In New Testament times if you wanted to start a business you wouldn’t go to a bank, like people do today, and obtain a business loan. Instead, society was structured in those days in such a way that, without your own capital, you would need to establish a relationship with someone else who had the means to help you. That person, who might provide you with things like money, office space, business connections, and other resources, was known as your patron and you would become their client. This arrangement was known as the patron client relationship.

Why am I talking about the patron-client relationship of two-thousand years ago? Well, consider this: the resources given by the patron to the client were known in the Greek-speaking world as charis, which is the New Testament word for grace. In return the client was expected to show loyalty and allegiance to the patron. For instance, they would use their business to serve the needs of the patron. This service was known as pistis, the New Testament word for faith.

The patron-client relationship was how society functioned in the first century and so Paul’s readers would immediately understand he was using the analogy of that relationship when he wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). Grace and faith, of course, are two key words in the New Testament, but it’s from their connection to the patron-client relationship that we see their depth of meaning.

In Christ we aren’t running a business, but we are forming a relationship with God who, metaphorically speaking, is our patron, and we are his clients. God’s grace supplies us with all that we need: whether it’s the necessities of life, our skills and talents, opportunities he opens for us, or anything else which can be described as charis, a gift from God. In return, God is looking for us to show pistis, faith.

Viewed through the lens of the patron client relationship, both grace and faith take on a much richer meaning than maybe we are used to. Grace is more than God saving us because we can’t save ourselves. It’s about the community he has put us into, the abilities we possess to serve, those times when providence afforded us opportunities to serve and preach to others. The grace of God is not merely a one-time act of saving us at our baptism. God is an active patron, pouring out his grace upon us every day of our lives. He wants us to succeed, and he gives us everything we need. Likewise, faith is more than an acceptance of God’s grace and a profession of our faith in a set of doctrines at our baptism. It’s also an everyday thing as we work in partnership with our divine patron, using the gifts he gives to us to serve him, our Lord Jesus Christ, and brothers and sisters, and all with whom we come into contact.

We can see a good illustration of the principle in the Parable of the Talents. The master in the parable is the patron who gives talents to each of his clients. It is those who used their talents well who were commended, and the one who buried his talent in the ground was condemned. What are we doing with what God has given us? Faith is not a static belief in God and his promises; it’s about commitment to turn the gifts God has given to us into profitable spiritual endeavors.

Of course, our relationship with God goes deeper than the patron-client relationship. God is not giving us grace merely so we can serve his needs. He delights to pour down his blessings on us, and faith is about responding to that love by showing that we have faith by our works and continually growing in our affection for the one who has given us so much.

Bro. Richard Morgan