Hebrew Experience of Grace

1. Hebrew Experience of Grace

2. Hebrew Experience of Grace Terms: hen, hanan, and hesed Hebrew image of God Israel’s response to God’s action

3. The term “hen” Favor, charm, attractiveness, elegance Refers to an attitude/disposition that wins favor from superiors (e.g., King’s favor); refers to the quality of the inferior, not the King’s LXX: hen = charis (e.g., Gen 6:8 – Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord) Most often, refers to social attitude and the action that flows from such attitude Though not used in theological sense, it foreshadows the later idea of grace inasmuch as it refers to relationship

4. The verb “hanan” “To be gracious” or “to show mercy” to another Refers to God’s gracious concerns for persons, esp. the needy (Psalms) Emphasis on the action, not simply disposition; these two dimensions can not be separated Used both in a secular and religious sense Its context: relationship

5. According to Schillebeeckx , “hanan” means… • Approach of one person to another • One person’s turning toward another • Attention one pays to another • Kindness behind a gift • Response with all one’s heart to crying need in another • Forgiveness, graciousness (e.g., victor spares the vanquished)

6. Religious meaning of the verb “hanan” • Occurs 60x in Hebrew Scriptures (40x refers to God; 26 of which appear in the Psalms): • God’s graciousness often took place in the context of communication with God; hanan occurs in prayers of petition (Ps 6:2; 25:16; 86:1-3) • Intensity of these prayers presupposes confidence in God; prayers reflect concrete realities in life • Assistance comes in all forms (forgiveness, healing, strength…) • Hanan: connotes a free gift, an expression of God’s graciousness to Israel

7. “Hesed”: used as substantive form of “hanan” Usually translated with Gk “eleos” or “mercy” Refers to the action and the attitude of kindness; to what extends beyond obligation; suggests mutuality in relationship. Implies generous giver who gives freely, openly, superabundantly, unexpectedly, with no regard to self.

8. term hesed is often linked with ’emet = faithfulness, reliability; rahamin = tender, vulnerable love Hesed refers to “God’s graciousness to persons”; not attributed to persons as they relate to God; God’s hesed = model for us how to treat one another Thanksgiving and praise are human response to God’s hesed

9. mercy, forgiveness, loving kindness of God … it is mutual, unexpected, overflowing, abundant, faithful, reliable, can be trusted no matter how dire the circumstances …. it is the loving God who initiates and shows mercy to God’s chosen people. …Israel responds with joy, gratitude and praise to God. hesed

10. grace Image of God from Hebrew experience of God God’s action on behalf of Israel are not necessary, not coerced, not earned by something Israel has done God is gracious; such graciousness implies mercy, compassion, constancy, long-suffering (Ps 86:15) God is reliable; dependable, faithful as a rock, his love lasts despite his people’s ingratitude and infidelity; object of his graciousness – weak, poor, oppressed; forgiving; regard for another God is generous; ready, overwhelming; gives gifts for the people’s welfare (material, spiritual); generosity reflects warmth, tender care grace

11. grace “Punishment” is the reverse side of Grace Covenant demands accountability Hebrew terms for “favor,” present in the Psalms, are absent from the prophetic literature Prophets’ concern: failure of God’s people, judgment, punishment Yet, there is the sense that God’s hesed wins over judgment (“A new heart I will give you… I will put my spirit with you…”) grace

12. grace God of Israel chooses to get involved with his people, to become intimately engaged in their lives, and to stick by them in all kinds of circumstance. Somehow, God finds this people attractive, graceful, and is drawn to them. God experiences tenderness and loving care for them in spite of their sinfulness and failings. God is extraordinarily gracious to them. grace

13. Israel’s response to God’s action God’s gracious action is perceived as a call… to holiness, to enter into a covenant... Israel responds through repentance, by living in an upright way; God’s dealings with the Israelites become the model for Israelites in their dealings with one another. Israelites respond with gratitude, praise, celebration, and joy; celebration in the liturgy

14. Israel’s experience of grace is built on these presuppositions Israelites know that God is gracious, generous, reliable; quick to forgive and never tires of reaching out to hold them up. Israelites were aware of their failures and sinfulness; they knew how much they were in need of God.

15. How is our own experiences of grace? Do they follow the same dynamics of grace described in the Hebrew Scriptures?

16. grace grace • God’s grace… • God’s own loving kindness and favor toward human beings • God’s gifts • Thanks (gratitude) that fills the hearts of those who appreciate God’s love and God’s gifts (humanity’s thankful response)

17. grace grace “Grace” is a theological symbol that sums up the triune God’s action for humans and relations with humans in history… These actions and relation may be described as… • Loving • Generous • Gratuitous • Totally unexpected • Totally undeserved

18. Bottom line: Grace – God’s manner of acting, his attitude of favor, and friendship towards humans. Demands a response on the part of humans, though never conditioned by it. God’s free and gratuitous initiative precedes and surpasses the human response and expectations. Hebrew Scriptures

19. “New Creation in Christ” Paul of Tarsus Christian experience of grace

20. Premise: • Theme “grace” – not systematically developed; term charis not used by all New Testament authors • Christian Scriptures are filled with and motivated by the experience of Jesus as graced gift of God; Kingdom, discipleship, miracles, Word, etc., have to do with “grace” • Paul used “charis” 101x. How did Paul describe the identity of God and the ways in which God relates to the human community?

21. Paul’s image of God and Paul’s description of how God deals with us Tell us something about the early Christians’ experience of grace and God’s gratuitousness

22. Context of Paul’s understanding of “grace” • Paul’s personal experience of the risen Lord: a peak experience, life-changing experience, religious experience… • As early Christian community moved away from Judaism, it struggled to understand itself in the light of its Jewish past. • Paul contrasts grace with Law • Paul sees grace in terms of Jewish categories of “redemption” and “salvation”

23. Paul’s stress on the utter gratuity of God’s action as opposed to the emphasis of the Pharisees and the Stoics on the human ethical effort (e.g. “justification by our good works.”) • Grace – totally free, unmerited • Against the extreme spiritualizing tendencies of the Platonists: Paul situates grace in history • Grace refers to apostolic calling, the realm that embraces the whole humanity in its history, concrete communities he ministers, collection of money for the poor of Jerusalem

24. Meanings of “Grace” • Grace is from God; from, through, and in Christ; implies peace… • Grace is connected with the call to apostolic ministry (Paul’s and that of other Christians) • Grace is connected with action (service, exhortation, teaching, miracles, healing, prophecy, etc. • Grace implies thanks and praise (BQ: Is praise is gift or a response?)

25. Grace is not limited to specific gifts or disposition; it provides the ambiance (context) in which Christian live (let me suggest: a “graced existence”) • Grace is about God! • It is God in God’s creative graciousness • It is God in God’s freedom • It is God in God’s acceptance and embrace of a sinful, unworthy people • It is God in God’s steadfast love and generous gift of Jesus • Grace is the dynamism of God – active, effectivepower of God bringing aid to God’s people.

26. “Grace is the Risen Christ” • Grace is actualized in the cross and resurrection of Christ: God’s charis. • Grace is the continuing activity of Christ in the world in every age, in every corner of the world • Grace is also the Christian person, living and acting in the Spirit • Grace is accepting the acceptance of God which allows the gracious activity of God to be reenacted continually in the world • Grace extended to others results in thanksgiving that gives glory to God

27. God is an “inclusive God” • Since grace is a result of God’s infinite, undeserved, and merciful generosity in Christ… there is no reason why the Gentiles should not be admitted. • No need to be subjected to Jewish law • God’s gracious actions result into “a realm” • embracing all humanity (in Romans)… • embracing all cosmic realities (in Ephesians). • Grace: a concept capable of embracing the whole of God’s gift to the human community, and so capable of unlimited diversification and particularization

28. “God giver of life in Christ” • Tolive “in Christ” is to be changed, to be filled with life; rule of death replaced by rule of life. • Love and mercy of God are so great that even when we were dead through our failings, God gave life forever… live with Christ. • Life is connected with “acquittal,” “made righteous,” “walk in the newness of life”

29. “God who liberates in Christ” • Freedom from slavery of sin = life in the Spirit, life as free children of God • Law is good, holy; but only reveals to humans their inability to live by it. Freedom from the Law, sin, death (freedom “from”) leads one to embrace freedom “for.” (choose life, hate evil, live in the Spirit, self-sacrifice) • Grace is a call to abandon our enslaving ways to live in the trust and in the freedom offered by God to all.

30. “God the gracious benefactor” • Grace is a gratuitous gift; totally undeserved, not our doing; God’s disinterested love • Grace is superabundant; no matter how prevalent sin may be, it cannot win out over grace. God’s grace surpasses our wildest imaginings • Accepting grace from God must lead us to become co-benefactors with Christ [datum-donum/receiving-responding] • Grace as movement from one state to another: death to life, slavery to freedom, law to grace – conversion or transformation

31. Summing up: St. Paul’s understanding of “grace” includes: • contentof Christ salvation: justification, life, election, redemption in Christ… • its formal structure, i.e. absolute gratuity, totally unexpected/undeserved

32. Bottom line: • Grace is God’s benevolent attitude to man manifested in Jesus Christ • Grace is Christ saving event

33. Grace and the theme “Deification” Easter Fathers of the Church

34. Eastern Fathers of the Church… “theosis” Different symbols of “Divinization” or theosis… • Likeness to God as far as possible • Climbing the ladder of divine accent • Crossing the chasm that divides • Learning to fly • Putting on the robe • Interweaving threads of God and humanity • Interpenetration (perichoresis) • Wax of humanity and divinity melting together • Polished human mirror reflecting its divine source • Red-hot iron receiving heat from the divine fire • Fusion into a new divine-humanity

35. Bottom line: Divinization, deification, theosis • Call to become gods… • To partake of the divine nature • To be transformed through Christ and the Spirit

36. Caveat: “Divinization” or deification (theosis) • Human deification – not in the ontological sense • We may progressively assume some qualities, attributes or “energies” of divinity (holiness, love, wisdom) but never become divine in essence

37. “God the Divine Healer” Augustine of Hippo

38. Church’s understanding of grace before Augustine: • God created human nature capable of choosing good and rejecting evil. • In spiteof the effects of Adam’s sin, human nature retains this capacity • Role of grace: clarify true good and evil; facilitate what can be done by natural power; forgive failures of those who repent

39. Augustine: • questions the human person’s autonomy and capacity to choose the good • human capacity for the good is radically impaired (incapable of the slightest contribution toward salvation) • NB: Augustine’s theology of grace = intimately connected with his personality and experience; it has strengths and weaknesses (Dreyer 75)

40. Augustine’s Theology of Grace (based on his Confessions) • Experiential; penetrating analysis of human psyche and convincing portrayal of the complexity of human motivation • Struggling aspect of human freedom • Liberating grace will ultimately save us

41. Importance of “feeling” in choosing; • We are unable to order our affectus • Grace introduces order into our disordered affections, making possible a delight in the good • “we choose what we love, but without God, it is not possible to love the right things”

42. Distinction: • Liberumarbitrium= freedom of choice • Libertas = freedom to do what is good; power to choose the transcendent good • Stems from an inner delight in the good (delight = gift of the Holy Spirit) • Not only a matter of knowing what to choose; involves feeling for and loving what you choose • Disordered affectus needs God’s grace • Grace = an affective force; a delight in the good

43. Grace is omnipresent: • Against the pervasive nature of sin is the pervasiveness of grace • God’s care – totally limitless; no corner of our existence escapes God’s loving attention. • On our own, we are hopeless. But the power of God’s love gives relief. • God’s powerful love – experienced as pure, unadulterated, undeserved gift • Our response – joyful gratitude and praise

44. Grace is medicinal • Sin caused a disorder in human nature. There’s a constant need for healing. Healing is one way we experience grace • First step: recognize that we are wounded. Desire for healing. God must become sole object of our affection, since we have an immense capacity for passionate loving • Healing grace --- developmental grace

45. Grace as a Joyful Friendship Thomas Aquinas

46. Shift: from psychological to metaphysical approach Before the 13th C.– question was: “How are human beings free and responsible if they need God’s help to live a good life?” 13th C. – question was: “What is the essence of grace?” • Operari sequitur esse(functioning follows upon being) • Finality , operations of a thing settled the question of the nature of a thing.

47. Thomas Aquinas (1274) Appropriated scientific, metaphysical approach of Aristotle • Renaissance; contact with Byzantium and Islamic world; discoveries: nature, physics, science • Classics, apostolic fervor, integration of sacred and profane (grace and nature) Fused it with Augustinian neoplatonic approach • Articulates the experience of God/grace – in clear, objective, logical, metaphysicallanguage • Frames it in a system in which each part carefully fits to the whole. • Lacks the personal, subjective fervor evident in earlier theological language.

48. Aquinas, basically, is Augustinian • Basic foundation of Christian theology in the West – Augustinian (creation and humans as good; original sin; need of healing, redeeming grace) • But Aquinas is also different from Augustine • His strong emphasis on the transcendence of the final end • His choice to locate original sin in the disordered will (not disordered concupiscence) • Synthesis of Aristotelian philo. and Christian theo. • Central role given to Aristotle’s notion of nature in his theology of grace

49. Aquinas’ Theology of grace – found in the Summa theologiae. • Its over-arching plan – double movement:exitus-reditus (coming-out and returning) “Grace” is… • primarily the graciousness of God… • issuing in the gifts of grace, • gifts of grace, i.e., the means by which all things return to God, to whom all being is ordained exitus reditus

50. Aquinas’ teaching: • God is the source of all activity • We never act independently of God; we seek God as Good • But our turning toward God results from God having turned toward us • “Grace” = gifts given to persons (=created grace) implies the notion of uncreated Grace, i.e., God’s very love and being