Christ shown us the true meaning of love when He lay down His life for you and for me. Grace is the act of true love.
Thank you. You said whatbi was going to write. Exactly my thoughts. GOD IS LOVE. God defines love. He is! Isn’t that love enough yet? Grace is an expression of God’s love. ?
Well said, thank you for insightful thoughts. Love IS the single purpose of life.
GRACE is God’s LOVE in action. I believe it summarize it all.
Grace does appear to me to be a unit of measure and a store of value and the means of transferring the love at the center of the spirit of God (as in the Trinity not solely the Holy Spirit) to us and through us, his children. In as much as currency performs a vital function for base economic transactions in the world – within the Kingdom of God grace is the delivery system as well as the manifestation of God’s initiative love for us. Grace is the meat on the bones of God’s love which makes it recognizable and kindred to us. The perceptic of God’s grace in the universe is the scope and the scale and the order of His creation but His grace for us, at ground level, here on this wisp of an orb we call planet earth, abounds in the deep recesses of our interior emotional dimensions; the places where pain and suffering are abated and where longings and aspirations are abetted. His grace is the kinetic character of His love in motion in our lives. Praise God!
Awesome answer. Thank you.
It is meaningless for humans to contemplate God’s love. Only through faith do we understand the grace that is abundant and available to those who have opened their hearts and soul to receive it. To bring worthiness of oneself is to add human dimensions in divinity and thus lessen our perspectives.
John 1:14 says that Jesus was “full of grace and truth”. Jesus came to reveal God’s love. So I have wondered if God’s love is a perfect combination of his attribute of grace and his attribute of truth. Then I have considered that from God’s grace we get compassion, tenderness, gentleness, and mercy. While from God’s attribute of truth we get justice, morality, and purity. Then as I thought of this I realized that many of the debates in Christiandom are really a struggle to find that perfect balance of grace and truth in our hearts, God’s love. Some side more with purity and justice while others are more more on the side of grace, oh for balance.
Very interesting comment. Thought provoking. Thank you.
for me i help everybody who is in need! after helping them i leave or ignore them & forget them & go on my ways. i also help my enemies even those whom i do not want to see face to face. is not that grace without love ?? if u r gracious grace abounds when you see the down troaden, needy, jailed e.t.c even though some are your enemies, & u stand up & start fighting for them after u go on yo ways, dat z grace without love. if u love p’ple u also feel gracious to them while when u r gracious to p’ple it does nt mean dat u love them. grace forces u to imagine when one is in trouble wiz a qst saying if u r de one even though they hate u. pls dat z hw i think. is it smehw right?
GRACE IS THE OUT-FLOWING OF GOD’S LOVE; DIVINE FAVOR AND ASSISTANCE, MIGHTY IN IT’S WORKING AND POWERFUL IN IT,S ABILITY TO ACCOMPLISH AND SUPPLY ALL THAT IS NEEDED AT THE TIME AND IS RECEIVED BY FAITH.
Grace spoken of as a banner, but without love is like a clanging cymbal. Too often I hear the grace crowd route grace as if it’s a mantra and it’s missing that key element if love.
Love is described as a thing in this article so What if we say love is a person. Love is Jesus Christ and His Spirit which one receives upon conversion, His representative, that now dwells within the believer. We receive love and we receive Grace. Both are unearned favour we receive with the person. Why separate them? Just a query
Jeremiah 29:11 explains Grace. It reads, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and hope. This points to our future in heaven. It is Grace that explains God’s love towards us while love is God’s care for us. Jesus Christ is the manifestation of God’s grace in human form. Akinpeloye O. Omokehinde
I really appreciated what you wrote on grace versus love and quoted your blog a lot in my blog https://envisionbibleworld.com/2019/08/why-this-that-leviticus-part-3-3/
What has come to me since reading your post is. “Love is God’s intangible plan for life. Grace is the tangible implementation of that plan.”
Something I’ve been working out. I’d love to hear some thoughts. God is equal parts, love, and Justice, Love is equal parts, Grace and Mercy. – Grace is getting what you don’t deserve. – Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Justice is getting what you deserve. – Justice requires rules and judgment. Judgment brings to light Guilt/Sin. Guilt sets a stage for repentance. Repentance sprouts humility. Humility makes way for forgiveness (mercy). Forgiveness allows for restoration. Restoration puts back in God’s Love and Justice.