Hebrew Nuggets, Lesson 29: Grace Compared

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Our previous lesson introduced the Hebrew letters that make up (ḤE·sed), and we looked at other words these letters allowed us to read. In this lesson we take a closer look at the work ḤE·sed itself, and compare its use in Jewish and Christian Bibles.

Revised: 6-Oct.-2015
Our previous lesson introduced the Hebrew letters that make up the word חֶסֶד (ḤE·sed), and we looked at other words these letters allow us to read. In this lesson we take a closer look at the word ḤE·sed itself, and compare its use in Jewish and Christian Bibles.

Hebrew NuggetsGrace seems to be plentiful in the New Testament but rare in the Hebrew Scriptures. Many Christians have gained the false impression that the God of the Jewish Bible is typically a God of wrath, while the God of the New Testament—almost a different God—is a God of love. This impression is strengthened by such New Testament statements as “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17; RSV). Is God’s grace more prevalent in the New Testament than in the Jewish Scriptures? The answer is no, but the explanation of how this misperception gained acceptance among Christians is complicated.

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To read the next lesson in this series, click here.

For the transliteration system used in this series, click here.

This article originally appeared in issue 36 of the Jerusalem Perspective magazine. Click on the image above to view a PDF of the original magazine article.

  • David N. Bivin

    David N. Bivin
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    David N. Bivin is founder and editor of Jerusalem Perspective. A native of Cleveland, Oklahoma, U.S.A., Bivin has lived in Israel since 1963, when he came to Jerusalem on a Rotary Foundation Fellowship to do postgraduate work at the Hebrew University. He studied at the Hebrew…
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