Bible Dictionary
GRACE OF GOD
GRACE OF GOD
(A) In the OT we already find the pure goodness of God who loves the sinner, and who longs not for his death, but for his conversion and his life (Ez. 18:23).
On the basis of the law, man could only be justified by works, and this was impossible (Gal. 3:10, 12). This is the reason why the Lord suggests from the outset that he has chosen Israel without any merit on their part (Deut. 7: 7-8; 9: 4-5).
He says: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious,” because he is “merciful and merciful; slow to anger, and abounding in mercy and truth” (Ex. 33:19; 34:6-7).
By the bloody sacrifices that prefigured the Cross, the remission and purification of sins was provisionally associated with those who believed (Heb. 9:22; Ex. 12:13; Lev. 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 16: 30, etc.).
The psalmist could also celebrate the grace that gave him salvation (Ps. 32:1-5). If God kept the memory of iniquities, no one could stand; but in Him is found forgiveness, mercy and redemption in abundance (Ps. 130:3, 4, 7-8). And the believer cries out: “Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we hope in you” (Ps. 33:22).
(B) Grace came through Jesus Christ, while the Law was given through Moses (John 1:17). “For the grace of God has appeared for salvation to all men” (Tit. 2:11).
The OT could only promise or anticipate that which the living and visible manifestation of the grace of God in Jesus Christ was going to make real and definitive.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sakes he became poor, although he was rich, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).
(C) It is on the Cross that saving grace shines. The coming of the Lord to earth was not enough. Grace is not a mere effect of the mercy of a God willing out of his goodness to grant full forgiveness.
His absolute holiness and justice had to be satisfied at the same time as his love: for this the atoning sacrifice of Calvary was necessary. Jesus descended “so that by the grace of God he might taste death for all” (Heb. 2:9).
“All have sinned…being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” It is He who became “a propitiation through faith in his blood” (Rom. 3:23-25).
(D) Grace can only be received by faith. We are “justified freely by his grace…; It is by faith, so that it may be by grace… And if by grace, it is no longer by works; otherwise grace is no longer grace” (Rom. 3:24; 4:16; 11:6).
This is the great doctrine of salvation by faith alone, without works or personal merits to achieve it, and which the Reformers so clearly brought to light.
Let’s go back to Paul: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
To God “we have access by faith into this grace” (Rom. 5:2). It is for this reason that salvation is mentioned as a gift of grace on several occasions (Rom. 5:15,16; Eph. 2:8; 3:7; 4:7; etc.).
What more is necessary to do, to receive a gift so magnanimously offered, than to accept it “with thanksgiving”? It is also essential to accept it humbly by faith, because God resists the proud, and gives thanks to the humble (1 Pet. 5:5; Luke 18:11-14).
(E) The effects of grace on us. They are wonderful and complete, to the point that it can be said of grace that it is the Lord himself acting for our salvation. Grace gives us full forgiveness of sins:
“When sin abounded, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:20).
“He made you alive together with him (Christ), forgiving you all your sins” (Col. 2:13).
We are “justified by his grace” (Tit. 3:7).
“We believe that by the grace of the Lord Jesus we will be saved” (Acts 15:11).
“It is a good thing to establish the heart in grace” (Heb. 13:9), which gives us eternal consolation and a good hope (2 Thes. 2:16).
God surrounds the righteous with his favor as with a shield (Ps. 5:12).
Those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:17, cp. v. 21).
This grace or favor “lasts a lifetime” (Ps. 30:5).
Such benefits are so numerous that the believer could not wish for anything more. This is the reason for the apostolic desire “that grace… be with you,” which is found 31 times in the Epistles and Revelation.
The summary of the gospel message is the testimony that the Lord and his people give to “the word of his grace” (Acts 14:3; cp. Acts 20:32). He who sees souls saved can say that he has seen the grace of God (Acts 11:23).
New converts were persuaded “to persevere in the grace of God” (Acts 13:43).
If this is so, to refuse a gift like this is to reject God himself.
Thus, you can:
fail to obtain the grace of God (Heb. 12:15),
or receive it in vain (2 Cor. 6:1),
transform it into dissolution (Jude 4; Rom. 6:1),
fall from it (Gal. 5:4).
However, you can also:
grow in grace (2 Pet. 3:18),
be filled with it (Acts 6:8), to such a point that God can always say to us: “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor. 12:9). “Thus he achieves his goal, which is to show in the ages to come the abundant riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus… to the praise of the glory of his grace” (Eph. . 2:7; 1:6).
BETHEL
is the name of a Canaanite city in the ancient region of Samaria, located in the center of the land of Canaan, northwest of Ai on the road to Shechem, 30 kilometers south of Shiloh and about 16 kilometers north of Jerusalem.
Bethel is the second most mentioned city in the Bible. Some identify it with the Palestinian village of Beitin and others with the Israeli settlement of Beit El.
Bethel was the place where Abraham built his altar when he first arrived in Canaan (Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:3). And at Bethel Jacob saw a vision of a ladder whose top touched heaven and the angels ascended and descended (Genesis 28:10-19).
For this reason Jacob was afraid, and said, “How terrible is this place! It is nothing other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven »and he called Bethel the place that was known as «Light» (Genesis 35-15).
Bethel was also a sanctuary in the days of the prophet Samuel, who judged the people there (1 Samuel 7:16; 1 Samuel 10:3). And it was the place where Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, was buried.
Bethel was the birthplace of Hiel, who sought to rebuild the city of Jericho (1 Kings 16:34).
When Bethel did not yet belong to the people of Israel, Joshua had to battle against the king of Bethel and other kings and defeated them (Joshua 12-16).
When the people of Israel had taken possession of the promised land, in the division by tribes it was assigned to the Tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18-22), but in later times it belonged to the Tribe of Judah (2 Chronicles 13:19).
It was one of the places where the Ark of the Covenant remained, a symbol of the presence of God.
In Bethel the prophet Samuel judged the people.
Then the prophet Elisha went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some boys came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him: “Go up, bald man; Come up, bald! When he looked back and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the forest and tore to pieces forty-two boys” (2 Kings 2:23).
After the division of the kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam I, king of Israel, had a golden calf raised at Bethel (1 Kings 21:29) which was destroyed by Josiah, king of Judah, many years later (2 Kings 23:15). .
Bethel was also a place where some of the Babylonian exiles who returned to Israel in 537 BC gathered. (Ezra 2:28).
The prophet Hosea, a century before Jeremiah, refers to Bethel by another name: “Bet-Aven” (Hosea 4:15; Hosea 5:8; Hosea 10:5-8), which means ‘House of Iniquity’, ‘House of Nothingness’, ‘House of Vanity’, ‘House of Nullity’, that is, of idols.
In Amos 7: 12-13 the priest Amaziah tells the prophet Amos that he flee to Judah and no longer prophesy in Bethel because it is the king’s sanctuary, and the head of the kingdom.
The prophet Jeremiah states that “the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel” (Jeremiah 48:13), because of their idolatry and, specifically, the worship of the golden calf.
PUTEOLI
(lat.: “small fountains”).
Two days after arriving in Rhegium, the ship carrying Paul arrived at Puteoli, which was then an important maritime city.
The apostle found Christians there, and enjoyed their hospitality (Acts 28:13).
It was located on the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples, near the site of present-day Pouzzoles.
The entire surrounding region is volcanic, and the Solfatare crater rises behind the city.
PUT
Name of a nation related to the Egyptians and neighbors of their country (Gen. 10:6).
Put is mentioned with Egypt and other African countries, especially Libya (Nah. 3:9) and Lud (Ez. 27:10; Is. 66:19 in the LXX. Put appears between Cush and Lud in Jer. 46:9; Ez. 30:5).
In the LXX he is translated as Libyans in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Josephus also identifies it with Libya (Ant. 1:6, 2), but in Nah. 3.9 is distinguished from the Libyans.
Current opinion is divided between Somalia, Eastern Arabia and Southern Arabia (Perfume Coast).
PURPLE
A coloring substance that is extracted from various species of mollusks. The ancient Tyrians used two types of them: the “Murex trunculus”, from which the bluish purple was extracted, and the “Murex brandaris”, which gave the red.
The ink of its coloring matter varies in color depending on the region in which it is fished.
Piles of murex shells, artificially opened, have been discovered in Minet el-Beida, port of ancient Ugarit (Ras Shamra), which gives evidence of the great antiquity of the use of this purple dye (see UGARIT).
Due to its high price, only the rich and magistrates wore purple (Est. 8:15, cf. the exaltation of Mordecai, v. 2, Pr. 31:22; Dan. 5:7; 1 Mac. 10 :20, 62, 64; 2 Mac. 4:38; cf. v 31; Luke 16:19; Rev. 17:4).
The rulers adorned themselves in purple, even those of Midian (Judg. 8:26). Jesus was mocked with a purple robe (Mark 15:17).
Great use had been made of purple-dyed fabrics for the Tabernacle (Ex. 25:4; 26:1, 31, 36) and for the high priest’s vestments (Ex. 28:5, 6, 15, 33; 39: 29). The Jews gave symbolic value to purple (Wars 5:5, 4).
PURIM
(Heb., plural of “luck”).
Haman cast lots to determine a day of good omen for the destruction of the Jews.
As Haman’s designs were undone, the liberation of the Jews was marked by an annual festival (Est. 3:7; 9:24-32) on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar.
This festival is not mentioned by name in the NT, although there are exegetes who assume that it is the one referred to in Jn. 5:1.
This festival continues to be celebrated within Judaism: the book of Esther is read, and curses are pronounced on Haman and his wife, blessings are pronounced on Mordecai and the eunuch Harbonah (Est. 1:10; 7: 9).
PURIFICATION, PURITY
In the Mosaic Law four ways to purify oneself from contamination were indicated:
(a) Purification of contamination contracted by touching a dead person (Num. 19; cf. Num. 5:2, 3),
(b) Purification from impurity due to bodily emissions (Lev. 15; cf. Num. 5:2, 3).
(c) Purification of the woman in labor (Lev. 12:1-8; Luke 2:21-24).
(d) Purification of the leper (Lev. 14).
To this, the scribes and Pharisees added many other purifications, such as washing hands before eating, washing vessels and dishes, showing great zeal in these things, while inside they were full of extortion and iniquity (Mark 7: 2-8).
In Christianity the necessary purification extends:
to the heart (Acts 15:9; James 4:8),
to the soul (1 Pet. 1:22), and
to the conscience through the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:14).
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BETHEL
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