for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast.
Short answer
In the Bible, grace is God’s favor freely given — help and love that are not earned. Christians agree salvation is a gift of grace; they describe how people receive it in different ways.
The word
The New Testament word is charis: favor, kindness, gift. It is related to chara, joy, and to the words for thanks (eucharistia, from which “Eucharist” comes). In the Old Testament, related ideas are carried by words such as chen (favor) and hesed (steadfast love).
Grace as gift
Paul’s best-known statement on grace stresses that it is not earned:
for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast.
He also insists that it reaches everyone on the same terms:
for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Grace as strength
Grace is not only forgiveness. Paul hears God say, “My grace is sufficient for you” in the middle of an affliction that was not removed (2 Corinthians 12:9). Here grace is God’s enabling presence — strength given for what must be endured.
How traditions describe it
- Catholic teaching speaks of grace as God’s free gift that heals and transforms, received above all through the sacraments, and as enabling a real cooperation by which faith works through love (Galatians 5:6).
- Orthodox Christians often describe grace as God’s own energies, by which people come to share in the divine life (2 Peter 1:4).
- Lutheran and Reformed traditions emphasize that people are justified by grace through faith alone, with good works as the fruit, not the cause, of salvation.
These differences were at the center of the Reformation. In 1999 the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, which states that “by grace alone, in faith in Christ’s saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God…” (§15). Methodist, Anglican and Reformed bodies later affirmed it. Real differences remain about how grace works through the Church and sacraments, but the shared affirmation is significant.
Where to go next
The Faith & trust page discusses faith and works, and John 3:16 in context explains the Bible’s most famous summary of God’s gift.