📖 Biblical Definition
Hebrew adjective channun, gracious, showing favor, applied predominantly to God in the Old Testament. The term clusters with rachum (compassionate) in the great divine self-revelation of Exodus 34:6 (The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth), which is then repeated and echoed throughout the OT (Numbers 14:18; 2 Chronicles 30:9; Nehemiah 9:17, 31; Psalm 86:15; 103:8; 111:4; 112:4; 116:5; 145:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2). The repetition of this divine self-description across the OT — the LORD's most-quoted self-description of His own character — establishes channun as one of the principal attributes of God in OT theology. The divine graciousness is His free favor extended to the unworthy — not in spite of holiness (which would set graciousness against righteousness) but in fulfilment of God's revealed purpose of redemption, which the OT sacrificial system anticipates and the New Covenant Christ-work accomplishes. The patriarchal-Reformed reader finds in channun the OT shadow of the NT doctrine of grace (Greek charis), the unmerited favor that crowns the gospel.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Hebrew channun (H2587), gracious / showing favor; God's principal self-description (Exodus 34:6 and ten OT echoes); the OT shadow of NT charis.
expand to see more
CHANUN, Hebrew adj. (H2587; gracious, showing favor) From chanan (H2603, to show favor, be gracious); cognate with chen (H2580, grace, favor). Applied predominantly to God. Clusters with rachum (compassionate) in the great divine self-revelation of Exodus 34:6, repeated and echoed throughout the OT (Numbers 14:18; 2 Chronicles 30:9; Nehemiah 9:17, 31; Psalm 86:15; 103:8; 111:4; 112:4; 116:5; 145:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2). The LORD's most-quoted self-description; one of the principal attributes of God in OT theology. The OT shadow of NT charis; the doctrine of grace.
📖 Key Scripture
Exodus 34:6 — "And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth."
Psalm 145:8 — "The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy."
Jonah 4:2 — "For I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil."
Joel 2:13 — "And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
No major postmodern redefinition. The principal contemporary mishandling is the soft-evangelical decoupling of graciousness from holiness, treating God's grace as license rather than as the gospel's accomplishment of justice and redemption together.
expand to see more
Chanun as a Hebrew term does not undergo lexical corruption. The principal contemporary mishandling is the soft-evangelical decoupling of graciousness from holiness, in which God's grace is treated as license, indulgence, or general benevolence severed from His revealed character of holiness, righteousness, and judgment. The OT proclamation of Exodus 34 holds both together: the LORD is merciful, gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting iniquity to the third and fourth generation. The Reformed confessional tradition articulates the unity: God's graciousness is His free favor extended to the unworthy in fulfilment of His revealed purpose of redemption through the substitutionary atonement of Christ — where justice and graciousness meet without compromise.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
H2587; from chanan (H2603); the LORD's most-quoted self-description (Exodus 34:6); OT shadow of NT charis.
expand to see more
['Hebrew', 'H2587', 'channun', 'gracious, showing favor']
['Hebrew', 'H2603', 'chanan', 'to show favor, be gracious (verbal root)']
['Hebrew', 'H2580', 'chen', 'grace, favor (related noun)']
Usage
"Channun: gracious; the LORD's principal self-description (Exodus 34:6)."
"OT shadow of NT charis (grace)."
"Held together with holiness, justice, and judgment in the LORD's revealed character."