Define grace, faith, works and mercy in 400 words or less! Impossible, you say? Start with the acronym: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense — GRACE; indeed!

Faith is the “doer” the implement, the tool, or the “hand” of one’s heart and mind. Faith is: capacity, engine, driver, container, arrow, shovel, mechanism, or even software.

Mercy is that quality of God, borrowed, imitated and apprehended by human beings, to appropriate grace. Like faith, mercy can be measured; you can have more, less or none at all. Some have ample grace to apply mercy to others (known as forgiveness) even when they have been hurt or offended by them.

Faith is always in something or someone; the invisible grasping and trusting in the visible. Some put more faith in the internal combustion engine than in an electric motor or solar power. The gas engine is relatively cheap and provides quick, reliable power. But researchers tell us these archaic sources of energy will go the way of the horse and buggy when replaced by a portable hydrogen or nuclear generator. To have faith “in” something is displayed by how it “works.”

But I digress, and I’m running out of words. It is nearly impossible for mere mortals to define these core Christian doctrines with 400 words. Because, as a matter of fact, someone else — the Holy Spirit — already did it with only 100 words: Titus 3:4-8.

“But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that you affirm (profess by faith) constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works (demonstrate by doing).”

The Holy Ghost defines these doctrines by pointing to Jesus: who embodied grace by dying, faith by trusting his Father, works by feeding, healing, casting out devils, and raising the dead and mercy by doing it all for those who don’t deserved it. Jesus defined these concepts even more succinctly, “… by their fruits you shall know them.”

— The Rev. Kelly Wasberg