THE LAW OF FIRST MENTION: GRACE

“Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8, NKJV). This is the first Biblical reference to “grace.”

Grace can be defined as “undeserved acceptance and love.” In the Bible, it often refers to the undeserved favor granted by God in providing salvation for the sinful, unworthy, and undeserving (like me).

Generations after Adam and Eve rebelled against God, mankind devolved into open defiance and rebellion against their Creator. “When the Lord saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time, the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and he was deeply grieved” (Genesis 6:5–6). When God scanned His once-perfect creation, He saw only evil, wickedness, immorality, brokenness, and pain.

In the council chambers of Heaven, the verdict was announced. “I will wipe mankind, whom I created, off the face of the earth, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I made them” (Genesis 6:7).

But… “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and the justifiable “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But in the “undeserved acceptance and love” of Jesus, we can be “saved by grace through faith, and this is not from ourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).