All Topics  
Means of Grace

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Means of Grace
 
 
  Topics Means of Grace Topic Home

The Means of Grace in Christian theology
Christian theology

Christian theology is discourse concerning Christianity faith. Christian theologians use biblical exegesis, rationality analysis and argument to understanding, explanation, test, critic#critique, defend or promote Christianity....
 are those things (the means) through which God gives grace
Divine grace

In theology, grace may be described as 'enabling power sufficient for progression'. In Christianity, grace divine is an "unmerited favour" of God, indispensable gift from God for development, improvement, and character expansion, and without God's grace, there are certain limitations, weaknesses, flaws, impurities, and faults mankind cannot...
. Just what this grace entails is interpreted in various ways: generally speaking, some see it as God blessing humankind so as to sustain and empower the Christian life; others see it as forgiveness, life, and salvation.

lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m3424956",this)' onMouseout='hide("m3424956")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Lutheranism">Lutherans
Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century Germans Reformer Martin Luther....
 teach that the Means of Grace are the ways that God the Holy Spirit creates faith
Faith

Faith is the confident belief in the truth of or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. It is also used for a belief, characteristically without proof....
 in the hearts of Christians, forgives their sins, gives them eternal salvation and causes them to grow spiritually.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Means of Grace'
Start a new discussion about 'Means of Grace'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


The Means of Grace in Christian theology
Christian theology

Christian theology is discourse concerning Christianity faith. Christian theologians use biblical exegesis, rationality analysis and argument to understanding, explanation, test, critic#critique, defend or promote Christianity....
 are those things (the means) through which God gives grace
Divine grace

In theology, grace may be described as 'enabling power sufficient for progression'. In Christianity, grace divine is an "unmerited favour" of God, indispensable gift from God for development, improvement, and character expansion, and without God's grace, there are certain limitations, weaknesses, flaws, impurities, and faults mankind cannot...
. Just what this grace entails is interpreted in various ways: generally speaking, some see it as God blessing humankind so as to sustain and empower the Christian life; others see it as forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Lutheran theology

Lutherans
Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century Germans Reformer Martin Luther....
 teach that the Means of Grace are the ways that God the Holy Spirit creates faith
Faith

Faith is the confident belief in the truth of or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. It is also used for a belief, characteristically without proof....
 in the hearts of Christians, forgives their sins, gives them eternal salvation and causes them to grow spiritually. The efficacy of these means does not depend on the faith, strength, status, or good works of those who proclaim the Word of God or administer God's sacrament
Sacrament

A sacrament, as defined in Hexam's Concise Dictionary of Religion is "a rite in which God is uniquely active." Augustine of Hippo defined a Christian sacrament as "a visible sign of an invisible reality." The Anglican Book of Common Prayer speaks of them as "an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible Grace." Examples of sacram...
s; rather, the efficacy of these means rests in God alone, who has promised to work through God's gift of these means to God's church.

For Lutherans, the Means of Grace include the Gospel (both written and proclaimed), as well as the Sacraments of Baptism
Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted as a full member of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered....
, and the Lord's Supper
Lord's Supper

The Lord's Supper may refer to:*Eucharist, a rite in Christianity*The Last Supper, the last meal Jesus shared with his disciples....
. Some Lutherans also include Confession
Confession

The confession of one's sins is a religious practice important to many faiths, e.g., Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy....
 and Absolution as sacraments and as such a means of grace, although they are not counted as such by others because no physical element is attached to Absolution, as is the case in both Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Methodist theology

In Methodism
Methodism

Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by John Wesley and his younger brother Charles Wesley that sought to keep Methodism as a Revivalism movement within the Church of England....
, the means of grace are ways in which God works invisibly in disciples, quickening, strengthening and confirming faith. So, believers use them to open their hearts and lives to God's work in them. According to John Wesley
John Wesley

John Wesley was an Anglican cleric and Christian Christian theologian who founded the Arminianism Methodism. The Wesley Methodist Movement began when Wesley took over open-air preaching started by George Whitefield at Hanham, Kingswood, and Bristol....
, the founder of Methodism, the means of grace can be divided into two categories:

Works of Piety, such as:
Prayer Searching the Scriptures Holy Communion Fasting Christian Conferencing (or "community") Healthy Living
Works of Mercy, such as:
Doing Good Visiting the Sick Visiting the Imprisoned Feeding & Clothing those in need Earning, Saving, & Giving all one can the Seeking of Justice; Opposition to Slavery

Careful attention to the means of grace are, for Methodists, important in the process of sanctification
Sanctification

The word sanctification refers to the act or process of making holy or setting apart and occurs five times in the Authorized King James Version of the New Testament translated from the Greek Language word a??as??? "purification," which is from the root hagios which means holy or sacred....
 as one is moved on toward Christian Perfection
Christian perfection

Christian Perfection is a Christian theology which maintains that after conversion, but before death, a Christian's soul may be cleansed from the stain of original sin....
 through the work of the Holy Spirit.

See also

  • Prevenient Grace
    Prevenient grace

    Prevenient grace is a Christian theology concept rooted in Augustine of Hippo and embraced primarily by Arminianism Christians who are influenced by the theology of John Wesley and who are part of the Methodism....


Printed Resources

  • Felton, Gayle. By Water and the Spirit. 1998. ISBN 0-88177-201-1
  • Felton, Gayle. This Holy Mystery. 2005. ISBN 0-88177-457-X
  • Neal, Gregory. Grace Upon Grace 2000. ISBN 0-9679074-0-3
  • Pieper, Francis. Christian Dogmatics. Volume III. Theodore Engelder, trans. Concordia, 1953. ISBN 0-570-06714-6
  • Underwood, Ralph. Pastoral Care and the Means of Grace. Augsburg Fortress, 1992. ISBN 0-8006-2589-7


External links

  • by John Wesley
    John Wesley

    John Wesley was an Anglican cleric and Christian Christian theologian who founded the Arminianism Methodism. The Wesley Methodist Movement began when Wesley took over open-air preaching started by George Whitefield at Hanham, Kingswood, and Bristol....
  • by John Wesley
    John Wesley

    John Wesley was an Anglican cleric and Christian Christian theologian who founded the Arminianism Methodism. The Wesley Methodist Movement began when Wesley took over open-air preaching started by George Whitefield at Hanham, Kingswood, and Bristol....
  • by John Wesley
    John Wesley

    John Wesley was an Anglican cleric and Christian Christian theologian who founded the Arminianism Methodism. The Wesley Methodist Movement began when Wesley took over open-air preaching started by George Whitefield at Hanham, Kingswood, and Bristol....
  • By Gregory S. Neal
  • By Gregory S. Neal
  • By Gregory S. Neal
  • By Gregory S. Neal
  • and (Methodist)
  • (Methodist)
  • (Lutheran)