We are in our third week in the study of Grace and I am still looking for pat answers to the question of "what is it?!?". I am looking for pat answers because that is what I have been given over the years--that there is one definition for grace---Jesus. And, while that may be true--it is also not unpacked nor does it require much thought other than deflection. This week the study I prepared was on grace's connection to sin--more specifically where did we get the concept of "original sin" and how does free will play into our lives if all is covered by grace and led by grace, etc. Where does my role come in or am I never held responsible because I am too tainted or depraved to do anything good? This leads ultimately back to Augustine and from there to Paul (and if you read my other posts you will know how I feel about him). As much as I disdain Paul at times, Augustine takes the cake in the abhorrence category (so to speak) for me.
When I sat down to read Augustine's confessions--I was so utterly overcome by sorrow, guilt, and darkness that I ended up in the hospital (literally). Augustine paints a bleak picture of the human condition (not to mention the bleak picture of women) that leaves you without hope. There is purpose in this as that lack of hope leads you to the ONLY hope--Christ himself--resting on his grace to draw you to himself and pump life into putrid veins.
Yet, before the fall in Genesis chapter 3, there was hope. More than hope...there was goodness found in the creation. In was woven into the very fabric of the universe and the atoms of the human person. Since grace seems to be larger, more magnificent, and grander than sin ever has been (why else would it be able to annihilate death in the form of Jesus) than when sin entered the world--grace and goodness still remained. Sin wasn't enough to kill grace and goodness off just taint and subdue it. So...grace and blessing preceded sin and therefore followed sin as well. Are we therefore not totally depraved as Augustine has decided and we have adopted in the Western Church? I can't answer that but I can say that it is still by grace that we move. Whether before or after the fall it is all still grace. Totally depraved or just tainted--any goodness is still grace. Therefore any responsibility of mine still is rooted in grace and my response is still proceeded by grace. Can grace exist without sin? If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one there to hear it does it make a sound? Of course, although it might be unrecognizable. The fall helped us to see it, perhaps helped us to lean into it, to call it by name, to embrace it, and to respond with thanksgiving. Prior to the fall, it just was.
