Charis

[Scuba Pete]

What is the correct translation for this (romanized) greek word? Why?

 

[Lintu]

"Charis" is a Greek word, still in common usage. It is a rich and meaningful name and well-chosen to represent what we strive for. In both Modern and Ancient Greek the word "Charis" retains the following meanings: "innate giftedness", "splendour", "inner grace", "charm", "gift", "talent", "beneficence", "courtesy", "gratitude", and "donation" (readers take note!), but has also come to mean "joy" and "mercy".

In Greek Mythology, "the Charites" were worshiped as goddesses protecting and promoting all kinds of joy and happiness, their names being "Aglaia", meaning "splendour", "Efrosyni", meaning "merriment and pleasant state of mind" and "Thalia" meaning "blooming life". As for the pronunciation in Greek it is "Haris" with soft "h" sound.

http://www.wellhost.com/charis/etymology.html

 

[Linus]

From Vine's Expository Dictionary at www.data-boy.net.

Accept, Accepted, Acceptable
11charis (Noun)

"grace," indicating favor on the part of the giver, "thanks" on the part of the receiver, is rendered "acceptable" in 1Pe. 2:19,20. See margin. See BENEFIT, FAVOR, GRACE, LIBERALITY, PLEASURE, THANK.

Benefit, Benefactor

3charis

"grace," is once rendered "benefit," 2Co. 1:15; it stresses the character of the "benefit," as the effect of the gracious disposition of the benefactor. See ACCEPTABLE, FAVOR, GRACE, LIBERALITY, PLEASURE, THANK.

Bounty, Bountifully

3charis

"grace," is rendered, "bounty" in 1Co. 16:3, RV, (AV, "liberality"), by metonymy for a material gift. See BENEFIT, No. 3.

Favor, Favored

1charis (Noun)

Denotes (a) objectively, "grace in a person, graciousness," (b) subjectively, (1) "grace on the part of a giver, favor, kindness," (2) "a sense of favor received, thanks." It is rendered "favor" in Lu. 1:30; 2:52; Ac. 2:47; 7:10,46; 24:27; 25:9, RV (for AV, "pleasure"); Ac. 25:3; see more fully under GRACE.

Grace

1charis

Has various uses, (a) objective, that which bestows or occasions pleasure, delight, or causes favorable regard; it is applied, e.g., to beauty, or gracefulness of person, Lu. 2:40; act, 2Co. 8:6, or speech, Lu. 4:22, RV, "words of grace" (AV, "gracious words"); Col. 4:6; (b) subjective, (1) on the part of the bestower, the friendly disposition from which the kindly act proceeds, graciousness, loving-kindness, goodwill generally, e.g., Ac. 7:10; especially with reference to the Divine favor or "grace," e.g., Ac. 14:26; in this respect there is stress on its freeness and universality, its spontaneous character, as in the case of God's redemptive mercy, and the pleasure or joy He designs for the recipient; thus it is set in contrast with debt, Ro. 4:4,16, with works, Ro. 11:6, and with law, Joh. 1:17; see also, e.g., Ro. 6:14,15; Ga. 5:4; (2) on the part of the receiver, a sense of the favor bestowed, a feeling of gratitude, e.g., Ro. 6:17 ("thanks"); in this respect it sometimes signifies "to be thankful," e.g., Lu. 17:9 ("doth he thank the servant?" lit., "hath he thanks to"); 1Ti. 1:12; (c) in another objective sense, the effect of "grace," the spiritual state of those who have experienced its exercise, whether (1) a state of "grace," e.g., Ro. 5:2; 1Pe. 5:12; 2Pe. 3:18, or (2) a proof thereof in practical effects, deeds of "grace," e.g., 1Co. 16:3, RV, "bounty" (AV, "liberality"); 2Co. 8:6,19 (in 2Co. 9:8 it means the sum of earthly blessings); the power and equipment for ministry, e.g., Ro. 1:5; 12:6; 15:15; 1Co. 3:10; Ga. 2:9; Eph. 3:2,7. To be in favor with is to find "grace" with, e.g., Ac. 2:47; hence it appears in this sense at the beginning and the end of several Epistles, where the writer desires "grace" from God for the readers, e.g., Ro. 1:7; 1Co. 1:3; in this respect it is connected with the imperative mood of the word chairo, "to rejoice," a mode of greeting among Greeks, e.g., Ac. 15:23; Jas. 1:1 (marg.); 2Jo. 1:10,11, RV, "greeting" (AV, "God speed"). The fact that "grace" is received both from God the Father, 2Co. 1:12, and from Christ, Ga. 1:6; Ro. 5:15 (where both are mentioned), is a testimony to the deity of Christ. See also 2Th. 1:12, where the phrase "according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ" is to be taken with each of the preceding clauses, "in you," "and ye in Him." In Jas. 4:6, "But He giveth more grace" (Greek, "a greater grace," RV, marg.), the statement is to be taken in connection with the preceding verse, which contains two remonstrating, rhetorical questions, "Think ye that the Scripture speaketh in vain?" and "Doth the Spirit (the Holy Spirit) which He made to dwell in us long unto envying?" (see the RV). The implied answer to each is "it cannot be so." Accordingly, if those who are acting so flagrantly, as if it were so, will listen to the Scripture instead of letting it speak in vain, and will act so that the Holy Spirit may have His way within, God will give even "a greater grace," namely, all that follows from humbleness and from turning away from the world. See BENEFIT, BOUNTY, LIBERALITY, THANK. Note: The corresponding verb charitoo, "to endue with Divine favor or grace," is used in Lu. 1:28, "highly favored" (marg., "endued with grace") and Eph. 1:6, AV, "hath made ... accepted;" RV, "freely bestowed" (marg., "enduced.").

Liberal, Liberality, Liberally

2charis (Noun)

Is rendered "liberality" in 1Co. 16:3, AV. See BOUNTY, No. 3.

Thank, Thanks (Noun and Verb), Thankful, Thankfulness, Thanksgiving, Thankworthy

1charis (Noun)

For the meanings of which see GRACE, No. 1, is rendered "thank" in Lu. 6:32-34; in Lu. 17:9, "doth he thank" is lit., "hath he thanks to;" it is rendered "thanks (be to God)" in Ro. 6:17, RV (AV, "God be thanked"); "thanks" in 1Co. 15:57; in 1Ti. 1:12; 2Ti. 1:3, "I thank" is, lit., "I have thanks;" "thankworthy," 1Pe. 2:19, AV (RV, "acceptable"). See ACCEPT, D, No. 2.

 

[Scuba Pete]

Jesus was filled with "Grace and truth"... which grace is that (if it has even been mentioned)?

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Jesus was filled with "Grace and truth"... which grace is that (if it has even been mentioned)?

If one chooses to believe the stories, the man killed fiig trees, infests swine, and has temper tantrums in the synagogue. At the very least he deserved a "time out".

 

[Scuba Pete]

Troll, troll, troll your boat...

 

[Scuba Pete]

Ephesians 2:8. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--

OK, so no one wants to deal with full of Grace and truth... how about this passage? What does it teach us?

 

[No*s]

Jesus was filled with "Grace and truth"... which grace is that (if it has even been mentioned)?

Why does it have to be just one sense of the word? Those are all English senses, and where English makes a division, Greek does not. Sometimes it's the other way around.

You can fit most of the definitions into an interpretation of Jesus. In fact, I think to Christians, no matter what stripe, we may all agree that Jesus manifested them all.

 

[Scuba Pete]

Actually,

our understanding of the Greek has been contaminated. Much of what was defined as grace are merely aspects of it. Fer instance... grace does not mean gift, though it is a free gift of God. Maybe it would be better if we tried to figure out what it really DIDN'T mean first.

We can start with the "Free gift" deviation. Say I give you an egg. Now I ask you to define it. Would you define it as "a free gift from Pete"? No, it would still be an an avian ovum ecased in an oblong, thin, and fragile shell, even though one of the attributes of this egg is that I gave it to you.

Why do I ask this about Grace? Because tooooooooo many use it as a "Spiritual Buzz Word". If you bring up most anything that they disagree with, they will throw up "saved by gace" as some sort of catch all defense against actually having to think. It is both my supposition and contention, that most people really have no clue what grace really means.

So, let's narrow this down a bit shall we? Lets try to come to a better understanding of this very important concept.

 

[No*s]

Most people I've known who would say they were "saved by grace" mean some kind of special favor in a pen-sub system. Still, you have a good point there. I don't think there's an English equivelent, but I'll try and think of one. Nothing short of actively teaching the definition will do otherwise.

 

[Scuba Pete]

There is an english equivilent... if you dig for it. Most people are happy with not knowing. It will revolutionize your idea of Christianity once you figure it out. BTW, part of it happens to be one of the english words that have been derived from this Greek word. There are at least two.

 

[No*s]

If you're referring to charity, I don't think that is capable of conveying the word's meaning. Grace would be much better than that. Unfortunately, "charity" is the only word that I can think of.

 

[Scuba Pete]

Charity ain't it. Not even close.

Maybe a "church" word will get you going in the right direction... "charismatic". Charisma, while a direct decendent of this word, does not have the exact meaning. But it's closer than grace.

Cheer has also been attribute to the Greek, but I question that.

Keep digging.

 

[true blood]

If one chooses to believe the stories, the man killed fiig trees, infests swine, and has temper tantrums in the synagogue. At the very least he deserved a "time out".

:woohoo:

Bible-bashing seems like alot of fun I almost wish I was on the other side at times.

 

[Scuba Pete]

This is from Strong's:

graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstract or concrete; literal, figurative or spiritual; especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude)

If I may be so bold... grace is becoming more like God. In fact it means growing in the character of God.

Jesus was full of the Character of God and truth. In fact you can replace any place that uses grace and see just much sense this really makes.



BTW, other than charisma, we get character directly from charis. As I pointed out, some think we get cheer as well, but I think that is more than a stretch.

 

[No*s]

This is from Strong's:

graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstract or concrete; literal, figurative or spiritual; especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude)

No, I cannot believe that this is an adequate translation of kharis at all. It covers an adjectival shade of meaning of "grace." It is not derived from kharis, but from a cognate word. Grace reflects quite a bit more than this.

For instance, if something is done by the grace of God. Substituting "graciousness" for "grace" there renders the phrase incomprehensible. Rendering "grace" as "graciousness" in "He moves with grace," makes it incomprehensible as well. Kharis includes both of these senses among others.

There is a further problem that "graciousness" comes not from "kharis," but "grace," which comes ultimately from the Latin "gratia," which is a cognate and standard translation of "kharis." That explains why I didn't see what you were looking for. I was looking for a derivative, not something with a cognate etymology : ).

If you are wanting to avoid this word, this would not be very smart way to do it. In the end, you have narrowed down the definition too far. Grace is ambiguous in its original sense, simply because of the ground it covers (actuall, very similar to English here).

If I may be so bold... grace is becoming more like God. In fact it means growing in the character of God.

Believe it or not...we actually agree for the most part here. I simply wouldn't narrow that to "character."

Jesus was full of the Character of God and truth. In fact you can replace any place that uses grace and see just much sense this really makes.

BTW, other than charisma, we get character directly from charis. As I pointed out, some think we get cheer as well, but I think that is more than a stretch.

"Character" actually comes from the word "kharakter," which means "image" or "stamp." It is not a derivative of kharis. If I were to guess, I would say it comes from kharax. That is a guess, though, because I haven't looked it up.

Cheer cannot come from "kharis" either. I agree fully. It comes from the Latin "cara."

I think you've missed some spots on etymology and on some of the meaning of the word. I would posit that "grace" is the best word in English, because it covers all of the necessary meanings, even if it's ambiguous in a lot of places (Probably even more so than the original, me thinks). I don't think there's a replacement that can clear things up without causing more harm than good at the same time. Heck, I'm sure I subscribe to understandings of grace that you don't. It's a nice, nebulous word : ).

 

[Scuba Pete]

Graciousness works fine for me in those scriptures. But I think Charecter of God is the far better translation.

 

[No*s]

Graciousness works fine for me in those scriptures. But I think Charecter of God is the far better translation.

Then we will have to disagree. "Graciousness" is far more an interpretation than a translation of "kharis," and "character" an even less accurate translation.

I could just as easily replace it with "khaira," and make it all joy. It'd be easy, but it wouldnt' be accurate at all.

 

[DTrent]

CHARIS is also a girl's name...and a very lovely one, at that!

Some people spell it SHARIS, too. But I prefer CHARIS.