Grace is God’s favor, given, not earned: “it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves.” In Ephesians 2:8, the Greek word is charis (G5485): favor freely given: kindness shown to someone who has not earned it. It is also the word for thanks, the answer that grace calls out.
Get DeepWordWhat the original says
Behind the word “grace” in this verse is the Greek word charis (said KHAH-rees).
It means favor freely given: kindness shown to someone who has not earned it. It is also the word for thanks, the answer that grace calls out.
This form, chariti, is the ‘by’ form of the noun: by grace, grace as the means. Paul puts it first in the sentence. The verb after it, sesōsmenoi, describes something done that stays done: you have been saved.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘grace’ 119 times. It is also ‘thank’ 9 times, counting its other forms, as in “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 15:57):
Word by word
| Τῇ | γὰρ | χάριτί | ἐστε | σεσῳσμένοι | διὰ | τῆς |
| the | for | by grace | you are | saved | through | the |
Original form
What this tells us
Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus about who they were before Christ: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Then comes the turn: “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses” (Ephesians 2:4–5). This verse explains how that happened. The word for “grace” is charis: favor given freely, kindness no one has earned. Paul presses the point three ways in one breath: “it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Then, in the next verse, “not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:9). Think of someone pulled out of deep water. They do not boast about how well they were rescued; they hold on and breathe. And Paul does not stop at the rescue. The very next sentence says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Ephesians 2:10). Christians describe how grace and good works fit together in different ways, but this passage puts the works after the gift, not before it. If you have been trying to earn your place with God, this verse takes the pressure off. The gift comes first, and the good works are what grace grows in you.
What the original says
Behind the word “favor” in this verse is the Hebrew word chen (said KHEN).
It means favor, kindness shown to someone, and also charm or beauty. Its usual phrase is to ‘find favor in the eyes’ of someone: to be looked on with kindness.
This form, chen, is a noun, and the verb before it means ‘he found’: word for word, ‘and Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD’. Favor is found, not paid for.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘favor’ 49 times and ‘grace’ 9 times. Proverbs says the LORD “gives grace to the humble” (Proverbs 3:34):
Word by word
| וְנֹחַ | מָצָא | חֵן | בְּעֵינֵי | יְהוָה |
| And · Noah | he found | favor | in · eyes of | The LORD |
Original form
What this tells us
The story of the flood begins with heartbreak. “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth” (Genesis 6:5), and “the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart” (Genesis 6:6). The next verse speaks of blotting out man from the face of the earth (Genesis 6:7). Then one short sentence breaks in: “Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” The word for “favor” is chen, the Old Testament’s word for grace: kindness shown, a face turned toward someone. This verse is the first place in the Bible where the word appears. The next verse says, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). Readers have long asked which comes first: many Christians see Noah’s faithful life as the fruit of God’s favor, while others stress that God saw a faithful man in a faithless world. Either way, the text puts the favor first. Think of a lamp left burning in one window of a dark street: everything else in the story will be built around that light. In a world that had gone badly wrong, God’s favor still rested on someone. It can rest on you before you have done anything to deserve it.
What the original says
Behind “grace” in this verse is charis again (said KHAH-rees), the word you met in Ephesians 2:8.
It is the same word: favor freely given. Here it describes Jesus himself.
This form, charitos, is the ‘of’ form after plērēs, ‘full’: full of grace, and of truth. Word for word, ‘full of grace and truth’, just as the Berean has it.
In the Berean Standard Bible it is ‘grace’ 119 times. Two verses later John uses it twice: “From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace” (John 1:16):
Word by word
| μονογενοῦς | παρὰ | πατρός | πλήρης | χάριτος | καὶ | ἀληθείας |
| of an only begotten | from | Father | full | of grace | and | truth |
Original form
What this tells us
John’s Gospel opens before the world began: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Then, in this verse, the Word comes close: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” The writer says he saw it for himself: “We have seen His glory.” The word for “grace” is charis, favor given freely. John says Jesus was “full of grace and truth”: not grace without truth, as if nothing mattered, and not truth without grace, as if every word were a verdict. Both, and both full, in one person. John adds, “From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace” (John 1:16), like wave after wave arriving on a shore. And he sets it beside the law: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Christians read that contrast in different ways, some stressing what is new in Christ and others what the law already showed of God’s kindness, but all of them hear Jesus as the place where grace has a face. If you want to know what grace looks like, John points you to a person rather than an idea. What does it look like when Jesus is full of it?
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Download on the App StoreWhat the original says
Behind the word “grace” in this verse is the Greek word charis (said KHAH-rees).
It is favor freely given, and here it is something Jesus did: grace as an act of giving.
This form, charin, is the form for the thing known: ‘you know the grace’. The rest of the verse spells out what that grace was: “though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor”.
In the Berean Standard Bible it is ‘grace’ 119 times. In this chapter Paul also uses it for the gift the churches were collecting, “this grace of giving” (2 Corinthians 8:7):
Word by word
| γινώσκετε | γὰρ | τὴν | χάριν | τοῦ | κυρίου | ἡμῶν |
| you know | for | the | grace | of the | Lord | of us |
Original form
What this tells us
Paul is collecting a gift for believers in need, and he begins with an example: “we want you to know about the grace that God has given the churches of Macedonia” (2 Corinthians 8:1). Those churches were poor themselves, yet “their abundant joy and deep poverty overflowed into rich generosity” (2 Corinthians 8:2). The word for “grace” is charis, and Paul uses it for both kinds of giving: God’s gift to us and our gifts to one another. Here he points to the source of all of it: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor.” Paul says the same in another letter: Christ, “existing in the form of God”, “emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:6–7). Think of a wealthy person who sells everything to pay a stranger’s debts and then moves into the stranger’s small house. That is the shape of grace in this verse, and its purpose is spelled out at the end: “so that you through His poverty might become rich.” Grace received tends to become grace given, which is why Paul tells this story to people he is asking to be generous. Where could the riches you have received in Christ make you open-handed this week?
What the original says
Behind “the throne of grace” in this verse is charis (said KHAH-rees): grace, freely given.
It is the same word, favor freely given. Here grace is something you can come and ask for, and it arrives as help.
This form, charitos, is the ‘of’ form: ‘the throne of grace’. Later in the verse the word comes back as charin: we may ‘find grace’. The verse begins with a gentle call, proserchōmetha, ‘let us approach’.
In the Berean Standard Bible it is ‘grace’ 119 times. James uses it twice in one verse: “But He gives us more grace” (James 4:6):
Word by word
| τῷ | θρόνῳ | τῆς | χάριτος | ἵνα | λάβωμεν | ἔλεος |
| to the | throne | the | of grace | so that | we may receive | mercy |
Original form
What this tells us
The letter to the Hebrews was written to believers worn down and tempted to give up. Just before this verse it says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). The word for “grace” is charis, and here it sits on a throne. A throne usually means power and judgment, a place no one walks up to lightly. This one is “the throne of grace”, and we are invited to come “with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” The confidence does not come from the person asking but from the one on the throne, who knows weakness from the inside. Paul heard the same promise in his own weakness: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Think of a child walking into a parent’s office in the middle of the working day, sure of being welcome rather than sent away. Grace in this verse is not only a gift from the past; it is help for today. What is your time of need right now, and what would it look like to bring it to that throne?
What the original says
Behind “such favor” in this verse is chen (said KHEN), the word you met in Genesis 6:8.
It is the same word as in Genesis 6:8: favor, kindness shown to someone, a face turned toward them.
This form, chen, is the noun again, after the verb ‘have I found’: word for word, ‘why have I found favor in your eyes’. It is the same phrase as Noah’s.
In the Berean Standard Bible it is ‘favor’ 49 times, and ‘charm’ 2 times, as in “Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting” (Proverbs 31:30):
Word by word
| אֵלָיו | מַדּוּעַ | מָצָאתִי | חֵן | בְּעֵינֶיךָ | לְהַכִּירֵנִי | וְאָּנֹכִי |
| to · him | why | have I found | favor | in · view · your | to · pay regard to · me | and · I |
Original form
What this tells us
Ruth is a widow from Moab who has followed her mother-in-law Naomi back to Bethlehem. She had promised, “your people will be my people, and your God will be my God” (Ruth 1:16). Now she is gleaning, picking up leftover grain in a stranger’s field, hoping to find someone “in whose sight I may find favor” (Ruth 2:2). The field belongs to Boaz, who tells her to stay close and be safe. Ruth falls to the ground: “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me, even though I am a foreigner?” The word for “favor” is chen, the same word as Noah’s: kindness given to someone who had no claim to it. Boaz answers by blessing her: “may you receive a rich reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have taken refuge” (Ruth 2:12). The book goes on to make Ruth the great-grandmother of King David (Ruth 4:17). Many Christians read Boaz’s kindness as a picture of God’s grace toward outsiders, while others prefer to read it first as a story of two people; both see favor reaching across a border. Ruth’s question is a good one to bring to God: why have you taken notice of me? The answer in this story is not her worth but his kindness.
What the original says
Behind the word “grace” in this verse is the Hebrew word chen (said KHEN).
It is the same word as in Genesis and Ruth: favor, kindness shown. Here the Berean puts it as ‘grace’.
This form, chen, is a noun, and it comes before the verb in Hebrew: word for word, ‘favor and honor he gives, the LORD’. The giver is named last.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘favor’ 49 times and ‘grace’ 9 times. Zechariah pictures a crowd shouting it over a temple stone: “Grace, grace to it!” (Zechariah 4:7):
Word by word
| וּמָגֵן | יְהוָה | אֱלֹהִים | חֵן | וְכָבוֹד | יִתֵּן | יְהוָה |
| and · a shield | The LORD | God | favor | and · honor | he gives | The LORD |
Original form
What this tells us
Psalm 84 is a song of longing for God’s house: “How lovely is Your dwelling place, O LORD of Hosts!” (Psalm 84:1). The writer would rather stand at the door than live anywhere else: “For better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere” (Psalm 84:10). Then comes this verse: “For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD gives grace and glory.” The word for “grace” is chen, favor freely given. Light and warmth like the sun, protection like a shield, and favor on top of it all, given by the LORD himself. The verse ends with a promise: “He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.” Christians read that line in different ways, some as a promise of good gifts in this life and others as a promise that God gives what is truly good, even when it is not what we asked; both hear a God who is generous by nature. James says the same: “Every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). Grace here is not a wage for walking well; it is what the LORD gives as he walks with you. What good thing could you thank him for today?
Behind "grace" are 4 different words
Your English Bible says "grace" 130 times. Behind it stand several Hebrew and Greek words:
Reflect
Read it as yours
Paul wrote this for people who knew they could not save themselves. Read it slowly:
Name it
Where are you still trying to earn God’s favor? Write it down, then read Hebrews 4:16 and bring it to “the throne of grace”.
Carry with you
What would change this week if you believed God’s favor was already turned toward you?