Grace is the reconciliation and protection necessary to bring a sin sick soul destined to die...back to life everlasting; and purity. Grace is what was and is Necessary to bring Gods creation Back to the Perfect and pure existence God intended at creation.
Grace is God's love fleshed out in the man Jesus...God's Christ.
The Tree of Knowledge of good and evil: was the test of man's love for his creator.every moment that went by with out them touching it or eating of it's fruit was a moment in love with the creator. every moment they were in love with God they were not killing or stealing or coveting or fornicating or dishonoring the creator who made them ( their parents) the father and son they were one in the spirit of God. They were Living Souls... free... with free will. They had no neighbor to bare a false witness against so they did not bare false witness against them selves (even after they sined).
All Ten Commandments rolled into loving God in every moment of thoughts pure and free of disobeying God. Adam and Eve were not Tempted by evil the thought was not in their minds to eat of the tree or touch it...until.
Lucifer. Lucifer the Law breaker, murderer
| Jhn 8:44 | Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it |
I was always taught that Lucifer's sin was pride and it was but it was also sin worthy of the same punishment as murder. Jesus put it out there clear to me:
| Mat 5:21 | ¶ | Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: |
| Mat 5:22 | But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council:but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. |
Jesus is not doing away with the law he is showing us that law breaking begins with our thoughts as man is just now learning. Nothing "Just Happens"...we think about sins sometimes over and over before we do them. Eve was deceived in her thinking before she sinned.
| Gen 3:6 | And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. |
Obviously eve had seen the tree before but this time she Saw it different. In her mind she was now deceived.
While in this state (deceived) she made a bad decision: to disobey god's one commandment: don't eat of the tree.
Grace was inherent in the relationship of God with his creation but understanding that the law was about man: showing his love for God; and not God trying to hide something or just rule over man. The Law was righteous and holy.
| Rom 7:12 | Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. |
The consequences of sin were however unacceptable to God and so Justice kissed mercy and produced Grace.
Grace : the unmerited favor of God available through the second adam:
| 1Cr 15:45 | And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit. |
| 2Cr 5:17 | Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. |
Grace gives us the ability to live in this world like Christ and to Occupy till he comes.
It returns us to a clean state through Obedience:
| Rom 10:9 | That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. |
| Mar 16:16 | He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. |
| Jhn 3:5 | Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. |
| Jhn 4:2 | (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) |
Grace still requires obedience: obedience to what? God's Word; his law. Not written on stone but on the inward parts our hearts with our hearts we obey him.
| Isa 51:7 | ¶ | Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart [is] my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings |