Technically, "free gift" is not even a redundancy, as I explained earlier. When I answered, I took you to mean that "free" was a superfluous adjective. In common usage, there is nothing wrong with "jumbo shrimp" as an oxymoron. For a purest, the phrase "bitter-sweet" might do. My favorite example of a redundancy is "born-again Christian". :)
Well, it's like saying "cash is as good as money" or "at 10 A.M. in the morning." Do we have to get more graphic?
When I answered, I took you to mean that "free" was a superfluous adjective
It is a superfluous adjective. That's what makes it redundant. But it's also self-negating because it implies the possibility of a non-free "gift."
As for the KJV, just plain old gift would have sufficied. It would have been closer to what the Greek original says than "free gift."
For a purest, the phrase "bitter-sweet" might do. My favorite example of a redundancy is "born-again Christian".
Bitter-sweet is not an oxymoron. Sweet and sour is not one either. Born-again Christian is because it implies that one was born [a Christian] and was born again — a Christian!
Sometimes, an 'oxymoron' such as Jumbo Shrimp is an eye-catching product line name, because it involves, in addition to opposites, a pun. In other cases, the necessity for a simple name (brevity) creates them, such as born-again Christian, a name that requires a whole paragraph to explain.
However, the meaning of Grace is of utmost importance to Christians. As I told you already, an undeserved mercy would reflect God's love and patience with us more than 'free gift,' imo, and, as I said previously, that came with a caveat, so it is not unconditional. You can't receive grace and follow satan.
LOL!!! What an excellent example.