Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

GRACE

A central term in the discussion of relationships between people and with the divine. Heb. ḥēn and ḥeseḏ are the primary terms indicating God’s disposition to show favor toward humans, and God’s continuing loyalty toward those accepted into divine favor. This favor manifested itself in acts of deliverance in time of need and provision of daily sustenance. Favor is shown in the face of the benefactor, so that “seeking God’s face” (Ps. 27:8-9) and imploring God to “make God’s face to shine” and to “lift up God’s countenance” (Num. 6:25), are all expressions of seeking God’s favor, God’s disposition to help and to provide for the well-being (šālôm) of God’s people. Favor once shown can also be withdrawn: this is commonly expressed as anger, the opposite of favor (cf. Heb. 10:26-31), represented by the hiding of the face or removal of the offender from the presence of the benefactor (Ps. 13:1[MT 2]; 51:11[13]).

The casting of the divine-human relationship in these terms reflects the manner in which human beings interacted. People in an inferior position (with regard to power or resources) would “seek the favor” of a person in a socially superior position. Joseph “finds favor” in the sight of Potiphar, the jailer, and Pharaoh’s household (Gen. 39:4, 21; 50:4). This human dimension remains important in the narratives of Ruth and 1 Samuel, as well as in Proverbs. At such a level, “favor” does not necessarily create an ongoing relationship. It may be a single act of beneficence with a response of simple gratitude. Frequently, however, it does initiate an ongoing relationship in which the beneficiary returns loyal service for the favor shown by the benefactor, and the benefactor continues to provide assistance and access to resources (cf. the story of Joseph).

The relationship of “grace” between God and the people of Israel is ongoing. God’s acts of “favor” in the wilderness establish a relationship which now has clearly articulated mutual obligations. An initial stance of uncoerced favor leads to the formation of a relationship in which the benefactor will continue to provide assistance, and the beneficiaries will remain singularly loyal to the Patron and offer services to the Patron. Within the Deuteronomic and prophetic traditions, this loyal service was to be fulfilled through beneficence toward one’s fellow Israelites. Generosity and justice in human relationships were obligations imposed on the people as their fitting response to God’s generosity toward them. God’s ḥeseḏ, “loyalty,” remains “favor” in that where the human beneficiaries continually fail in their loyalty and service, God continues to call them back into favor, punishing for a time but always restoring those who have broken faith. Even the declaration of a “new covenant” which replaces the “old” broken by the ancestors is a declaration of God’s commitment to set aside all those offenses and insults to God’s favor, and approach the people anew in favor (Jer. 31:31-34).

In the NT period, “grace” (Gk. cháris) is embedded in the language of the Greco-Roman institution of patronage. Seneca claimed that patronage constituted the “chief bond of human society” (Seneca de Beneficiis 1.4.2), and so the NT proclamation of God’s favor would have been heard and interpreted within this social context. Patrons gave access to goods, entertainment, and advancement. The client, who received the benefit, accepted the obligation to spread the fame of the giver and declare gratitude for the patron’s gifts (cf. Seneca 2.21.1; 2.24.2). The client also accepted the obligation of loyalty and service to the patron. A third figure in this network has been called the “broker” (cf. mesítēs). This figure was a patron to his or her clients and a client or friend of another potential patron. The broker’s chief benefaction was access to another patron and the resources at his or her disposal.

Within this social-semantic field, cháris has three distinct meanings. It is first the disposition of a benefactor to aid a suppliant, “not in return for something nor in the interest of him who renders it, but in that of the recipient” (Aristotle Rhetoric 2.7.2). In this sense it is most akin to Heb. ḥēn. It also refers to the client’s proper return for a benefit, namely gratitude and loyal service (cf. 2 Cor. 4:15; Heb. 12:28; 13:15-16), as well as to the actual gift or benefit conferred (cf. 2 Cor. 8:6-7, 19). Paul is known as a proponent of “salvation by grace.” He is concerned (e.g., in Galatians) to establish God’s uncoerced initiative in reaching out to form a people from all nations through God’s anointed agent, Jesus. Requiring Torah-observance from gentile converts threatens to set aside or nullify the favor of God which Jesus, the broker, has gained for his faithful clients (Gal. 2:21; 5:2-4), because it casts doubt on Jesus’ ability to secure God’s favor. It shows distrust toward Jesus, the immediate Patron of the new people of God formed from Jews and Gentiles, called into God’s favor (Gal. 1:6). God’s favor, however, seeks a response of faithfulness (pístis) and service from God’s clients. Paul speaks, therefore, of the “obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:5; 16:26) which is the goal of his mission, calling forth the proper response of those who have benefited from God’s gift. This involves the offering up of the believers’ whole selves to God’s service, to do what is righteous in God’s sight (Rom. 12:1; 6:1-14). As in the OT, this response centers not only on honoring God, but on love, generosity, and loyal service toward one’s fellow believers (Gal. 5:13-14; 6:2; Rom. 13:9-10). The giving is free and uncoerced, but the ancient hearer knew that to accept a gift meant accepting also obligation to the giver.

The author of Hebrews affords exceptional insight into the workings of “grace” within the patron-client relationship between God and human beings. Whereas humanity stood apart from God’s favor on account of the sins which stained the conscience, Jesus’ priestly sacrifice (brokerage) brought forgiveness and cleansing, so that Jesus’ clients might have “access to the throne of favor,” i.e., come into God’s presence, seek God’s face (favor), and receive “favor to help in time of need” (e.g., the resources to hold on in the face of opposition; Heb. 4:16). In order to attain the promised benefits of a place in God’s city (Heb. 11:13-16; 13:14), the clients have need of “faith” (pístis) and “endurance” (10:35-39). They must remain loyal to their Patron in the face of society’s hostility and not waver in their trust. To give up God’s gifts (and show slight regard for God’s “spirit of favor”; Heb. 10:29) for the sake of peace with society would be an outrageous insult to the Patron, a spurning of God’s gifts and of Jesus’ costly mediation, resulting in God’s “wrath” (Heb. 10:26-31; 3:7–4:11). The author here gives insight into the reciprocal nature of cháris: God has accepted the believers into favor through Jesus’ effective mediation; the believers, as honorable clients, are now to return “grace” for “grace,” to “show gratitude” (Heb. 12:28) to God by continuing to bear witness to their Benefactor in a hostile world (13:15) and by assisting one another by love and service, encouraging and supporting one another in the face of an unsupportive society (13:1-3, 16; 6:10).

Bibliography. F. W. Danker, Benefactor: Epigraphic Study of a Graeco-Roman and New Testament Semantic Field (St. Louis, 1982); D. A. DeSilva, “Exchanging Favor for Wrath: Apostasy in Hebrews and Patron-Client Relationships,” JBL 115 (1996): 91-116; R. M. Hals, Grace and Faith in the Old Testament (Minneapolis, 1980); K. D. Sakenfeld, The Meaning of µesed in the Hebrew Bible. HSM 17 (Missoula, 1978); R. P. Saller, Personal Patronage Under the Early Empire (Cambridge, 1982).

David A. deSilva

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

GRACE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)