I've always loved that part, and more than anything our community and our church have been an incredible
means of grace in our lives.
This chapter and the two that follow, on gratitude, trust, and justification, are attempts to make real for our situation aspects of the
historic meaning of grace.
And when Evangelical leaders regard an emphasis on the
ordinary means of grace as jeopardizing the Christian faith while going easy on, for example, serious deviations from Nicene teaching on the Trinity, they have traveled a long way from the concerns of the Reformers.
Paul and the disciples dedicated their lives teaching holiness and consecration and the
true meaning of the grace of God to newborn Christians and to the Gentiles.
It is not sufficient, however, to point out that there are innumerable ministries in the several Christian communities that insist on the objectivity of truth, the authority of Scripture and Spirit - guided interpretation, the
ecclesial means of grace, and the reality of moral good and evil.
«It is an electric reality in the New Testament, an indispensable ingredient in the Christian faith and one of God's
chief means of grace in our lives.»
How would people know where to go to receive Sacraments, [Jesus Christ's
instituted means of graces to help sustain us along our journey to our final goal]?
When reading the Bible and participating in the Sacraments and
other means of Grace become ends in themselves and objects of faith then the Church is teaching bibliolatry and ecclesiolatry and comes an impediment, not an inducement to true faith.
At their best Lutherans remember that the Reformation turned away from subjectivity to the
objective means of grace, but the modern fascination with interiority, with «the dynamics of faith,» regularly mutes this realization.
In the Protestant tradition, Scripture and the two sacraments have been regarded as the
primary means of grace through which Christ becomes a reality of life to believers.
Where such proclamation is faithful to the living and written Word of God and enlivened by the Spirit, it is an
effective means of grace and a sure sign of the true church.
The Jesuit educators and missionaries of her time
found means of grace in beauty, the arts, humor — whatever, as they put it, seemed innocent in and of itself.
In those pure regions he sees his father, or mother, his sisters, or brothers, or those persons who sat under the
same means of grace with him, and whom he derided as fools, fanatics, and hypocrites....
It is not sufficient, however, to point out that there are innumerable ministries in the several Christian communities that insist on the objectivity of truth, the authority of Scripture and its Spirit - guided interpretation, the
ecclesial means of grace, and the reality of moral good and evil.
Now we could get into a rather ungraceful argument about the
true meaning of grace, but as I see it, grace is about giving without expecting anything in return.
The author seems to me to say that we shouldn't withhold
the means of grace from anyone because it will be transformative for them.
Jim has possibly experienced Scripture as
a means of Grace, not as a moral manual or a dogmatic dissertation.
Scripture is
a means of grace; not an object to be worshipped.
In his book Habits of Grace, David Mathis describes three fundamental means through which Christians are to be in relationship with God: God's word, prayer and fellowship — what he terms habits or
means of grace.
Used correctly, as
a means of Grace rather than an object of faith, both Sacrament and Bible point beyond themselves to the Ultimate Reality of the Living God.
The worship of God before the fall would likewise «certainly not have involved his dependence on material things as
a means of grace or knowledge.»
The preaching of the Word, sacraments, and prayer are the three ordinary
means of grace, as Presbyterians call them.
Most Christians say they believe in the power of prayer, say they believe in life after death, say they believe in
the means of grace and the hope of glory.
Most of the Reformers of the 16th century and John Wesley in the 18th were prone to speak of the sacraments as «
means of grace» in which the agency is divine.
The church understands itself to be the first heirs of this kingdom through faith alone, worked by the power of the Holy Spirit through
the means of grace.
Again, we explain this wonderful dispensation, and where anointing is not appropriate we offer the ordinary
means of grace, e.g. Confession, the Eucharist, prayer and a blessing.
The bible has always been a «
means of Grace» for me, never an «object of worship.»
A theory of the Christian life that provides a reference for understanding one's own faith journey, adapting
the means of grace to resource it, and to aid others in entering and negotiating that same journey.
The meaning of grace goes still farther.
The means for this are membership in a church community and full use of
the means of grace.
The point is to avoid substituting therapy's experience of the self at depth for the use of
the means of grace and the concomitant experience of God at depth.
An experiential base: i.e., regular and lively use of
the means of grace (particularly meditative prayer) that issues in a conscious experience of the presence of God blessing, leading, and empowering the journey of faith.
The doctrines of church and ministry reveal the depth nature of a counseling group, and a counseling group can become
a means of grace whereby the church is enabled to be the church.
Outstanding exceptions among theologians have been Ulrich Zwingli and Karl Barth, both of whom rejected the notion that the Lord's Supper is a sacrament and
a means of grace.
But they would probably believe that these are
a means of grace, that they possess a sacramental efficacy, and that they are at least an aid, a support and a prop for faith.
Discussion about Satan will have to wait for another time, so let's us just consider how sin is a blessing,
a means of grace, and why we can thank God for sin.
In the Christian tradition, this means that participation in the life of a worshipping community provides the «
means of grace».
Indeed, most people find that talking about their pilgrimages and their beliefs as Christians is
itself a means of grace that enhances: and strengthens the faith they already have.
In the meantime, however, we recognize that the right ordering of the Church and all
the means of grace are precisely means.