Grace in Greek, χάρις (charis), κεχαριτωμένη (kecharitôménē) and the theology of grace

The Greek word for “Grace”

The Greek word for “grace” is χάρις (charis), a feminine noun of the third declension, which derives from the verb chairō (“to rejoice”). In the Greek New Testament, charis appears 155 times, with meanings that include: divine grace, gratuitous favor, gratitude and beauty. The established Latin translation is gratia, which Jerome’s Vulgate uses systematically to translate charis in the Pauline epistles and in the Johannine writings. The etymology reveals the theological structure: grace (charis) is the gratuitous gift that generates joy (chara) in the recipient.

Charis in Paul: grace as gratuitous gift

Paul of Tarsus is the theologian of charis par excellence. In Rom 3:24 he affirms: “justified freely by his grace (dōrean tē autou chariti) through the redemption in Christ Jesus.” Pauline grace is: (1) gratuitous, not merited. (2) efficacious, it transforms the sinner. (3) universal, offered to all. In Eph 2:8: “It is by grace that you have been saved, through faith. And this does not come from you, it is the gift of God.” The great expression kecharitōménē of Lk 1:28 is intimately linked to this tradition: Mary is the one who received grace in a fully permanent way.

Kecharitōménē: the grace of Mary

The verbal form kecharitōménē (κεχαριτωμένη) in Lk 1:28 is a perfect passive participle of charitoō, a verb derived from charis. The Greek perfect indicates a past action whose effects endure in the present: Mary did not merely “receive grace” (as if it were a one-time act), but she is in the state of having been fully graced, and that state is permanent. Ignace de la Potterie, a Jesuit exegete, showed that this verb occurs only twice in the NT: in Lk 1:28 (Mary) and in Eph 1:6 (the whole Church). The difference is that Mary is addressed in the vocative, she is called kecharitōménē, and it becomes her new name.

Charis vs karis: a note on spelling

In frequent Portuguese-language searches, “karis” (with k) appears instead of “charis” (with ch). Both spellings refer to the same Greek word χάρις. The scientific transliteration system uses “ch” (charis), which reproduces the Greek digraph chi (χ). The “k” represents a phonetic simplification, since the Greek chi is pronounced like an aspirated “c” in classical Greek, but like “h” or the Spanish “j” in modern Greek. For academic studies, the correct form is charis.

Charis in the patristic tradition

The Fathers of the Greek Church developed a rich theology of charis. Clement of Alexandria (2nd cent.) saw grace as the beauty of the soul illumined by the Logos. Origen interpreted Lk 1:28 as the perfectio gratiae of Mary. John Damascene (8th cent.), in a homily on the Nativity of Mary, states: “Chaire, kecharitōménē, Hail, you who are all grace, for you are the only one who, before being born, received the fullness of divine grace that was given to no other creature.” Greek Mariology saw in kecharitōménē the expression of the Immaculate Conception, before Latin theology formulated the dogma of 1854.

Gratia plena: the translation of the Vulgate

Jerome’s translation, “gratia plena” (full of grace), was the most influential in the liturgy and in Western theology. The Ave Maria in Latin uses “gratia plena.” This translation captures the sense of fullness, but loses the temporal dimension of the Greek perfect. A more literal translation would be “you who have been and are graced in fullness.” The debate about the best translation of kecharitōménē was one of the richest in the exegesis of the 20th century, with contributions from Max Zerwick, René Laurentin and Ignace de la Potterie.

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