Grace Versus Hyper – Grace.
Whilst pondering on the subject of fasting, I thought of the scripture, Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
I was considering the fact that if Christ has set us free, we are free indeed. That no one can impose rules and regulations on us as
Christians to put us back under law.
For years I read the Apostle Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, to try to understand what Christian freedom was all about. I concluded that I had been saved from one set of chains, (sin, and the things of the world) and after joining a local fellowship, ended up under a new set of chains, (church tradition and church regulations), I was taught that I should do this and must do that and this did not feel right to me
However, thinking on this, verse “for you are not under law but under grace”, I realised how these statements could be misconstrued and could be used to promote the teaching known as Hyper – Grace.
Whilst recognising that I was free in Christ, I also knew that this
freedom in Christ did not give me the licence to live how I pleased, with no come back or consequences of my actions.
Paul also says:
Romans 6: 14,15 "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid."-
Hyper – Grace teaches that Christ has set us free from the law of sin and death, that our sins, past, present and future are forgiven in Christ and that all our actions are covered by the Grace of God.
However, whilst our sins have been forgiven, it is through confession and repentance that God forgives us.
This does not mean that now we are new creatures in Christ, that we have reached a state of sinless perfection.
In this life, we still contend against the world, the flesh and the devil.
Even though we are born again, sin can still overtake us and we can find ourselves submitting to temptation.
Jesus said: Matthew 26:41 The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”.
The word for “spirit” in this passage is the Greek word pneuma, which in this context refers to the soul of man or the mind. The word for “flesh” refers to the human body and nature, with its moral and physical frailties.
When the Bible speaks of the “flesh,” it is often referring to our natural sin tendencies. We are all born with a sin nature.
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Rom 3:23 All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God.
Even though we have been saved, we are still by nature sinners, however, we are sinner saved by grace.
1 John 1:8-2:2 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
It appears that free-grace, (Hyper-grace) preachers, twist the Scriptures by teaching that "we are no longer under the Law" means "we are no longer under any obligation to obey the moral law of God once we are saved."
If we read what the scripture says, we see what it really says.
Quoted earlier:
Romans 6:6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
The scripture goes on to say:
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
It appears that there were certain ones teaching this hyper-grace in the early church as well.
Jude 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
This teaching is sweeping through the evangelical church around the world at the moment, we can see this on day time TV, being taught by the Word of Faith and Prosperity Gospel preachers.
The errors have long ago been dealt with. Those who pushed the line that Christians have nothing to do with the moral law of God, and should not be concerned with it, have been challenged by the Reformers, the Puritans and others.
This teaching is known as “Antinomianism”.
Antinomianism is any view which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious laws.
The Bible teaches salvation by grace through faith.
Ephesians 2:8 By grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, lest any man should boast.
The bible also says, 2 Cor 5:17 “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation”
So, justification comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, this is true but this is only the beginning of our walk.
Justification says, we have been saved from the penalty of sin, we have been brought out of death into life. This is a one off experience, this is what is known as “Positional” salvation, we are justified by faith in Christ.
Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
However, once saved, we are to walk in Christ, this is where we are in the present. We are being saved from the power of sin daily. “Continual” salvation
We are now in Christ and that is why we are told in Colossians.
Col 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Col 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
Col 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Col 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
This is called Sanctification, we are being sanctified from the power of sin, this is a life long experience, God’s work in us.
So we have Positional and we have Continual.
Thirdly we have “Final” salvation. This is future, we will be saved from the presence of sin, this is an eternal experience, God’s work to us.
Our stand in Christ then is: Positional, Continual and Final.
We have been saved, we are being saved and we shall be saved.
The problem with the Antinomians and those that teach hyper grace, is they fail to see this properly. They so emphasise the first bit of
salvation – justification – which is indeed solely by grace through faith, that they ignore or minimise the second and very vital truth of ongoing sanctification.
In fact, they effectively replace sanctification with justification.
All the scriptures in the New Testament that exhort us to live holy lives, to obey the moral law of God, to grow in Christ, to put off the old man, to crucify the flesh, to grow in grace, to be transformed, to resist sin, and so on, simply seem to get overlooked or watered down. After all, if it is all of grace, there is nothing left for us to do. So sanctification tends to disappear altogether.
The conclusion becomes, we are now under free grace, so we can live how we like. No condemnation, no need for confession or repentance.
This is twisting the scriptures for our own ends.
This a misuse of Grace.
It is like the government giving the benefit of Family Allowance to a mother to help in the raising of a child and the mother spending it on cigarettes or drink. This is an abuse of the benefit.
We should never abuse what has been freely given.
Just because Jesus Christ fulfilled all the law, does not mean that we are not bound by the morals of the law.
We are only free from the law in Christ.
The Ten Commandments have not been done away with. Jesus said “I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it.
Matthew 5:17 KJV Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
Berean Study Bible says: 17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.
In fact Jesus said that we are to keep the commandments.
Jesus was asked this very question by a Pharisee who was considered to be “an expert in the law”.
Matthew 22:34–36 Jesus answered by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment.
The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37–40).
Not only has the Ten Commandments not been done away with but we see them alluded to in the New Testament.
1.You shall have no other gods before Me.
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
2. You shall make no idols.
1Jn 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
Mat 5:33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
Mat 5:34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
Mat 5:35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
Mat 5:36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
Mat 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
4. Keep the Sabbath day holy.
Only the commandment regarding the Sabbath is notably absent in the New Testament.
Jesus is our Sabbath rest, it is the Hebrew word sabat, which means "to rest or stop or cease from work."
5. Honor your father and your mother.
Eph 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
Eph 6:2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise);
6. You shall not murder.
Jas 2:11 said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
Jas 2:11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery,
8. You shall not steal.
Eph 4:28 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Col 3:9 Lie not one to another,
10.You shall not covet.
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
So we can not just go around as spiritual beings without any standards for obedience and disobedience!
Living under grace does not mean that we can ignore the moral law of God.
God is the same yesterday, today and forever. His law does not change.
When we are saved, the Holy Spirit moves into the repentant heart, making it possible for us to make choices, that are of the Spirit, rather than the flesh.
Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Rom 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
Col 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
We are to consider ourselves “crucified with Christ”
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Our old sin nature dead.
Rom 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
However, we know that the flesh does not die easily. A battle still rages within, even the most dedicated follower of Christ. There is a new man but the old man still raises his head. This is why we should feed the new nature, so that we can overcome the old nature.
The apostle Paul wrote eloquently of this battle in Romans 7. Verses 21–23 say, “So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.”
How do we recognise someone who teaches Hyper-Grace?
They do not speak about sin or repentance.
They do not take a stand against cultural unrighteousness for fear of
offense. They shy away from speaking against issues like Abortion,
Homosexuality, Adultery, Pre marital sex or extra marital sex. The word sin is very often avoided. Even when they do talk of sin, they say all our sins, past, present and future are already forgiven.
They tend to neglect the Old Testament unless it is used only for showing Types and Shadows. They fail to see that the Old Testament concealed the New Testament and the New Testament reveals the Old Testament.
Many Hyper – Grace teachers are against conservative churches,
believing them to be outdated and irrelevant in today’s culture.
They are against anything that appears to be under the law.
Hyper – Grace churches are more motivational churches, preaching health, wealth and prosperity. They focus on God’s love and forgiveness and preach messages of success in life and how to feel good about
yourself.
As opposed, to sin, righteousness and judgement.
Because of all these things, you will find that Hyper-Grace churches breeds immorality in its adherents, God does not see our sin. All our sins past, present and future have been forgiven and so there is no need for confession or repentance.
This is in spite of numerous scripture that tell us to confess our sins.
Jesus said in the Lords prayer, “forgive us our trespasses”.
James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Quote, A. W. Tozer:
Antinomianism is the doctrine of grace carried by uncorrected logic to the point of absurdity. It takes the teaching of justification by faith and twists it into deformity. The creed of the Antinomian is easily stated: “We are saved by faith alone; works have no place in salvation; conduct is works, and is therefore of no importance. What we do cannot matter as long as we believe
rightly. The divorce between creed and conduct is absolute and final. The question of sin is settled by the Cross; conduct is outside the circle of faith and cannot come between the believer and God.” Such in brief, is the teaching of the Antinomian. And so fully has it permeated the Fundamental element in modern Christianity that it is accepted by the religious masses as the very truth of God.
Quote, Dr Michael Brown
One of the foundational doctrines of the hyper-grace message is that God does not see the sins of his children, since we have already been made righteous by the blood of Jesus and since all of our sins, past, present and future, have already been forgiven. That means that the Holy Spirit never convicts believers of sin, that believers never need to confess their sins to God, and that believers never need to repent of their sins, since God sees them as perfect in his sight.
In summary, much of what the hyper-grace preachers teach is valid. We are indeed saved by grace, not our works.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
And God’s grace is marvellous, great, and free.
1 Timothy 1:14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
However, hyper-grace teaching is out of proportion to the rest of Scripture. Any time one doctrine is emphasized to the exclusion of the rest, we fall into error because we fail to “correctly handle” the Word
2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Quotes CH Spurgeon.
The best morality in the world will not prove a man to be a Christian, but if a man has not morality, it proves that he is not a child of God.
Grace and sin are quarrelsome neighbours.
It is true that we are under the Grace of God and that by this grace we have received forgiveness.
However, if as Christians, we fall to temptation and sin against God and our neighbour, we need to confess and repent and receive the cleansing that is available in Christ.
No confession, no repentance = no forgiveness.
Matt 6:12 “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us”.
Matt 6:14,15 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
We are to practice spiritual breathing.
Breathe out the impurities and breathe in the forgiveness of God.
Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.
16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.
17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.
20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.
22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
2 Corinthians 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
