Over and over again through the books of the Bible are we reminded of the comprehensive significance of grace, the eternality of its source, and the measure of its inclusive fullness. The writers of the New Testament records and letters, in their admonitions to the people of their own vicinity, as well as to those far afield, are ever reiterating the infinite nature of grace, and its saving power. The New Testament word used is the Greek, χάρις, meaning grace, graciousness. This word is allied to the verb χάίραυ, to rejoice, and is also akin to the word, χάρά, joy. Theologically accepted it is interpreted as meaning "the enjoyment of God's favor." Its true sense is more specifically understood as "yielding obedience to the divine law of God," and expressing the power bestowed upon all by the revelation of spiritual understanding, conferred by God, through the Christ. This in itself includes goodness and love and is certainly expressive of the energy of love with which man is endowed by God who is Love.
Now God, being no respecter of persons, bestows his goodness alike on all, The acceptance of this fact by a man is consenting to put into effect this energy of love, in fulfilling the law of God. This is equivalent to the quickening Spirit which the apostle refers to in his epistle to the Ephesians: "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. . . . For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." Paul, therefore, could very readily, in his humility, call attention to his position, as an apostle, that all he was, was "by the grace of God." In laboring abundantly, even more than others, he adds, "Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." That is to say, laying aside the finite mind, and oblivious of himself, by allowing the Mind "which was also in Christ Jesus" to be present, everything that he did was, as he and others also continued to declare, accomplished by grace from God our Father. The writer of John's gospel, also, is emphatic on this point, in his declaration, "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ:" and in the verse preceding this he says, "And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." Grace and truth, then, would signify spiritual power, as exemplified in the way marked out by Christ Jesus, who while he suffered in the flesh showed mortals the way of escape from sin. The spiritual gift of God is ever ready to save. This rich endowment of spiritual discernment must so illumine a man's thought that on its acceptance the individual may clearly apprehend the method of drawing a line of demarcation between the seeming and actual, no longer conferring with flesh and blood. Why? Because the call from Principle has been heard, and by His grace, as one born again, the individual is able to separate "that which is born of the flesh" from "that which is born of the Spirit."
The grace bestowed by God involves all that God is, the gift of the exact knowledge of God and how to manifest and express it. The actual manifestation of Principle, revealed through the Christ, is the divine idea of Mind. This renders the individual spiritually perceptive of the good bestowed by Principle. We comprehend Principle and its idea as we discern the divine nature, the Christ, which the reality of man is, and whose derivation is Mind, God. In his example the Way-shower, the corporeal Jesus, set aside human self. He knew his works could only bear fruit in the measure of his approximation to his own statement, "I and my Father are one." in short, the Christ or spiritual idea is ever about his Father's business. This fact understood would and does prove in practice the power each individual possesses of the Messianic message of healing, the herald of health and wholeness, the infinite idea of God. The personal Jesus was ever presenting this grace, and the benediction of this blessed fact was on many occasions the closing prayer of an apostolic letter. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all." Surely this is the hope of the race, coming as it does in every age from God the Father, offering the basis of divine liberty. This grace, then, was the divine force which empowered Jesus of Nazareth to do his mighty works with such marked and unequaled success, making the Christ-spirit manifest and illustrating the saving grace of God the Father. This grace, instinct with force, fully alive to the Holy Ghost, powerful to convince, as presented in Christian metaphysics, is not the product of self-delusion nor of self-interest, nor does it rely on intellectual skill, nor any adroit method in presentment. It is naught but the gilt of God, witnessing to the efficacy of God's power. Its strength lies in its simplicity, the simplicity with which the child looks to the parent in full confidence,—the gift of our Father-Mother God, amply bestowed upon all His children, which Mrs. Eddy has so beautifully presented in her spiritual interpretation of the Lord's Prayer (Science and Health, p. 16), illustrating the richness of God's mercy in providing for daily need through the spiritual daily manna, the life "hid with Christ in God."
