Are we preaching "cheap grace"?

320 we preach cheap grace

Perhaps you too have heard it said about grace that "it is not unlimited" or "it makes demands". Those who emphasize God's love and forgiveness will occasionally encounter people who accuse them of advocating what they disparagingly call "cheap grace." This is exactly what happened with my good friend and GCI pastor, Tim Brassel. He was accused of preaching "cheap grace." I like how he reacted to that. His answer was: "No, I do not preach cheap grace, but far better: free grace!"

The expression cheap mercy comes from the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who used it in his book "Nachfolge" and made it popular. He used it to emphasize that God's undeserved grace comes to a person when he is converted and has a new life in Christ. But without a life of discipleship, God's fullness does not penetrate to him - the person then only experiences "cheap grace".

The Lordship Salvation controversy

Does salvation require acceptance of Jesus or discipleship as well? Unfortunately, Bonhoeffer's teaching on grace (including the use of the term cheap grace) and his discussion of salvation and discipleship has often been misunderstood and misused. This relates primarily to the decades-long debate that has come to be known as the Lordship Salvation Controversy.

A leading voice in this debate, a well-known five-point Calvinist, consistently asserts that those who claim that personal profession of faith in Christ alone is necessary for salvation are guilty of advocating "cheap grace." would. He argues that making a profession of faith (accepting Jesus as Savior) and doing some good works (in obedience to Jesus as Lord) are necessary for salvation.

Both sides have good arguments in this debate. In my opinion, there are mistakes in the view of both parties that could have been avoided. It is first of all the relationship of Jesus to the Father and not how we humans behave towards God. From this point of view, it is clear that Jesus is both Lord and Savior. Both sides would find it much more than a gift of grace that we are led by the Holy Spirit to be more closely involved in Jesus' own relationship with the Father.

With this Christ-Trinity-centered view, both sides would view good works not as something to earn salvation (or something superfluous), but that we were created to walk in Christ (Ephesians 2,10). They would also see that we are redeemed for no merit and not because of our works (including our personal creed) but through the work and faith of Jesus on our behalf (Ephesians 2,8-9; Galatians 2,20). Then they could conclude that there is nothing that can be done to salvation, either by adding to or by keeping to it. As the great preacher Charles Spurgeon put it: "If we had to prick even one pinprick in the robe of our salvation, we would ruin it utterly."

Jesus' work gives us His all-embracing grace

As we discussed earlier in this series on grace, we should trust in Jesus' work (his faithfulness) much more than in our own doing. It does not devalue the gospel when we teach that salvation is not through our works but alone effected by God's grace. Karl Barth wrote: “No one can be saved by their own actions, but everyone can be saved by God’s actions.”

Scripture teaches us that whoever believes in Jesus "has eternal life" (John 3,16; 36; 5,24) and "is saved" (Romans 10,9). There are verses that exhort us to follow Jesus by living our new lives in him. Every request to come closer to God and to want to obtain his grace, which thereby separates Jesus as Savior and Jesus as Lord, is misguided. Jesus is utterly undivided reality, both Savior and Lord. As the Redeemer he is Lord and as Lord he is the Redeemer. Trying to break this reality down into two categories is neither helpful nor useful. If you do, you create a Christianity that splits into two classes and leads its respective members to judge who is a Christian and who is not. There is also a tendency to separate our who-am-I from our what-I-do.

Separating Jesus from his work of salvation is based on a business (mutual merit) view of salvation that separates justification from sanctification. However, salvation, which is completely and entirely graceful, is about a relationship with God that leads to a new way of life. The saving grace of God gives us justification and sanctification, in that Jesus himself, through the Holy Spirit, became justification and sanctification for us (1. Corinthians 1,30).

The redeemer himself is the gift. United to Jesus through the Holy Spirit, we become partakers of all that is His. The New Testament sums this up by calling us “new creatures” in Christ (2. Corinthians 5,17). There is nothing cheap about this grace, because there is simply nothing cheap about Jesus or the life we ​​share with him. The fact is that the relationship with him brings about regret, letting go of the old self and entering a new way of life. The God of love longs for the perfection of the people he loves and has prepared this accordingly in Jesus. Love is perfect, otherwise it would not be love. Calvin used to say, "All our salvation is complete in Christ."

The misunderstanding of grace and works

While the focus is on the right kind of relationship and understanding, as well as doing good works, there are some who mistakenly believe that ongoing participation through good works is necessary to ensure our salvation. Their concern is that focusing on God's grace through faith alone is a license to sin (the topic I covered in Part 2). The rash about this idea is that grace does not simply overlook the consequences of sin. This misguided way of thinking also isolates grace from Jesus himself, as if grace were the subject of a transaction (mutual exchange) that can be broken down into individual actions without involving Christ. In reality, the focus is so much on good works that one eventually no longer believes that Jesus did everything necessary to save us. It is falsely asserted that Jesus merely began the work of our salvation and that it is now up to us to ensure it in some way through our conduct.

Christians who have accepted God's bounty of grace do not believe that this has given them permission to sin—quite the opposite. Paul was accused of preaching too much about grace so that "sin might prevail." However, this accusation did not cause him to change his message. Instead, he accused his accuser of distorting his message and went to great lengths to make it clear that mercy is not the way to make exceptions to the rules. Paul wrote that the goal of his ministry was to establish "the obedience of faith" (Romans 1,5; 16,26).

Salvation is only possible through grace: it is Christ's work from beginning to end

We owe God great gratitude that he sent his Son in the power of the Holy Spirit to save us, not to judge us. We have understood that no contribution to good works can do us justice or sanctification; If it were so, we would not need a Redeemer. Whether the emphasis is on obedience by faith or by faith with obedience, we must never underestimate our dependence on Jesus, who is our Redeemer. He has judged and condemned all sins and has forgiven us forever - a gift that we receive if we believe and trust him.

It is Jesus' own faith and work - his faithfulness - that work our salvation from start to finish. He transfers his righteousness (our justification) to us and through the Holy Spirit he gives us a share in his holy life (our sanctification). We receive these two gifts in one and the same way: by putting our trust in Jesus. What Christ has done for us, the Holy Spirit in us helps us understand and live accordingly. Our faith is centered on the (as it is in Philippians 1,6 means) "he who began the good work in you will also complete it". If a person has no part in what Jesus works in him, then the profession of his faith is without substance. Instead of accepting God's grace, they oppose it by laying claim to it. Surely we want to avoid this mistake, just as we should not fall into the mistaken notion that our works contribute in some way to our salvation.

by Joseph Tkach


pdfAre we preaching "cheap grace"?