Grace that Heals, Not Only Declares:
If you’ve grown up with a Western lens on grace—particularly a Protestant one—you probably hear “grace” and think: unmerited favour, God’s declaration that we’re righteous in Christ. And rightly so. That courtroom metaphor is biblical, beautiful, and central. But it’s not the only way Christians have understood grace.
Reading James R. Payton’s Light from the Christian East, I was struck by how the Eastern Orthodox tradition speaks of grace—not as an abstract status change, but as a real participation in the life of God. Grace is not only what gets us in; it’s God's ongoing ‘energies’ through which we are healed, transformed, and united with Christ.
This does not lead to a soft view of sin. The Orthodox take sin seriously—seriously enough to believe that God doesn’t only declare us fixed, but actually wants to fix us. Grace isn’t only pardon; it’s power. It’s not only a verdict; it’s a medicine.
Payton puts it like this: “Grace is not merely God’s attitude of kindness... It is His own life, shared with us through the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus puts it like this: “we [Father, Son & HS] will come to them [lovers and obeyers of Jesus] and make our home with them (John 14:23).”
This is why the Orthodox talk so much about theosis (or deification or divinization) —becoming “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). It sounds edgy until you realise: they’re not saying we become gods, but that by grace, we’re drawn into deep communion with the God who made us, and are transformed into the likeness of his Son.
This is also classic Tim Keller—grace as ongoing renewal, not only a doorway we walk through once, but the path we walk every day. His emphasis on gospel-centrality frames grace as the engine of transformation, for individuals and churches.
In a world where many feel emptied out, worn down, or trapped in sin cycles, this vision of grace as life-giving presence in addition to legal pardon is not just ancient—it’s timely.
What if we saw grace not only as God's mercy toward us, but also as His Spirit in us, transforming us from the inside out? As St Gregory Palamas put it: “We are not able to share in the essence of God, but we can truly participate in His energies.”