I agree with what Fulltimestudent posted. Grace is unmerited because our Heavenly Father is superior to us. So technically speaking, you could say undeserved. The problem is the "flavor" or "tone" that the WTBTS gives to "undeserved kindness."
It's the difference between a Father, who is in many way superior to their small child, giving that child a gift. A loving father does not hand a child a gift and then say, " Remember, YOU do not deserve this. You are receiving this because I am so good. It has nothing to do with your merit. NEVER forget that." Really, that is what the WTBTS leaders are doing. They want every JW to never forget how undeserving they are. That lowly feeling contributes to JW being subservient to the GB.
Grace, on the other hand, is a freely given righteous standing before God on the basis of Christ's sacrifice. It applies NOW. Not 1,000 years from now. All those who receive grace, receive Holy Spirit. Not only that, but it is in EQUAL measure. No one has more Holy Spirit than another. The GB hate that. It means that every JW has access to the "helper", the spirit of truth. JWs don't need the GB. The GB need the JWs. Understanding grace means saying bye-bye to the two-tiered JW system and a loss of prestige, power and lifestyle for the GB. That is why they willingly chose not to use grace in the NWT or the RNWT. Grace is easily explaned, but the most spiritually gifted collective of humans in history can't explain what it means?? Really??
Notice this lame article.
Questions From Readers
● Is not the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures verbose, for instance, in using “catches sight of” for “sees” at 1 John 5:16 and “undeserved kindness” for “grace”?—J. S., United States.
You do not state whether you have studied the koiné Greek of the Bible or not, but, if not, then, because of your unfamiliarity therewith, the way the New World Translation Committee renders some Greek verbs and terms and expressions in English may seem strained to you or verbose. But not so according to one acquainted with the Greek. The Greek verb rendered “catches sight of” in the New World Translation is in a peculiar tense of the Greek language, the aorist, and refers not to a repetition of acts or to a continuing action but to just one instance of the act. The use of the present tense of the verb “see,” namely, “sees,” as in the King James Version, does not bring out accurately the singular meaning of the verb here in the aorist tense, the catching of a person, as you say, red-handed, in the act.
Likewise with the expression “undeserved kindness.” It is simply because people do not understand the meaning of this Scriptural Greek word in its several uses that the New World Translation Committee made the meaning unmistakable by the use of the above expression. In English the word “grace” has fourteen or more different meanings. Which one does it mean, as at John 1:14 (AV), “full of grace and truth”? Does it mean there “gracefulness”? Or “favor”? Or “the grant of temporary immunity”? Or what? The New World Translation leaves no doubt as to the meaning but renders it “undeserved kindness,” in keeping with the context, as, for instance, the succeeding verse 17.
So we appreciate the New World Translation for its attention to detail and its sincere effort to bring out the exact shade of meaning of the original koiné Greek rather than bring out a slipshod translation with an equivocal meaning.
So Christ's " brothers" cannot make a version of the Bible that educates the reader about the different meanings of the original Greek word? It seems like a simple task to add a footnote, don't you agree?