Because “Gray” and
“Grey” are homophones (two words sounding alike), whenever someone says, “Dr.
Gray”, it’s difficult to tell if they’re referring to the author of a medical
textbook, or to the titular character of a medical drama series. Though both of
them are surgeons, these two persons are as different from each other as night
is from day.
One's a man, the
other's a woman. One's Henry, the
other's Meredith. One was a medical
Lecturer, the other is an attending general surgeon. One was a Fellow of the
Royal Society (FRS), the other is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons
(FACS). One died of smallpox at the tender age of 34 without marrying, the
other’s a middle-aged woman married with children…
The most important
difference for us to note, however, is that one is a real, factual person that lived in England a century ago, while the
other’s a non-existent, fictional character, created by someone with a
prodigious imagination!
I’m fascinated by
these two contrasting characters because they perfectly represent the two types
of “GRACEs” we hear today. One “Grace” refers to God’s favour to mankind as
expressed in the person of Christ, the other simply refers to any form of
enablement, power or ‘anointing’; as in the phrase, “she has the grace of giving”, or “receive grace to do exploits”.
We need to know the
differences and treat each accordingly, as much confusion and misunderstanding
has arisen from this by some.
Interestingly,
there’re at least five different
meanings to “grace” in scripture (and even more in secular Greek usage), yet
we’re often guilty of thumping through the Bible and applying the same sense to
just about any appearance of the word that we see. And as though this was not
complicating enough, we also have the odd heretic who teaches “grace” but is
referring to something totally different; (e.g. the ancient Gnostic Valentinus who splits 'God' into two
complementing parts – the masculine (“Primal Father”) and the feminine
(“Grace”).
So next time you hear
or read “grace”, you need to ask yourself, which “grace” is being talked about
here? That simple question helps.
AMEN.
More Blessings await
you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.
GREG ELKAN
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