1 Corinthians 1:3

Grace. Gr. charis, a word occurring about 150 times in the NT, rendered “grace” 130 times. In the remaining instances it is translated “favor,” “joy,” “thanks,” “thankworthy,” “pleasure,” “liberality,” “benefit,” “acceptable,” and “gracious.” All of these words combined fall short of conveying to the mind the glory, wonder, joy, gladness, and gratitude that are awakened in the mind of him who catches a glimpse of the revelation of all the matchless attributes of God that are manifested in His gracious dealings with man through Jesus Christ. All of these are summed up by the word charis. The ancient Greeks worshiped beauty. They used charis to suggest a feeling of beauty or delight; then this idea was transferred to the object that produced the feeling of beauty. The meaning was extended to include gratefulness, thanks, pleasing gracefulness, and agreeableness. In the concrete sense the word indicated a boon granted or a favor done. The early Christian church adopted this useful expression and applied the connotation of a kind, affectionate, pleasing nature, a gracious disposition, to the attitude of Christians one to another. More particularly the term was used to express the “relation and conduct of God towards sinful man as revealed in and through Christ, especially as an act of spontaneous favor” (Hermann Cremer, Biblico-Theological Lexicon [1886], p. 574). This favor of God to man is not in any way dependent on man’s condition; that is, neither his efforts to acquire grace by works of righteousness nor his failure to do so affects the manifestation of God’s favor toward him; it is there for him to avail himself of, if he will. His degree of sinfulness does not have any bearing on God’s willingness to be gracious to him through Jesus. See on Rom. 1:7. Peace. Gr. eirene, the word from which the name Irene is derived. As used in the NT, eirene signifies that complete absence of everything that disturbs or interrupts the fullest working of the Holy Spirit in the life of the individual, by which the soul is brought into perfect harmony with its Creator. J. H. Thayer defines the word thus: “The tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is.” See on Rom. 1:7.