Meditations on the Mercy of Our God
CRAIG A. EVANS
What Grace Is: Meditations on the Mercy of Our God
Copyright 2022 Craig A. Evans
Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225 LexhamPress.com
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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are the author’s own translation or are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Print ISBN 9781683596370
Digital ISBN 978-1683596387
Library of Congress Control Number 2022937655
Lexham Editorial: Deborah Keiser, Allisyn Ma, Kelsey Matthews, Erin Mangum, Mandi Newell
Cover Design: Lydia Dahl, Brittany Schrock
Glossary of Extrabiblical Literature
A few years ago I was invited to lecture in Finland. One of my lectures focused on the biblical concept of grace. I managed to find the time to turn that lecture into a little book. I am pleased that Jesse Myers of Lexham Press was willing to publish it in a format that matches professor Ben Witherington III’s Who God Is: Meditations on the Character of Our God (2020), also published by Lexham Press.
I finished writing What Grace Is: Meditations on the Mercy of Our God in 2020, a year that required a great deal of grace as our world faced the medical, social, political, and emotional challenges of a pandemic. On top of that was a highly divisive and controversial presidential election in the United States. Readers will find it was often in times of uncertainty, hardship, and danger that God’s people experienced God’s grace. I hope readers of this little book will discover (or rediscover) the grace that God offers all who turn to him.
When we speak of “grace” we usually think of divine mercy—the unmerited love and favor that God shows humans. Of course, that is very important, and it is, in fact, God’s grace toward humans that provides the template for human grace—in attitudes and in actions—toward humans. But there is a bit more to grace than that.
The theme of God’s grace runs throughout the sacred library we call the Bible. We often speak of redemption or of God’s redemptive work on behalf of fallen humanity. Redemptive work exists because God is a God of grace. No matter how badly or how often humans fail and “fall ...
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About What Grace Is: Meditations on the Mercy of Our GodMeditations on grace from a biblical scholar. Grace is not limited to God. If one of God’s characteristics is grace, it should be one of ours also. Grace runs throughout Christian Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. But as we read the Bible, we might miss the depth of what grace truly is and what it means for us. In What Grace Is, biblical scholar Craig A. Evans invites us to look at grace throughout the Bible, going deep in examples from the book of Genesis and the Gospel of Luke. Bringing together biblical insight and personal wisdom, this short book will give readers a new appreciation for grace in action—acts of kindness and mercy exemplifying the kind of grace that can only be described as divine. We live in an angry and fractured world that desperately needs more of this grace. What Grace Is encourages us to meditate on the divine grace we have received and extend that same grace to others. |
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