GRACE — What Is God’s Grace? How Do You Receive It? How Do You Grow In It?
You hear a lot about “grace” in Christian circles, but what exactly is it? In the Bible it’s translated from the Greek word charis (KAIR-iss), which means “graciousness, favor, kindness.” Consider a “teacher’s pet” in a positive way. Why is a certain student the “teacher’s pet”? Simply because that particular student has the teacher’s favor. Now let’s apply this to God’s favor or God’s grace. Just as the teacher’s pet has the teacher’s favor so you and I can have God’s favor.
But how do we obtain God’s grace/favor? It’s simple:
…Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor (charis) to the humble.”
James 4:6
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor (charis) to the humble.”
1 Peter 5:5
Both James and Peter are quoting Proverbs 3:34 (albeit in koine Greek). So this phrase is shared three times in God’s Word—once in the Old Testament and twice in the New Testament. Do ya think the LORD’s trying to get something important across to us? Obviously so: Don’t be proud because God opposes — resists — the proud; rather cultivate humility because God gives his grace/favor (charis) to the humble. Simply put, humility attracts the LORD. Now humility is not self-loathing; it simply means you don’t think you’re all that and a bag of chips. Those with a humble spirit are teachable. It’s a healthy, beautiful quality and we’ll look at why humility attracts God and his favor shortly.
In this article we’re going to explore two forms of God’s grace:
- God’s grace (favor) of eternal salvation. This, of course, includes all the benefits that come with salvation, like the forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7), spiritual regeneration (Titus 3:5) and the apprehension of eternal life (John 3:36 & 1 John 5:11-12).
- God’s grace (favor) for you personally as you grow spiritually. If you find this incredulous, Jesus Christ—our example—grew in God’s grace (favor) when he was on Earth (Luke 2:52) and the epistles clearly exhort us to grow in God’s favor (2 Peter 3:18 & James 4:8).
We’re also going to look at humility because, as noted above, this is the quality that attracts God’s favor/grace. Along with humility, we’re going to examine two qualities that spring from humility—repentance and faith. We’re also going to consider two types of love in the Bible, which relate very differently to God’s grace.
The reason this article is important is because there’s a lot of error about God’s grace in the body of Christ today. This includes error concerning the linking topics above, especially repentance. A top example would be the erroneous idea that God’s grace is “unconditional.” Really? If this were so, then everyone would have it. It’s true that God’s favor is unmerited in the sense that you cannot work for it or purchase it, but there are conditions to receiving it… and growing in it. If this weren’t so, then everyone would have it—or will have it—and that’s Universalism, a blatantly unbiblical doctrine.
I should stress that this article is rooted in what God’s Word teaches about grace and not what this or that sect/camp/popular minister teaches. Thankfully, the Scriptures are simple and unmistakable on the topic.
Let’s start with:
1. God’s Grace (Favor) of Salvation
Notice how the awesome gift of eternal salvation is linked to God’s grace:
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace (charis),
Ephesians 1:7
and all are justified freely by his grace (charis) through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:24
For the grace (charis) of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.
Titus 2:11
For it is by grace (charis) you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10
Eternal redemption and all of its benefits are available to all people by God’s grace. In other words, God is extending his hand of favor—and the eternal salvation that goes with it—to all people as a gift. A gift—as Ephesians 2:8-9 above shows—is not something that comes from ourselves through performing religious works; it’s a gift from a giver and you cannot work for it. In this sense God’s grace of salvation is unmerited and this explains the definition of grace you’ll often here from Christian ministers as “unmerited favor.” But, technically speaking, the word ‘grace’—charis—doesn’t mean “unmerited favor,” it simply means “graciousness, favor, kindness.”
While God’s grace of salvation is an unmerited gift, the individual has to receive this gift; he/she has to accept it. In other words, although the gift of eternal salvation is unmerited and therefore you can’t work to get it or purchase it, this doesn’t discount the fact that it needs to be received.
There are two things necessary in order for people to receive a gift:
- They have to know there’s a giver with a gift for them to receive.
- They have to be willing to receive the gift, which is where humility comes into play.
Let’s say a rich distant relative leaves you $1 million when he dies. It’s in the bank for you to receive. But you can’t receive it if 1. you don’t know about the giver and his generous gift and 2. you don’t go to the bank and get it.
Concerning the second one, I remember an occasion in the 90s when a family I knew was financially struggling. So I went to their apartment and handed the wife a $100 bill, but she waved it off. She refused it. Why? I don’t know. Pride maybe, like perhaps she was too proud to take “handouts.” I don’t know, but she declined the gift. I walked away a little sad that she wouldn’t receive my gift. This shows that, just because someone offers a generous gift, it doesn’t mean that everyone will receive it.
It’s the same with God’s gracious gift of salvation and all that goes with it, like the forgiveness of sins and eternal life: Some people will choose to reject it. Why? I don’t know. Usually I suppose because they don’t think it’s legitimate; in other words they don’t believe. Perhaps they stubbornly adhere to secular humanism or this or that religion/ideology, which they feel is good enough for them and more valid than John 3:16 & Romans 6:23. Another possible reason is pride. Maybe they think they don’t need it for one reason or another, like they deem themselves good enough as is to merit God’s favor and eternal life.
This brings us back to that attractive characteristic which is key to receiving God’s grace/favor…
Humility, the Key (or Key Ring) to Receiving God’s Grace
Let’s return to our fundamental verse—James 4:6—but this time include the verses before and after:
Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he [God] jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us more grace (charis). That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor (charis) to the humble.”
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
James 4:6-10
Verse 6 stresses that God shows graciousness to the humble. As noted earlier, this is conveyed three times in the Bible. It reveals a vital truth about God’s favor and how to unlock it in your life. ‘Humility’ in the Greek is tapeinophrosune (tap-i-nof-ros-OO-nay), which means “inner lowliness” or “lowliness of mind.” It’s not self-loathing or self-belittlement, but rather a healthy sense of one’s littleness in the grand scheme of things regardless of position, possessions or talents. It’s a modest opinion of oneself and describes a person who depends on the LORD rather than self. A humble person is pliable and teachable whereas an arrogant person is obstinate and unteachable. You could explain humility as an inside-out virtue that is naturally produced when comparing oneself to the Almighty Creator rather than to other people, which of course helps keep one from being a self-exalting, self-inflated blowhard.
Have you ever met someone who regularly brags on himself or herself? It’s a huge turn-off, isn’t it? If it’s a turn-off to you, how do you think the LORD feels about it? This explains the words of wisdom: “Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; an outsider, and not your own lips” (Proverbs 27:2).
Two good examples of humility in the Bible are Moses (Numbers 12:3) and David (1 Samuel 18:23). It goes without saying that God used these men greatly, which is why 3000-3500 years after their passing people all over the world still talk about them and their exploits, like us right now. They were mighty men—very talented individuals—but they were also genuinely humble, which is what attracted God’s favor and explains why the LORD was able to use them so mightily.
God’s favor/graciousness/kindness is wonderful and he offers his grace to everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity or location. This shows that God has no favoritism. But the LORD does not give favor to the proud who are too proud or too stubborn (one way or another) to recognize it, let alone receive it.
Now someone might point out that Christ taught that God “is kind to the ungrateful and wicked” (Luke 6:35) and “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). This shows the LORD’s general grace — kindness — toward fallen creation, which is intended to attract people to the Creator and his grace of salvation. Unfortunately, many proud souls disregard God’s general grace and scoff at the Almighty, even denying his existence; some palpably hate the LORD or any notion of an Almighty Creator (Psalm 14:1 & 53:1).
God is greatly patient with such people (2 Peter 3:9) and we’re called to pray for them (Matthew 5:44), but if they stubbornly continue in their arrogance, hatred and unbelief—disregarding God’s general grace, not to mention any additional grace offered to them through the intercession of the saints—they’re not going to receive God’s grace of salvation. And, if they’re too stubborn to recognize and receive the LORD’s grace of salvation they’re certainly not going to grow in personal grace, like Jesus did (Luke 2:52) and Peter instructed us to do (2 Peter 3:18). Why not? Because—again—God opposes the proud, but gives his grace to the humble!
And this reveals…
The Two Keys to Receiving God’s Grace of Salvation
While God’s grace of salvation is unmerited—meaning you cannot work for it or buy it—it still has to be received in order to possess it. If this weren’t so then everyone would be saved, which is Universalism, a false doctrine easily disproven in the Scriptures (click the link for details).
There are two keys to receiving God’s grace of salvation, both of which spring from genuine humility (as opposed to false humility). In light of this, you could say that humility is the key ring to God’s grace, which holds two keys, the first one of which is…
Faith
We observed earlier how faith is key to receiving God’s grace of salvation in this famous passage:
For it is by grace (charis) you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
God’s grace of salvation is received through faith. Why? Christ implied the answer in these two statements: “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Mark 10:14) and “the kingdom of God belongs to such as these [children]” (Matthew 19:14). Jesus wasn’t encouraging childish behavior, of course, but rather childlike trust—faith—and all that goes with it: humility, innocence, receptivity and lack of self-sufficiency in regard to the Creator and his kingdom. This is meekness or humility. It draws God’s grace, whereas arrogance repels him.
Faith is vital due to the fact that:
…without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Hebrews 11:6
Without faith it’s impossible to please God. Reflect on that; it’s an axiom.
What exactly is faith? Faith is belief, but not in the sense of believing in fairy tales; nor is it casual mental assent. Faith is simply belief based on God’s revelation. Now, understand, God reveals truth—reality (including the Reality of Himself)—through various sources in addition to the written Word of God, although God’s Word is where we learn specific spiritual truths and develop genuine doctrine. For instance, the Creator reveals himself through everything that he has created (Romans 1:19-20). So faith is belief based on 1. what is intrinsically obvious, 2. accurate knowledge, whether scientific, spiritual or otherwise, 3. genuine revelation by the Holy Spirit, or 4. some combination of these three.
Let’s consider examples of the first three. Regarding #1, someone may say they believe in the concept of God as Creator because it’s obvious that the Earth, Universe and all living creatures were intelligently designed. Or someone may believe homosexuality is intrinsically wrong because the design and function of the sexual organs is obvious (tab ‘A’ fits into slot ‘B’). In both cases the person believes based on what is clearly palpable. Concerning #2, people may believe they have a brain even though they’ve never seen it because medical science has proven that it exists through dissecting human remains, not to mention brain surgery, etc. So the person believes based on sound data. Regarding #3, some may turn to God because the Holy Spirit revealed reality to them and they believed it. Their belief is based on revelation supplied by the Holy Spirit. Of course any revelation given by the Spirit of truth will correspond to the rightly divided written Word of truth, which explains Paul’s ministerial guideline: “Do not go beyond what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6).
We observe further insights about faith in that the Scriptures describe it as the substance of things hoped for and being certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1). The Amplified Bible augments the original Greek text like so:
Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].
Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified)
Faith is the “title deed” of the things we hope for; that is, the things we righteously desire. In short, faith is the substance that brings the world of hope or desire into reality! In the Gospels, for instance, people would come to Jesus hoping for healing and after receiving it the Lord would say something like “Your faith has healed you” (see, for example, Mark 5:25-34). Faith was the substance that brought them what they hoped for, healing. They were certain—convinced—that Jesus would heal them even though they couldn’t yet see it physically.
I trust you’re seeing why faith is necessary to receive God’s gracious gift of reconciliation and eternal life. After all, how can you receive a gift from someone you don’t even believe exists? For example, if you said you had a gift for me and I responded by saying I can’t receive it because I don’t believe you exist, would you still force the present on me? Of course not. More likely, you’d be irked at my stupidity and arrogance. The same principle applies to those who reject the gospel. When you come across people who do this, be sure to pray that the LORD open their eyes to the truth, i.e. reality.
Did you ever wonder why faith is so important to receiving salvation? Because faith is nothing more or less than believing God. That’s precisely what Adam & Eve failed to do when they were tested in the Garden of Eden and that’s why they fell (see Genesis 2:15-3:24). In other words, the fall of humanity came about due to unbelief and therefore humanity’s restoration is dependent upon belief.
The fall of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden, by the way, is actually a showcase of God’s grace: The LORD could’ve justly wiped ’em off the face of the Earth for their sin (Romans 6:23), but instead he killed two animals as a substitutionary sacrifice, which provided the temporary covering of sin (Genesis 3:21). This, of course, prefigures the substitutionary death of Christ, which forever cleanses us of the guilt of sin (Hebrews 9:12-15 & 10:4).
I said that there are two keys to receiving God’s grace of salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 (quoted above) only cites one—faith. The reason only faith is cited is because the other key goes hand-in-hand with faith. In short, they’re two sides of the same coin. This other key is…
Repentance
The word ‘repent’ simply means to change one’s mind for the positive, yet this does not refer to a hollow mental exercise, but a real change of mind with the corresponding actions, like the resolve to fulfill God’s will (Acts 26:20) and turn from that which is opposed to God’s will, i.e. sin (Acts 8:22, 2 Corinthians 12:21 & Revelation 2:21-22). Please look up those passages because they offer a balanced understanding of repentance.
We see a complete explanation of what it means to repent here:
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:22-24
While this passage does not use the word ‘repentance,’ that’s precisely what it’s talking about and we see that repentance is a three-pronged practice. It’s not just putting off the flesh and the sin it produces, which is how repentance is often defined. This is an incomplete definition and therefore a shallow understanding of the subject.
Nor is repentance trying to put on the new self without putting off the old self and changing one’s thinking. Say you’re a parent and have a baby who soils her diaper. How do you resolve the mess? You (1) take the old diaper off, (2) clean her up, and then (3) put on the new diaper. Wouldn’t it be absurd to put the new diaper over the old diaper? Yet this is what many Christians do in effect when they refuse to put off the old self before putting on the new. They try to put the new man over the old man without changing their thinking and it doesn’t work. It’s a ticket to utter frustration.
To genuinely repent means to change one’s mind corresponding to a revelation from God, as noted earlir. It could be revelation based on 1. obvious reality (truth), 2. some element of creation, 3. God’s written Word, 4. spiritual conscience, 5. the moving of the Holy Spirit (the last two being arguably synonymous) or some combination of these.
Let’s say John Smith, a believer, is struggling with a particular form of sexual immorality and he learns from the Scriptures that he needs to “flee from sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18). For John to genuinely repent he’s going to have to put off the sin in question, which is the first prong of repentance. Then he needs to change his thinking — his mind — regarding that transgression, which is the second prong of repentance. The reason he’s been falling into this particular sin is because he thought it would be good for him to commit it, but if he changes his thinking to understand that sexual immorality is destructive to his life and his relationship with God (not to mention likely destructive to other people) he’ll be less prone to fall prey to it. Lastly, he needs to “walk in the spirit” so that he’ll be spirit-controlled rather than flesh-ruled, which is the third prong of repentance — putting on the new self. Those who are spirit-controlled bear forth the fruit of the spirit rather than the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-23). This is the key to walking free from any sin; the Bible calls it “walking in the spirit” (Galatians 5:16), “putting on the new self” (Colossians 3:9), “participating in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) and “clothing yourself in Christ” (Romans 13:14). You can read more about how to walk in the spirit here.
If John wants true, lasting freedom from his sin he’s going to have to change his thinking regarding who he is in Christ. For instance, the Bible describes the believer as:
- dead to sin (Romans 6:11,14,18),
- a child of God (John 1:12-13)
- born righteous, spiritually speaking (2 Corinthians 5:21 & Titus 3:5).
These are positional truths as opposed to practical truths. They reveal who the believer is in Christ. The way you ‘practice’ positional truth is by simply lining up your thinking & confession accordingly, which is the second prong of repentance. For instance, John would think/say “I, John, am dead to sin; I’m a child of God born righteous; Praise God!” Changing your thinking to be in harmony with who the Word of God says you are in Christ is one way to sow to the spirit (Galatians 6:8); it’s part of “putting on the new self” — your new spiritual nature — which was “created to be like God in true righteousness” (Ephesians 4:22-24, quoted above). Simply put, if you change your thinking, you’ll naturally change your actions. To learn more about positional truths and how to practice them see this video.
Repentance and Faith
I pointed out that repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin, which we observe here:
I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
Acts 20:21
For repentance to be effective it must be combined with faith — which comes through exposure to the LORD and His revelation; this includes God’s Word and genuine revelation of the Spirit. If repentance is not combined with faith — belief rooted in God’s revelation of reality — it’s just a dead exercise and will ultimately fail because true repentance is a genuine “change of mind” with the corresponding actions, as detailed above. This explains, by the way, why repentance and faith are the first two doctrines of the six basic doctrines of Christianity (Hebrews 6:1-2). It is vital to your spiritual health to grasp how repentance and faith work together.
Speaking of the six basic doctrines, they’re referred to as “elementary” Christian teachings in Hebrews 6:1 and yet there are whole sects and ministries in Christendom that cut out one or more of these foundational doctrines or, at least, cut out parts of them. For instance, “radical grace” (or “pure grace”) preachers will cut out repentance almost entirely and, if they do teach repentance, they emphasize that it’s a change of mind while deemphasizing the corresponding actions, which includes “putting off the old self,” meaning turning from the “deceitful desires” of the sinful nature (see Ephesians 4:22-24, quoted above).
Repentance reflects humility because it takes humility to admit you’re wrong about something and change your mind. The same goes with feeling remorse and admitting a mistake or transgression. By contrast, an arrogant person is too lofty, selfish, hardhearted and stubborn to change his/her mind with the corresponding actions or feel genuine guilt or confess error. Indeed, pride by its very nature refuses to show proper respect toward others, including—perhaps especially—those in legitimate authority, particularly the Ultimate Authority (God). This again brings to mind this passage:
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”
James 4:6 & 1 Peter 5:5 (see also Proverbs 3:34)
We must get a hold of this: God literally opposes the arrogant, that is, he resists them; Proverbs 16:5 even goes so far as to say “the LORD detests all the proud of heart” (emphasis added). Yet, thankfully, God gives his awesome grace to the humble, which means his favor. This explains why the LORD only offers the grace of his forgiveness to those who are humble enough to acknowledge and turn from their transgressions, as shown here:
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:8-9
Modern-day “radical grace” teachers hate this passage because they stress that all our sins are already forgiven—including our future sins—and thus there’s no need to confess them when we miss it. Confessing sin, by the way, is a synonym for repentance because ’fessing up would be useless if not accompanied by a change of mind and the corresponding actions.
One “radical grace” teacher had the audacity to quote 1 John 1:7 to support the idea that all of our future sins are already forgiven. Incredibly, he wasn’t aware of the following two verses (verses 8-9, quoted above), which show that believers are obligated to confess their sins as they commit them in order to receive forgiveness. Remember the hermeneutical rules: Context is King and Scripture interprets Scripture.
Of course, Christ died for all our sins (Colossians 2:13-14). This includes our future sins, and therefore forgiveness is available for them, BUT forgiveness of these future sins cannot be personally appropriated until AFTER we commit them and humbly confess, as shown above. After all, how can you repent of something you haven’t even done (yet)? Moreover, how can God forgive something that hasn’t even been committed? This explains the need for 1 John 1:8-9. This dynamic is what John the Baptist was referring to as “keeping with repentance” (Matthew & Luke 3:8). It’s in line with what Peter taught concerning born-again believers:
But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
2 Peter 1:9
Believers have only been forgiven and cleansed of their “past sins” (other translations say “former sins” or “old sins”). Thus when a person turns to the Lord in repentance and faith all their past sins are immediately forgiven, Praise God!
But future sins are a different matter because, again, you can’t confess something you haven’t even committed. Like I said, forgiveness is readily available for any future sins you might commit since Christ bought and paid for all our sins through His substitutionary death, but you have to confess future sins after you commit them—repent, change your mind with the corresponding action—in order to be forgiven of them. If you don’t do this these sins won’t be forgiven—dismissed—and you’ll hence have to answer for them at the Judgment Seat of Christ, which is the judgment believers must undergo wherein Paul said we’ll “receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10-11). The “bad” isn’t referring to confessed sins because all confessed sins are forgiven—dismissed—and you’re “purified of all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). So the “bad” would include unconfessed sins, whether sins of commission or sins of omission.*
* A “sin of commission” is something you do, like steal, gossip/slander or commit adultery whereas a “sin of omission” is something you don’t do that you should’ve done.
Let me share an example of the repentance/forgiveness dynamic from everyday life that we can all relate to: Several years ago I was pulled over on a bypass for changing lanes without using my turn signal. I had just finished a sermon outline for the following Sunday morning and was going to a job; I had a million things going through my mind and didn’t have the time or desire to chat with a patrol officer. When he came to my window he noticed an attitude in my words & demeanor and responded, “Now, sir, did I approach you in a disrespectful manner? Why are you giving me an attitude?” In the flash of a second or two I searched my heart and received correction; I made a 180˚ attitude adjustment and replied, “I’m really sorry, sir; I’m on my way to work and have a lot of things on my mind.” I then explained that, even though I didn’t use my turn signal, I did look into the lane before changing and also pointed out that we were the only two vehicles on the highway at the time. Throughout the rest of our conversation I addressed him as “sir” and treated him with sincere respect. This changed the entire course of the incident. Instead of strife and a ticket, our conversation was pleasant and he ended up just giving me a verbal warning.
What saved me from a needless citation? The humility to receive correction, sincerely apologize and show respect. This works in every relationship, including your relationship with the Almighty. Humble repentance is the key that unlocks mercy and forgiveness in all relationships. This simple, powerful principle will bless your socks off if you wisely apply it when appropriate.
Humility—and the Corresponding Repentance & Faith—is What Makes People “Worthy of the Kingdom of God”
At the risk of sending “radical grace” preachers into cardiac arrest, the New Testament blatantly speaks of those “worthy” of the gift of eternal life. Notice for yourself from the very words of the Mighty Christ and apostle Paul:
Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.
Luke 20:34-36
Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.
2 Thessalonians 1:4-5
As you can see, Christ spoke of those considered “worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection of the dead” while Paul spoke of those “worthy of the kingdom of God.” In both cases they were talking about genuine believers worthy of the kingdom of God and the resurrection unto eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). The Greek word for ‘worth’ in each passage is kataxioó (kat-ax-ee-OH-o), which simply means to “deem worthy.” The Scriptural data above shows that this does not refer to being deemed worthy of eternal salvation due to religious works or rituals, but rather being “deemed worthy” due to genuine humility characterized in repentance and faith (Acts 20:21).
In conclusion, anyone who wants God’s grace of salvation, it’s free and you don’t have to work for it or purchase it, but it can only be received through humility; and humility is reflected in the willingness to repent and believe in response to God’s revelation, in this case the message of Christ. This is how you “obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thessalonians 1:8) as opposed to disobeying the gospel of God (1 Peter 4:17). These are two other verses that send “radical grace” preachers into coronary because they hate the word ‘obey’ in conjunction with God’s grace of salvation. But obeying the message of Christ does not mean working for salvation or trying to buy it; however, it does mean responding with humility to God’s gracious offer of salvation—which is manifested in repentance and faith. Why? Because it’s humility that attracts God’s grace as opposed to pride which naturally repels His favor (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5 & Proverbs 3:34). Amen.
The New Testament Started with John the Baptist and his “Baptism of Repentance”
The New Testament started with John the Baptist, as plainly stated by Christ:
“The Law and the Prophets [i.e. the Old Covenant] were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached”
Luke 16:16
The Old Testament ended with John the Baptist who prepared the way for the Messiah via a baptism of repentance (Luke 3:2-4). With the ministries of John and Jesus the kingdom of God was preached, not the Law and the Prophets. From John forward “the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached.” The “Good News,” of course, refers to the awesome message of Christ—the gospel.
So the four Gospels are not Old Testament, but rather the “prologue” to the New Testament and therefore PART OF the New Testament, even though the Church didn’t technically start until the Day of Pentecost (see Acts 2:1-13 & 11:15-16). This explains why Christ spoke AS IF the Church was already in function in this passage where he addressed dealing with offending believers:
“If they [the offending believers] still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”
Matthew 18:17
As you can see, Jesus spoke as if the Church was already in existence even though he had yet to die for our sins and be raised to life for our justification. You could say that the Church was already alive but not birthed yet, like a baby in a mother’s womb.
With the understanding that John the Baptist and Jesus Christ preached “the good news of the kingdom of God,” notice what the first word of each of their first sermons was:
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Matthew 3:1-2
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Matthew 4:17
Why did they preach repentance? Because the kingdom of Heaven was near. Similarly, the disciples proclaimed that “the kingdom of God is near” (Luke 10:8-9). Other translations say “the kingdom of God is at hand.” The words “near” and “at hand” are translated from the Greek eggizó (eng-ID-zoh), which means “extreme closeness, immediate imminence—even a presence.” Whether extremely close or even present to a degree, they preached the kingdom of God and not the Law and the Prophets, which agrees with Jesus’ plain declaration in Luke 16:16 above.
Keeping with the full definition of repentance (as detailed above), by saying “repent for the kingdom of God is near” John and Christ were essentially saying “change your minds, turn from sin and turn to the LORD for the kingdom of God is immediately imminent!” John’s “baptism of repentance” was given to “prepare the way for the Lord” (Luke 3:3-4). In other words, John wasn’t encouraging people to change their minds & turn from sin and that’s it; he was preparing them for the soon-to-come ministry of Jesus Christ, the Word of God, who had “the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Notice that Jesus didn’t have the words of the Law, but the words of eternal life. This verse puts it well:
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John 1:17
When Christ did teach on the Law, he focused on the moral Law* and the fact that believers achieve the moral Law simply by fulfilling the first and second greatest commands by the Spirit (Matthew 22:36-40). All of this shows that repentance & faith go hand-and-hand. They’re two sides of the same coin. Genuine repentance—that is, changing one’s mind plus the corresponding action—is based on faith in God’s revelation, whatever that revelation might be.
* Whilst Christ fulfilled the ceremonial and dietary laws, he didn’t teach that believers were obligated to obey them because these laws are done away with in the New Covenant (Colossians 2:16-17, Mark 7:19, etc.). For details see this article.
Why do I point out such obvious things? Because there are “radical grace” preachers who claim that John the Baptist was decidedly Old Testament and therefore he preached the Law in the manner of Old Testament prophets. Many “radical grace” teachers say the same about Christ, but the above proves otherwise.
For details on the Church and when it began, etc. go here.
2. God’s Grace (Favor) for You Personally as You Grow Spiritually
Once obtaining eternal salvation by God’s grace (favor), every believer can grow in the LORD’s favor on a personal level. We see this in the example of Jesus Christ:
And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor (charis) with God and man.
Luke 2:52
God’s grace—His favor—was on Jesus (Luke 2:40) and he grew in it. He also grew in favor with people because the fruits of the spirit are attractive and work as people magnets (Galatians 5:22-23). This is stressed in the biblical book of wisdom:
3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Then you will win favor and a good name
in the sight of God and man.
Proverbs 3:3-4
Both love and faithfulness are fruits of the spirit, which attract the favor—kindness, graciousness—of God and—generally speaking—people too. I say “generally speaking” because the fruits of the spirit can also attract enemies due to their envy, jealousy and rivalry, which incite them against the fruit-bearer. A good example of this is Christ, who walked in the spirit and thus won the hearts of the common Israelites, but he also incurred the ire of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law.
The prophet Samuel is another good example of growing in favor with God and people (1 Samuel 2:26).
Concerning growing in God’s favor, observe how plainly Peter urged this:
But grow in the grace (charis) and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
2 Peter 3:18
Just as important as it is to grow in the knowledge of the Lord—which is typically stressed in Christendom—it’s also vital to grow in his grace; that is, grow in his graciousness, his favor. How do you do this? We saw the answer earlier in this verse:
Come near to God and he will come near to you.
James 4:8
This is a universal law—an axiom: If you come near to the LORD he will come near to you. And when God comes near to you, you naturally have greater favor than if he was distant from you. It’s a simple principle verified in the Old Testament (Zechariah 1:3 & Malachi 3:7). It can even be observed in the priestly blessing of the Old Covenant:
“the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you”
Numbers 6:25-26
Someone might protest: “This is favoritism!!” No, favoritism would be denying certain people from growing in God’s grace, but that’s not the case. Anyone—from any race, any ethnicity, any socio-economic class and any location—has the opportunity to grow in God’s favor. All they have to do is put into practice these simple principles and they’ll grow in God’s graciousness. Again: Come near to God and he’ll come near to you.
Two Types of Love and How They Relate to God’s Grace
The concept of having God’s grace and growing in it can be observed in the Greek terms translated as “love” in the New Testament, phileo love and agape love:
- Phileo love refers to friendship love or brotherly love, like the platonic affection of David and Jonathan (2 Samuel 1:25-26). Philadelphia, “the city of brotherly love,” was named after this type of love. There’s an element of tender affection to phileo love; it means there’s a bond with the corresponding respect and affection. The word phileo (fil-LAY-oh), a verb, can be found some 25 times in the original text of the New Testament whereas the noun form, philia (fil-EE-ah), appears only once. Jesus’ phileo love for Martha, Mary and Lazarus is a good example (John 11:5,35-36).
- Agape love refers to practical love or love-in-action and is therefore not dependent on affection, respect or closeness. This can be observed in the Scriptural definition of agape love found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, which says that agape (uh-GAHP-ay) love is patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, is not rude or selfish or easily angered, etc. The word ‘love’ for God’s love for the world in the most popular passage of the Bible is agape: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The Creator was walking in love toward all humanity when the Father allowed the Son to die in our place as our substitutionary death; and the Son was willing to die. This was agape love, practical love, and not phileo love.
The Bible says that the Father phileo loved Jesus when Christ was on Earth (John 5:19-20). Why? Because Jesus imitated the Father, that is, he was godly—like God. As such, Jesus grew in God’s favor (Luke 2:52). We too can grow in God’s favor by coming near to Him (James 4:8, 2 Peter 3:18 & Ephesians 5:1).
God loves every person on Earth in a practical sense (John 3:16)—in other words he agape loves them—but he does not have phileo love for everyone on Earth, that is, affection and respect—a close bond. For instance, God had great phileo love for the apostles Paul, Peter and John, but not for arrogant, hateful people like Hitler. Sure, God agape loved Hitler—just like God has agape loved people all over the earth throughout history—but he didn’t have any affection or respect for Hitler; He wasn’t close to Hitler, but he agape loved him. Are you following?
Just the same, God is agape loving heinous criminals and sick deviants all over the world today—he’s walking in agape love toward them—but the LORD doesn’t have phileo love for cruel murderers, self-centered rapists and perverse pedophiles. The wonderful news for these types of people—and all sinners everywhere—is that when unbelievers respond positively to God’s agape love—humbly receiving his grace of salvation through repentance & faith—they automatically attract God’s phileo love; and this love can grow as their relationship develops.
Think about it in terms of a “teacher’s pet,” as noted earlier. I mean “teacher’s pet” in a positive sense, not negative. The pupil is the teacher’s pet because she’s humble; she honors the teacher and is compliant. She does her homework and strives to do well on tests. If she offends the teacher she readily apologizes. The teacher will naturally have phileo love for such a student—affection and respect—but he won’t have affection and respect for a student who’s aloof and shows contempt. Of course the teacher will care about the latter student because he’s a noble instructor who unbiasedly cares about all his students. He wants each one to learn, mature and be successful in life. But when a student is foolish and disrespectful there’s only so much the teacher can do. The teacher will walk in agape love toward such students—practical love—but he will not have phileo love for them. Why? Because they’re arrogant fools who regard the teacher with contempt. All the instructor can do is continue walking in agape love toward them—including praying for them and walking in tough love when required—in the hope that they’ll positively respond at some point and turn from their folly.
Now let’s relate this to you and God: YOU can grow in God’s phileo love just like the teacher’s pet! “Come near to God and he will draw near to YOU” (James 4:8). It’s an axiom—a universal law. Strive for a closer relationship with your Creator. Cultivate a more intimate prayer life, which is simply talking with the LORD. Paul instructed us to “pray without ceasing,” which indicates a 24/7 bond of communion (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Love God by obeying His instructions, both the general instructions from the written Word and the specific instructions of the living Word, the Spirit of Christ (1 John 5:3). As you do this, you’ll grow in God’s favor just as surely as Jesus Christ did when he was on Earth (Luke 2:52) and others as well, like Samuel (1 Samuel 2:26).
This is why Peter exhorted believers—you & me—to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” DO IT. This is adding godliness to your faith, as Peter instructed (2 Peter 1:5-9), which you can read about in detail here.
Just as God offers grace to his human enemies by walking in practical (agape) love toward them, which has the potential to morph into phileo love if they respond positively to his grace, so believers are instructed to agape love their enemies. This means to walk in practical love toward them (Luke 6:35 & Matthew 5:44). However, we are never commanded to phileo love our enemies. Why? Simply because you’re not going to have affection & respect for people who hate you without cause and therefore disrespect & abuse you. You’re not going to have a bond of friendship with them. You’re not going to be close to them. But this doesn’t prevent you from walking in practical (agape) love toward them—praying for them to come to their senses and receive Christ, returning blessing for cursing, doing good to them even though they don’t deserve it. God is only asking us—co-heirs in Christ—to do what he does for his human enemies. Are you following?
For details on the four types of love go here.
God’s Grace is the Foundation for Living a Godly (“Like-God”) Life
Here’s another wonderful thing about God’s grace:
For the grace (charis) of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,
Titus 2:11-12
It’s God’s favor that enables believers to say “No” to worldliness and the deceitful desires of the flesh, the sinful nature. It empowers us to live self-controlled, godly (“like-God”) lives in this present evil age (Galatians 1:4). How so exactly? It’s through God’s grace of salvation that we obtain spiritual regeneration (Titus 3:5) and are thus born righteous through the seed of Christ (Galatians 2:21) and, furthermore, are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, our Helper (1 Corinthians 6:19 & John 16:7,13). All this equips us to practice repentance in the genuine three-pronged sense, as covered above (Ephesians 4:22-24).
Speaking of repentance, it is God’s grace—God’s kindness—that leads us to repentance:
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
Romans 2:4
It’s the LORD’s grace that enables us to be born righteous, spiritually speaking, through the seed of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 1:17, 1 John 3:9 & 1 Peter 1:23):
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
Galatians 2:21
Needless to say, authentic repentance—that is, 1. changing one’s mind based on faith in God’s revelation with the corresponding 2. turning from sin and 3. living out of your new nature—does not come about through preaching the Law or simply urging people to “Turn from sin!” but rather through declaring God’s grace and the truths thereof, as covered in this article.
Responding to a “Radical Grace” Preacher
Switching gears, let’s now consider this unbalanced parable on repentance offered by a “radical grace” preacher:
Let me give you a picture to illustrate true repentance. Suppose a man calls a woman up and gives an invitation to come to his house. She’s never been there before so need directions. There are two ways the man could direct her: He could give her his address and provide an accurate picture of where he lives. Or he could say, “flee from your house—just drive from your house as fast as possible and don’t look back.” Do you see the difference? In both cases the woman’s going to leave her house. That’s guaranteed.
But only by trusting his directions will she arrive at his house. Repentance is just like that. It’s not fleeing from sin like a Pharisee. It’s turning to God in faith. In both cases you will leave your sin. But only by trusting God will you actually arrive someplace better than where you started.
On the surface this illustration sounds accurate and there are certainly truths contained therein, but the man’s perspective on repentance is unbalanced, as verified by a few statements:
Repentance is just like that. It’s not fleeing from sin like a Pharisee. It’s turning to God in faith.
Actually Pharisees didn’t flee from sin, generally speaking, although they of course gave the outward appearance of doing so, which is a form of legalism. Why else do you think Christ blatantly called them “hypocrites” (literally meaning “actors,” that is, fakes), as well as “sons of hell,” “blind guides,” “blind fools,” “whitewashed tombs,” “full of hypocrisy and wickedness,” “snakes” and “brood of vipers”? See Matthew 23:13-33.
More importantly, repentance is neither one nor the other; it’s both. The erroneous idea that it’s only turning to God in faith can be observed in another statement the preacher made:
Which of the following is the best definition of repentance: 1. Repentance means to turn from sin or 2. Repentance means to change your mind.
By slyly using the “which is the best definition” tactic, this minister was trying to get the reader to choose one or the other definition which, by default, rejects the other. I understand where he’s coming from because there are shallow ministers who preach repentance as “You must turn from your sin!” and pretty much leave it at that. These types fail to give people New Testament revelation, which would inspire faith and enable them to change their mind with the corresponding putting off of the flesh and living out of their new nature with the help of the Holy Spirit. That’s true repentance, not merely turning from sin.
The problem with defining repentance as changing one’s mind while disregarding putting off the old self—the proverbial “turn from sin”—opens the door to the mentality that believers can walk in faith, but they don’t necessarily have to put off the old self, that is, turn from sin. This unbalanced mentality explains how the Corinthian church had a man in their midst who was living in fornication with his father’s wife and was unwilling to repent; i.e. change his mind and put off the old self. The “old self” in this case was sexual immorality. Thus Paul instructed the assembly to expel the man from the assembly (1 Corinthians 5:1-5,12-13). Thankfully, the guy later repented and so Paul encouraged the believers to forgive him and warmly welcome him back into their fellowship (2 Corinthians 2:6-11). I should point out that Paul was following the instructions that Christ Himself gave on handling an unrepentant believer (Matthew 18:15-17).
This “radical grace” preacher happened to bring up this particular occasion at the Corinthian church and wondered why Paul didn’t expel numerous others from the fellowship since they were guilty of sins like jealousy, strife and divisive sectarianism (1 Corinthians 3:3-4). Here’s why: Paul’s very letter—the epistle of 1 Corinthians—was his initial confrontation concerning these types of offenses in the Corinth assembly and it remained to be seen if those guilty would repent, i.e. change their minds with the corresponding actions. The fornicator, by contrast, was obviously already confronted a few times (probably half-heartedly, knowing the Corinthians) and—since he stubbornly refused to change—Paul adamantly instructed the Corinthian elders to expel him, at least until he (hopefully) repented, which the man later did and was therefore welcomed back.
My point is that it was this unbalanced mentality that repentance is merely “changing one’s mind” without the corresponding turning from the flesh that enabled this man to continue practicing fornication with no qualms in the fellowship at Corinth.
It was this same unbalanced mentality that enabled a woman in the church of Thyatira in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) to mislead believers into sexual immorality, which compelled the Lord Christ to rebuke the believers as follows:
Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
Revelation 2:20-23
“Jezebel” is likely a symbolic name for this false prophetess who was misleading believers at the Thyatiran fellowship into sexual immorality and other sins. The Mighty Christ points out that he had graciously “given her time to repent of her immorality” but she was unwilling to do so. This offers a fuller understanding of repentance as Jesus gave her time to repent—that is, change her mind—but notice it wasn’t a pointless changing of the mind as she was to “repent of her immorality,” i.e. change her mind about her immoral ways, which meant putting off the immorality. In other words, turning from it—stopping it.
The same can be observed in Christ’s statements about those who committed adultery with this libertine “prophetess” and followed her immoral example: He said he would make them “suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways” (verse 22). You see? Repentance isn’t merely changing of one’s mind; it includes putting off the flesh and putting on the new self (Ephesians 4:22-24).
The Lord goes on to say that he would “strike her children dead,” obviously referring to Jezebel’s spiritual children who followed her example and stubbornly refused to repent. This is the divine judgment of premature death. Many modern Westernized believers find such a thought incredulous due to the unbalanced diet their pastors feed them, but in the Scriptures we observe this same thing happened in the Corinth church where unrepentant believers brought judgment upon themselves and thus some of them were wiped off the face of the Earth (1 Corinthians 11:27-32). This doesn’t mean they lost their eternal salvation, but they did incur the judgment of premature death, as did Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11). The positive side to accounts like this is that they inspires the fear of the Lord (see verse 11), which promotes holiness—changing one’s mind in light of the revelation of God which motivates putting off the flesh and putting on “the new self, which is created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (again Ephesians 4:22-24).
Plain passages like these cause “radical grace” preachers to hyperventilate. They thus totally ignore them and hope that no one brings them up. But we have to be balanced with God’s word. When we draw conclusions on a topic, like grace, we cannot discard relevant “pieces of the puzzle”; rather, we must make sure that all the Scriptural “pieces” fit together. Our conclusions should be as “watertight” as possible. That’s what this teaching on grace is all about—putting all the pieces of the scriptural puzzle on grace together without unsoundly discarding relevant passages. If you’re not familiar with proper hermeneutics go here.
Now let’s get back to the man’s parable:
Suppose a man calls a woman up and gives an invitation to come to his house. She’s never been there before so need directions. There are two ways the man could direct her: He could give her his address and provide an accurate picture of where he lives. Or he could say, “flee from your house—just drive from your house as fast as possible and don’t look back.” Do you see the difference? In both cases the woman’s going to leave her house. That’s guaranteed.
Actually, it’s not guaranteed that the woman’s going to leave her house. What if she simply refuses the invitation? What if she’s not very smart and—even though the man provided directions to his house—she stubbornly refuses to leave her abode? Or what if she’s a homebody who prefers to stay home and “visit” the man’s house via Skype, phone or email? In such cases, it would be necessary for the man to not only provide his address, but also encourage the woman to leave her house.
But only by trusting the man’s directions will the invited woman arrive at his house.
No, only by 1. trusting the man’s directions and 2. willingly leaving her house will she arrive.
only by trusting God will you actually arrive someplace better than where you started.
Only by trusting God enough to obey the details of his instructions, which includes leaving where you are. Otherwise one’s trust—faith—is hollow.
Okay, that’s enough of this faulty parable. Let’s consider some of this man’s other “radical grace” statements:
If grace is the only thing that teaches us to say no to ungodliness, guess what you should preach. Grace!
True—as shown in Titus 2:11-12—but what is it that unlocks God’s grace in a person’s life? Humility (James 4:6 & 1 Peter 5:5). After all, God opposes the proud. Furthermore, humility is the root of both repentance and faith, as explained earlier, which open the door to eternal salvation (Acts 20:21).
Responding to the message of Christ with genuine humility and the corresponding repentance & faith is what it means to “obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thessalonians 1:8). It’s those who are arrogant who “do not obey the gospel of God,” which means they refuse to humbly repent and believe (1 Peter 4:17).
Of course, “radical grace” preachers loathe these verses because they hate the word “obey” in connection with salvation; and they hate the idea that people have a responsibility to humbly receive the message of Christ. The gift of salvation is not forced upon anyone.
The one message I hope people take away loud and clear from all this, is that it’s all about Jesus and what He has done. It’s not about me and what I do. See Him, know Him, fix your eyes on Him, marvel at Him and repentance will follow as naturally as breathing.
While I understand where this man is coming from and there’s certainly some good truth in this statement, God’s grace of salvation is dependent upon what the person does or doesn’t do, as plainly denoted above. The person is responsible for “obeying the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” This doesn’t mean the gift of salvation is worked for or purchased, but it does have to be received by those “worthy” candidates (Luke 20:34-36 & 2 Thessalonians 1:4-5) who respond to God’s grace with humility characterized in the willingness to repent and walk in faith.
Repentance literally means “change your mind” – nothing more, nothing less.
Wrong, it means changing one’s mind with the corresponding action, like the resolve to fulfill God’s will (Acts 26:20) and turn from that which is opposed to God’s will, i.e. sin (Acts 8:22, 2 Corinthians 12:21 & Revelation 2:20-23). Why do you think Christ urged the transgressing Thyatirans to “repent of [their] immorality”? (See Revelation 2:21-22).
Paul said we must rightly divide the word (i.e. emphasize certain scriptures over others). It follows that it must be possible to wrongly divide the word (emphasize the wrong scriptures over others).
But “rightly dividing the Word” (or “properly handling” it, as the NIV puts it) does not mean to discard relevant passages. As noted earlier, all the applicable pieces of the Scriptural puzzle must fit and one’s conclusions must be watertight or, at least, as watertight as possible. This is what this article does with the topic of grace whereas “radical grace” preachers regularly cut out pertinent passages to support their unbalanced take on the subject. For instance, you’ll rarely, if ever, hear them mention 2 Peter 3:18, Luke 20:34-36 & 2 Thessalonians 1:4-5 or Acts 8:22, 2 Corinthians 12:21 & Revelation 2:21-22. Passages like these send them into uncontrollable spasms of spiritual arrest.
How do you account for Luke 24:47 where Jesus says the forgiveness or remission of sins will be proclaimed in His name to all nations?
Let’s read the passage to see what Christ specifically said:
“This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
Luke 24:46-47
While Jesus died for everyone’s sins throughout history and therefore bought forgiveness for us (Colossians 2:13 & 1 Peter 3:18) notice that repentance is a condition for people to personally appropriate that forgiveness. This explains why the apostles preached repentance & faith (Acts 20:21) and why repentance & faith are the first two doctrines of the six basic doctrines of Christianity, which are “elementary” teachings, meaning they’re fundamental to Christianity and therefore those ministers who fail to teach them are askew and out-of-balance.
Have our sins been forgiven or haven’t they? Paul thought so (Colossians 2:13). Peter thought so (2 Peter 1:9). John thought so (1 John 1:7 & 2:12). I think so.
When a person humbly turns to the Lord in repentance & faith in response to the gospel all their past sins are forgiven, which explains Peter emphasizing “past sins” in 2 Peter 1:9, a verse this minister cites. Future sins, however, are a different story because—although Christ paid the penalty for them—a person cannot receive forgiveness for them until 1. they commit the sin and 2. confess to the LORD. After all, how can a person confess and receive forgiveness for something they haven’t even done yet? This is why 1 John 1:9 is sandwiched between the verses this man cites above. Speaking of which, why did he omit such a relevant passage on the topic contained in the very context of the verses he cites as proof texts? I’ll tell you why: It contradicts his unbalanced idea that all future sins are already forgiven and so there’s no need to confess them and receive forgiveness.
The point is not that the tax-collector “beat his breast” but that he asked. This is the sole condition for receiving grace and mercy – you have to ask for it. You can ask with weeping, like this man, or boldly, like the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28) – as long as you admit your need for grace you’ll get it.
Exactly: humility opens the door to God’s grace, as I’ve been stressing throughout this article. Let’s read that passage about the tax-collector who “beat his breast”:
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Luke 18:9-14
The reviled tax collector “went home justified before God” because he humbled himself before the Almighty and asked for mercy. He was obviously willing to repent—change his mind with the corresponding action. The Pharisee, on the other hand, did not go home justified before God. Why? Because he was arrogant and absurdly boasted of all his “great” religious works when he stood before the LORD at the Temple. This parable effectively illustrates the fundamental truth emphasized throughout this article: “God opposes the proud but gives his grace to the humble.”
People need to hear how much God loves them.
Absolutely. They need to hear how far God has bent over backwards, so to speak, to reconcile lost, sinful humanity. This is the extremist example of loving one’s enemies — suffering horribly and dying for them; in this case, in the hope of reconciling with them and providing eternal life (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). And, yes, apart from redemption lost humanity are enemies of God (Romans 5:10), which isn’t to say that every unsaved soul is frothing at the mouth with malevolent evil.
As explained earlier, the LORD loves his human enemies in the sense of agape love, which is practical love; thus Christ died for us (John 3:16). The Almighty is hoping this gets their attention, that they “come to their senses” and transfer “from the dominion of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18 ). But God doesn’t have phileo love—affection, respect, closeness—for arrogant fools who spurn the Creator and his graciousness. He doesn’t have “warm fuzzies” for those who stubbornly and selfishly continue on in their sin. He’s not up their affectionately reflecting on sick pedophiles: “Oh, I just luvvy wuvvy these vile abusers of children.” NO! He opposes them—resists them.
We see this in the case of Saul, who was radically persecuting the early Church: The Lord appeared to him and asked why he was persecuting Him (his body, the Church) and proceeded to strike Saul with blindness (Acts 9:1-19). This is an example of tough love, which you can read about here. Saul was a tough nut to crack, but he wisely responded to the Lord’s tough love tactics by humbling himself and praying, to which the Lord sent Ananias, who laid hands on Saul and he was healed. Thus Saul became the apostle Paul, God’s mightiest human agent in the New Testament era.
But it could have gone the other way: Saul could’ve arrogantly spurned the Lord and suffered the inevitable consequences. A good example of this is King Herod Agrippa I, who reigned over Judea from 41-44 AD. Like Saul, Herod began severely persecuting the Church, even putting James, the brother of John, to the sword and imprisoning Peter (Acts 12:1-5). The Lord mercifully gave Herod much time to repent, but he refused and pompously continued on in his sin and thus an angel of the Lord wiped him off the face of the Earth (Acts 12:19-23). Truly, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble!
They need to hear about his unconditional favor and grace.
Actually the Greek word for ‘favor’ or ‘grace’—charis—simply means “graciousness, favor, kindness.” Contrary to what this man heard in seminary it doesn’t mean “unconditional favor.” If God’s grace of salvation was truly “unconditional,” as this man & others claim, then everyone will be saved, whether they humbly turn to God in repentance & faith or not, which is not what the Scriptures teach. That is Universalism, a false doctrine easily negated by numerous plain passages, as shown here.
It is true that God’s grace of salvation is unmerited in the sense that it cannot be bought and you can’t work for it. Yet this doesn’t mean there aren’t conditions to receiving it. Humility is the necessary condition that unlocks God’s grace in a person’s life (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5 & Proverbs 3:34) and humility is the root of both repentance and faith, as explained earlier. In other words, the only ones who merit God’s grace are those humble souls who are willing to “obey the gospel” through repentance & faith. These are the ones who are “worthy of the kingdom of God” (2 Thessalonians 1:4-5).
When the Corinthian Christians fell into sin, Paul still didn’t preach “turn from sin.” Instead he reminded them of their identity in Christ. He understood that grace, not dead works, is the cure for sin.
Yes, some of the Corinthians fell into jealousy, strife and sectarianism, which is why Paul corrected them in his first letter (1 Corinthians 3:3). By “corrected them” he clearly encouraged them to put off such fleshly works. He even emphasized that they “flee from sexual immorality” “and stop sinning,” both of which certainly sound like “turn from sin” to me (1 Corinthians 6:18 & 15:34).
But, in keeping with the proper understanding of repentance, Paul didn’t just urge them to flee from sin, he also told them who they were in Christ to give them a revelation on which to base their faith. For instance, he stressed that they were a “temple” of God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) and conveyed several other such truths in his subsequent letter (e.g. 2 Corinthians 5:17,21 & 8:9).
Regarding 2 Corinthians 7:8-11, Paul is saying, “I don’t regret what I did.”
What did Paul do and why didn’t he regret what he did? Let’s read the passage:
Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— 9 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.
2 Corinthians 7:8-11
Paul caused the Corinthian believers sorrow by his previous letter (that is, the epistle of 1 Corinthians). Why did his epistle cause them sorrow? Because it identified their sins and corrected them; he urged them to repent and even insisted that they expel an unrepentant fornicator. All this is detailed above. Paul didn’t regret what he said because it made them sorrowful and this led to their repentance. This shows, by the way, that the Corinthians repented in response to Paul’s confrontation in his first letter; and this is why none of them were expelled. Thankfully, even the man who was expelled repented and thus Paul urged them to allow him back into their fold (2 Corinthians 2:6-8).
You see, it was necessary for Paul to preach biblical repentance on this occasion and it bore good fruit at the Corinth church. Sometimes it will be necessary for you or me to preach repentance as well—which includes urging people to put off the flesh—as led of the Spirit. “Radical grace” preachers who hate the idea of preaching repentance—at least in the sense of turning from sin—need to get a hold of this.
I change my way of thinking so that my life lines up with what is true. I repent every day and it’s wonderful.
That’s great, Praise God! I encourage this man — and other “radical grace” preachers — to preach biblical repentance to their listeners, but repentance in its complete sense, not just useless mental assent. ‘Radical grace’ teachers tend to downplay “putting off the flesh,” one way or another.
The key to life is not in turning from sin but trusting in Jesus.
I don’t understand why this man insists that it’s one or the other. It’s both. If “the wages of sin is death” then it naturally follows that turning away from sin must be turning away from death (Romans 6:23). It’s why Christ admonished: “unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:3,5). In other words, repentance is a step in the right direction, toward life. This is why the book of wisdom says that “correction and instruction are the way to life” (Proverbs 6:23). When a person is in error and receives correction or instruction and turns from his/her error, it’s the way to life.
Of course “trusting in Jesus” is the key to life because Christ is “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6) and thus has “the words of eternal life” (John 6:63,68).
Yet having faith in Christ and stubbornly refusing to turn from the deceitful desires of the flesh is not life. It’s this kind of libertine folly that enabled the unrepentant fornicator at the Corinth church and eventually caused him to get expelled (1 Corinthians 5:13); it’s what brought about the premature deaths of others in Corinth (1 Corinthians 11:29-32); it’s what caused Jezebel’s followers in Thyatira to suffer intensely, with the most stubbornly unrepentant ones prematurely dying (Revelation 2:20-23)!
So the key to life is 1. turning from sin and 2. turning toward the Lord in faith. That’s why Paul preached repentance and faith, not one or the other (Acts 20:21); it’s why repentance and faith are the first two of the six basic doctrines of Christianity (Hebrews 6:1-2). It’s why repentance & faith go hand-in-hand.
Needless to say, “radical grace” are really teaching unbalanced grace because they regularly discard relevant passages on the topic. And they’ll have to answer for it at the Judgment Seat of Christ (see James 3:1 & 2 Corinthians 5:10-11).
Let’s not be foolish like that; let’s be thorough in our studies — including on the topic of grace — and “watch our life and doctrine closely” (1 Timothy 4:16 ). Some unwise ministers, unfortunately, are not watching their doctrine.
This article is available in book form — freshly edited with additional material:
You can purchase the print book here for only $5.38 or get the Kindle eBook here for only 99¢
Related Topics:
False Grace — “Hyper-Grace Cotton Candy”
Libertinism — What’s Wrong with It and How to Walk FREE
Berean Spirit — What is it? How Do You Cultivate It?
Spirituality — How to be Spirit-Controlled Rather than Flesh-Ruled
Once Saved Always Saved? — Answering the Best Arguments
A couple of people wrote me recently in response to my article Once Saved Always Saved? to defend the popular idea that it is impossible for believers to lose their salvation, even if they walk in sin for years or decades with no concern to repent. This doctrine is known as unconditional eternal security. Since the arguments these people shared with me pretty much represent the best defenses for this position, I’m going to devote an entire article to responding to their arguments and claims, which are cited in red italics below.
Before addressing these arguments it’s necessary to emphasize a number of things, starting with this: The Bible definitely supports the doctrine of eternal security 100%. John 10:28-29 verifies this; however, the Bible clearly does NOT support the doctrine of unconditional eternal security; and this is proven by numerous passages.
I’m very familiar with the topic and my original article wasn’t written rashly. I have zero bias on the issue and am simply going by what the Scriptures teach based on an honest and balanced study. Whatever the truth is, there can be no loopholes; all the “pieces” have to fit. If someone comes up with an argument that ignores multiple biblical passages then that position is dubious at best. Their theology is askew somehow.
I realize there are loads of believers out there who are fervent about their belief in unconditional eternal security, even stubborn; off the top of my head I can think of several people who have either written me or spoken with me seriously on the topic in an attempt to correct. In none of these cases were they able to explain clear passages where the biblical writers warn believers of the “deceptiveness of sin” and the dire consequences of an unrepentant sinful lifestyle and the ensuing falling away, such as:
- Paul (Galatians 5:19-21, 6:7-8 & Romans 11:19-24),
- Peter (2 Peter 2:20-21),
- Christ (Luke 13:1-9, 8:13 & John 15:1-6);
- The writer of Hebrews (Hebrews 10:25-27).
Please look up these passages and reflect on them in your study time; they’re unmistakable. There are several other New Testament passages that illustrate the same, but this is enough for here.
Christ said it’s the truth that will set us free as we continually pursue it, honestly and thoroughly (John 8:31-32); and I’ve been set free on this issue. I’m totally at peace and there’s no temptation for me to go into “attack mode” with people who advocate unconditional eternal security. Nor do I separate from brothers or sisters over the issue, although some might separate from me, but that’s their prerogative. My only concern is what the Scriptures say on the topic and therefore arguments rooted in emotion cannot and will not sway me. You’ll observe that a couple of the arguments below are rooted in emotion rather than what the Scriptures teach. Those who embrace unconditional eternal security have to address the pertinent passages, including the ones noted above. The fact that they won’t testifies against their doctrine.
Why Are Advocates of Unconditional Eternal Security So Fervent and Stubborn About It?
Let’s consider an important question: Why are believers fervent and stubborn on this issue? Here are a few obvious reasons that I can think of:
- Someone they love who’s a confessing believer is living in known sin.
- They themselves are living in sin and are convicted about it.
- Unconditional eternal security is what they were taught in their developing years as a Christian and they’re now rigid on the issue, regardless of the myriad clear passages that contradict what they’ve been taught. Incidentally, Christians who accept or defend doctrines for this reason are decidedly STAGE TWO because they put what their pastor/church/sect advocates above what God’s Word plainly teaches.*
*If you’re not familiar with the Four Stages of spiritual growth go here for details.
Concerning #2, I’ve seen the bad fruit of the doctrine of unconditional eternal security: It naturally cultivates a pompous attitude where believers think they can do whatever fleshly activity they want with zero concern to repent and they’ll never have to answer for it. Or, even if they think they might lose some eternal rewards, their salvation from the second death will never be revoked, even if they live a lifestyle of sin year after year, decade after decade, with zero concern to repent. Frankly, this is an arrogant attitude and God literally opposes the proud (James 4:6 & 1 Peter 5:5). I’ve come across believers who embrace this theology and, without a second thought, will rip-off people hundreds of dollars or more without blinking an eye with no intention of ever making things right.
Or how about the August, 2009, case of George Sodini who walked into a women’s aerobics class near Pittsburgh, turned out the lights, and started shooting into the darkness, firing fifty rounds. Within seconds, he killed three women and wounded nine others. Then he shot and killed himself.
It turned out that he had been planning the killings and his suicide for months in advance. The previous December, he wrote in a blog of the evangelical church he had been attending for thirteen years, saying of the pastor, “This guy teaches (and convinced me) that you can commit mass murder then still go to heaven.” Just one day before his murder spree and suicide, he wrote:
Maybe soon, I will see God and Jesus. At least that is what I was told. Eternal life does NOT depend on works. If it did, we will all be in hell. Christ paid for EVERY sin, so how can I or you be judged BY GOD for a sin when the penalty was ALREADY paid. People judge, but that does not matter. I was reading the Bible and (the book) The Integrity of God beginning yesterday, because soon I will see them.
The book he mentioned, The Integrity of God, was written by an author who advocates that believers cannot forfeit their salvation no matter how much they sin without care of repentance. Apparently the author and the murderer didn’t read Galatians 6:7-8 or Revelation 22:14-15.
This is the wicked fruit of the doctrine of unconditional eternal security. Not only will this man be held thoroughly accountable for his heinous murders, and likely cast into Gehenna (1 John 3:15 settles this), the false teachers who erroneously indoctrinated him will be held accountable as well (2 Corinthians 5:10-11 & 1 Corinthians 3:5-17). Whether or not the latter will also suffer the second death is for God to determine, not me, but it’s a definite possibility in light of 1 Corinthians 3:5-17, which concerns God’s appraisal of the works of ministers. Consider, in particular, the last two verses (which are inextricably linked to the preceding verses):
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple [i.e. the Christian], God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
This is a sobering warning for all Christians, particularly ministers. Paul makes it clear that every believer is “God’s temple;” every Christian is a sacred temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells. Verse 17 solemnly declares that God will destroy any person who destroys this temple. The context is referring to pastors and teachers who destroy Christians with their “wood, hay and straw,” which, represent unbiblical doctrine and fleshly or abusive actions. Many have used verse 17 to preach against smoking and alcohol abuse but the context is plainly referring to ministers whose teachings and actions cause people to fall away from God, in effect destroying God’s temple.
We all know what Paul’s talking about here: A supposed Christian minister whose work ultimately destroys naïve believers and, as such, his (or her) work could be categorized as “wood, hay and straw.” The pastors & teachers who misled George Sodini are an excellent example. Jim Jones and David Koresh are more infamous examples. There are no doubt less extreme cases in your local area.
Notice what verse 17 plainly states God will do to such a pastor or teacher whose work destroys people: “God will destroy him.” This means that God will cut the abusive, hypocritical minister off from salvation and cast him into the lake of fire where he will “destroy both soul and body” (Matthew 10:28).
Speaking of these false teachers, they were around in the first century as well. Jude said: “For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord” (Jude 1:4). Since Jude says that these false grace teachers “secretly slipped in among” the believers we know that they weren’t publicly and verbally denying the Lord, but rather denying Him through their actions and teachings, which corresponds to what Paul taught when he said “They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him” (Titus 1:16) and Christ as well (Mark 7:6).
Answering the Best Arguments
Okay, let’s address the arguments and claims that have been thrown at me:
I often see Galatians 5:19-21 used to show that “those who do these things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (ESV).
But isn’t that what it says? The version of the Bible quoted is the ESV. The NIV renders verse 21 like so: “those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” The NASB is even more accurate, being a word-for-word translation: “those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” The passage is talking about those who practice sin AS A LIFESTYLE WITHOUT CARE OF REPENTANCE. We know this because 1 John 1:8-9 shows that all genuine believers miss it, but their sins are forgiven as they confess to God; that is, repent.
Is it the fact that they are practicing any of the sins listed the reason that they are not inheriting the kingdom?
Again, it’s because they are practicing works of the flesh with no concern to repent and “the wages of sin is death.” Put another way, the eventual outcome of sin, if one doesn’t turn from it, is death. This explains why John the Baptist instructed people to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance”? (Matthew & Luke 3:8)
Or is it the fact that they are not saved to begin with, and as a result, act the way they do?
While there are “goats” in every congregation (i.e. counterfeits), like Judas as a member of Jesus’ 12 disciples, Paul was addressing BELIEVERS in the region of Galatia. If Paul was addressing unbelievers masquerading as believers then he would’ve qualified his words like so: “Now for those of you who say you’re saved, but are actually unbelievers…”
Think about it: nobody goes to hell based on what they do or do not do
By “hell” you’re of course referring to the lake of fire where damned souls experience the “second death” (Revelation 20:11-15). Why do people have to suffer this “second death”? Because, again, that’s what the wages of sin is – DEATH (Romans 6:23). Moreover, whether people care to admit it or not, there are conditions for receiving God’s gifts of reconciliation and eternal life: (1) REPENTANCE and (2) FAITH. Acts 20:21 verifies this, as does Christ in Mark 1:15. This explains why repentance and faith are the first two basic doctrines of Christianity (Hebrews 6:1-2).* So being cast into the lake of fire and suffering the second death has everything to do with what people do or don’t do.
*For more on the six basic doctrines go here.
for salvation is not by works.
True, it’s not by works; salvation comes through accepting the message of Christ—the gospel—through REPENTANCE and FAITH, which takes humility because arrogant people refuse to admit error and turn from it (i.e. repent); moreover, their arrogance won’t allow them to submit to God’s will. This is why the Bible says three times verbatim that God RESISTS or OPPOSES the proud but gives His FAVOR to the humble (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5 and Proverbs 3:34).
Like others who argue that believers can live in unrepentant sin for decades and still be a genuine believer, this man quotes Ephesians 2:8-9 without balancing it out with other pertinent passages. For instance, the very next verse—verse 10—says “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus TO DO GOOD WORKS, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” And then, of course, there’s the long passage from James 2:14-26 where the Holy Spirit says (through James): “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead… As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
Paul added an important detail when he said that believers are to please God by “bearing fruit in every good work” (Colossians 1:10). He was obviously talking about fruit of the spirit, the main fruit being agape love (Galatians 5:22-23).
What can we conclude from this biblical data? People are saved from the wages of sin—eternal death—by accepting the gospel through humble repentance and faith, not works. However, genuine faith will produce both fruit and works whereas false faith—dead faith—produces neither.
If anyone is going to hell it is because they have not accepted Jesus and therefore have not had eternal life imparted to their spirits.
This is obviously true, but why do they refuse to accept Jesus Christ and receive eternal life? BECAUSE THEY REFUSE TO REPENT. They don’t want to give up this or that sin and submit to the Lord usually because they erroneously think that they will find happiness through their sin, which is impossible. All they’ll find is fleshly satisfaction; underneath is death.
Romans 6:23 says that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Notice it doesn’t say “The wages of not accepting Jesus Christ is death,” which—while absolutely true (people who reject Christ as Lord will indeed suffer the second death)—it’s not what the passage says. It’s an important point if you reflect on it.
The Bible says that no man shall see the Lord without holiness; but that holiness is provided by Jesus in the new birth and not by our actions.
True, holiness is provided for believers via the new birth. Ephesians 4:22-24 says that our “new self (is) created to be LIKE GOD in true righteousness and holiness.” The passage is referring to the believer’s new nature. However, believers won’t walk in the righteousness and holiness of this new nature UNLESS—as the passage says—we “PUT OFF the old self (the flesh), which is corrupted by deceitful desires and… PUT ON the new self.” So our new nature is indeed created to be like God in true holiness, but we won’t walk in this holiness UNLESS we “put off” the flesh and “put on” the new nature. It’s talking about walking in the spirit, which is what Galatians 5:19-23 is all about.
Paul, by the Holy Spirit, is saying that believers who stubbornly refuse to put off the flesh—i.e. repent of it as necessary—and put on the new self—i.e. live out of their new nature with the help of the Holy Spirit—will be flesh-ruled rather than spirit-controlled and will therefore produce the works of the flesh on a continuing basis. The problem with this is that “those who LIVE LIKE THIS will not inherit the kingdom of God” (verse 21). Why? Because death is the wages of unrepentant sin.
To “live like this” means to walk in sin without care of repentance — i.e. as an ongoing lifestyle. This is why the Bible instructs us to “keep with repentance,” meaning to ‘fess up when we miss it, which releases God to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (Matthew & Luke 3:8 and 1 John 1:8-9). If we stubbornly refuse to ‘fess up when we miss it — i.e. repent — then God doesn’t forgive that sin and we’re not cleansed of the corresponding unrighteousness.
Which one of us could ever act holy enough in and of ourselves to merit eternal life?
Holiness comes through spiritual rebirth, but practical holiness comes by learning to put off the flesh and put on the new nature and thus being spirit-controlled. Only then will we bear forth the fruit of the spirit.
And when we start to quantify and measure holiness by our actions legalism is always the result.
As previously noted, the believer is already holy in his or her spirit (which is the only reason the HOLY Spirit can indwell us), but we won’t walk in PRACTICAL HOLINESS unless we “keep in repentance” of the flesh and put on the new self, which is “created to be like God in true righteousness and HOLINESS.”
Can a Christian be carnal and still be saved? The answer is “yes.” To say otherwise violates all of the prohibitions that Paul laid out in his epistles.
Yes, you can be a carnal Christian who practices sin as a lifestyle, but for how long? Why do you think the first word of John the Baptist’s sermon was “REPENT” (Matthew 3:2) and the same with Jesus’ first sermon (Matthew 4:17)? Why did John instruct people to “produce fruit in KEEPING WITH REPENTANCE”? Why did Paul insist that repentance was integral to receiving eternal salvation (Acts 20:21)? Why did Paul write to believers and tell them that anyone who lives in the flesh as a lifestyle with no concern to repent will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21 & 1 Corinthians 6:9-11)? Why did Paul emphasize putting off the flesh and its deceitful desires and putting on the new nature (Ephesians 4:22-24)? Why did the apostle John encourage believers to ’fess up if they sinned and receive God’s forgiveness (1 John 1:8-9)? Why did Christ insist that a dubious prophetess and those believers who were misled by her at the church in Asia Minor repent of their immorality? See Revelation 2:20-23.
To repent, by the way, literally means “to change one’s mind” for the positive. This doesn’t mean a meaningless mental exercise, but a change of mind with the corresponding actions, like the revolve to fulfill God’s will (Acts 26:20) and turn from that which is opposed to God’s will, i.e. sin (Acts 8:22 & 2 Corinthians 12:21). Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin (see Acts 20:21 & Mark 1:15) and so for repentance to be effective it must be combined with faith, otherwise repentance is just a dead exercise. Is it any wonder that repentance and faith are the first two of the six basic doctrines of Christianity? See Hebrews 6:1-2. It is of the utmost importance to one’s spiritual health to grasp this.
Why tell Christians to ‘not lie to one another’? Or to flee fornication? If it were impossible for a Christian to live habitually in these things then Paul wasted his ink.
Obviously because “the wages of sin is DEATH.” In other words, if they practice such sins as a lifestyle with no concern to repent it would eventually cut them off from salvation altogether. Why else do you think “keeping in repentance” is repeatedly stressed in the New Testament in different ways, as noted above?
All Christians—automatically—would repent after the first time and stop doing anything habitually. The Christian life would take care of itself—automatically.
Spiritual growth is a process as the believer learns to be spirit-controlled rather than flesh-ruled. The confess-and-receive-forgiveness dynamic is a key factor in spiritual growth. It keeps our spiritual arteries clear of the clogging-up of unconfessed sin and keeps God’s grace (favor) flowing into our lives. The LORD’s favor flows to the humble—those who keep in repentance—whereas he opposes the arrogant—those who are too proud to confess and repent.
Let me give you a real-life example from the Bible: Remember the unrepentant fornicator from the Corinth church? Because he was stubborn and refused to repent Paul insisted that they put him out of the church (1 Corinthians 5:1-5) and he only instructed them to receive him back when the man humbly repented (2 Corinthians 2:6-11). God’s favor flows to the humble.
It was through this “producing fruit and keeping with repentance” principle that I got freed up from certain sins. It took a while but I eventually got freed-up. This principle kept God’s favor flowing in my life DESPITE regular relapses. This is an example of struggling with sin and eventually learning to walk free, which is different than STUBBORNLY LIVING IN SIN AS A LIFESTYLE. A believer in the former situation doesn’t want to sin, but falls over and over because he’s in bondage whereas the latter individual regularly sins because he wants to sin and has no concern to repent. The latter is in danger of losing his salvation. Don’t get me wrong, God is merciful and gracious, so there is a generous “grace period,” but those who go on in their sin are foolishly mocking God (Galatians 6:7-8). Paul was talking to believers in this passage where he concluded: “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap DESTRUCTION; whoever sows to please the spirit, from the spirit will reap ETERNAL LIFE.”
How long is this “generous grace period”? The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree gives an idea: Luke 13:5-9, which we’ll address below.
Those who deny the once-saved-always-saved message, like yourself, are calling out those who preach this message and are warning people that this message is dangerously misleading.
It IS dangerously misleading because it deceives believers into thinking they can live a lifestyle of sin without care of repentance and still maintain their salvation year after year, decade after decade. Moreover, it indirectly encourages believers to sin by convincing them that they’re immune to the consequences of sin, something neither Christ nor Paul nor any other biblical writer would do. In fact they did the express opposite (see Mark 9:43-47 & Romans 6:15). Needless to say, the doctrine of unconditional eternal security is a lie straight from the kingdom of darkness!
But in trying to correct what they see as a major problem, they introduce another major problem: salvation by grace through faith and maintained by your works of holiness.
No, salvation is by faith, which is verified by humble repentance (Mark 1:15 & Acts 20:21), and genuine faith results in fruit and works. Our salvation is “maintained” through repentance and faith. After all, if salvation is received via repentance and faith then a person who no longer repents or has faith is no longer saved. It’s simple.
Again, repentance and faith are the two conditions to receiving eternal salvation (Acts 20:21) and therefore believers are required to “keep with repentance” (Matthew 3:8, Luke 3:8 & 1 John 1:8-9) and persevere in faith (Colossians 1:21-23), which explains why repentance and faith are the first two basic doctrines of Christianity (Hebrews 6:1-2). All we have to do is keep with repentance and persevere in faith and there won’t be any problem; salvation is absolutely guaranteed (John 10:27-30). Those who ignore these conditions are fools and do so to their own peril.
This is a greater problem than the one he deals with in his book. And I most definitely am not in agreement with his viewpoint on this matter.
It’s not a matter of what people agree with or don’t agree with; it’s a matter of what God’s Word thoroughly and clearly teaches.
John 5:24 proves that once people are saved it’s not possible for them to lose their salvation
In other words, you think John 5:24 is definitive support for unconditional eternal security. Let’s read the passage and see if this is true (Jesus is speaking):
“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”
John 5:24
Jesus was saying that genuine believers who persevere in faith will not be judged at the White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15). However, other passages clearly show that all believers must face the Judgment Seat of Christ, also known as the Bema Judgment, which is where “each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10-11 & Romans 14:10). *
*See this article on the Judgment Seat of Christ.
In any case, the Messiah was not saying in John 5:24 that it’s impossible for a believer to fall away because, as already detailed, there are numerous crystal clear passages which show that genuine believers can fall away and lose their salvation if they foolishly continue in sin with no care to repent, like 2 Peter 2:20-21 and Hebrews 10:25-27; not to mention what Christ himself taught (e.g. Luke 8:13). We must always be sure to “correctly handle” God’s Word — “rightly divide” it — by being balanced and allow Scripture to interpret Scripture on any given doctrine, including this one (2 Timothy 2:15).
I realize the doctrine of unconditional eternal security is ‘hip’ in Christendom right now, particularly in the Evangelical community (particularly Baptists), but as a minister of God I’m obligated to share the “whole counsel of God” on the topic and not teach something just because it’s currently popular. After all, I’m going to be held accountable for what I teach and I want the LORD to say “Well done good and faithful servant” and not “Why did you mislead people with unbiblical and unbalanced teachings?!”
If our eternity isn’t secured and completed for us, then what is the good news? If I can lose my salvation, then the gospel is NOT good news, but terrible news.
Only terrible news for the fool who chooses to develop a “sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12-13). We’ll look at this passage momentarily.
The good news is that we indeed have eternal security in Christ as we “keep with repentance” and continue in faith. As already established, repentance and faith are the conditions for accepting the gospel (Mark 1:15 & Acts 20:21), which — again — correspond to the first two of the six basic doctrines of Christianity (Hebrews 6:1-2), which you can read about here.
This explains why the Bible stresses “keeping in repentance” (Matthew 3:8, Luke 3:8 & 1 John 1:8-9) and persevering in faith, as Paul pointed out:
He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel
Colossians 1:22-23
As I conveyed in my other article on this topic: If it takes faith to be saved then it naturally follows that someone can’t be saved if they no longer have faith. The Bible teaches that it’s through faith and perseverance that we inherit what is promised, including eternal salvation, not faith for a little bit and then giving up (Hebrews 6:12 & Luke 8:13).
For anyone who argues that there are no conditions to reconciling with God through the gospel then that would mean that everyone is saved or, at least, will be saved, which is universalism, a blatantly false doctrine, proven here.
The fact that some believers fall away because they refuse to keep in repentance and continue in faith does not negate the good news of the gospel for those who obediently comply with these conditions. As long as the believer keeps in repentance and perseveres in faith their salvation is guaranteed. So what’s the problem? There is no problem unless a person is living a lifestyle of sin with no care to repent. The Holy Spirit will always convict such people and move them toward repentance; unfortunately, some will resist the Spirit’s counsel, hardening their hearts further. These types naturally tend to justify their sinful lifestyles and attack those who preach keeping with repentance.
I believe in a God that is the author AND finisher of my faith, and I trust Him that He would never leave my salvation in mine own hands. Now THAT is the good news!
It’s not an issue of what you or I or anyone else believes, it’s a matter of what the Holy Scriptures clearly teach; and, as detailed, they teach that it’s possible for believers to forfeit their salvation due to the deceptiveness of sin and/or not continuing in faith:
See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
Hebrews 3:12-13
Please notice that he’s talking to “brothers and sisters” in the Lord—believers, not unbelievers—and he warns them to be careful not to develop a “sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God,” which means that it’s possible for believers to develop such a condition. Sin is deceptive. As a person walks in sin it naturally hardens their heart to God and the things of God to the point that they “turn away from the living God.” I’ve seen it happen.
Also notice that a “sinful, unbelieving heart” is the opposite of the two conditions to accepting the gospel—repentance and faith, which (again) correspond to the first two doctrines of basic Christianity.
Obviously believers do have a part to play in their salvation even though Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. If they opt for a “sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God” this is to their own folly and shame. Paul said that it’s those who persevere in faith who are counted “worthy of the kingdom” (2 Thessalonians 1:4-5) and Jesus also talked about those “who are worthy of taking part in the age to come” (Luke 20:35).
While this may contradict what false grace teachers preach, it’s in accordance with what the Bible plainly teaches.
Colossians 2:13 says that God “forgave ALL our sins” (past tense), which includes our future sins before we even confess them (and even if we DON’T confess them).
This argument sounds valid on the surface; that is, until you look at other clear verses on the topic. As always, “Scripture interprets Scripture” so it’s imperative that we be balanced.
Forgiveness for all sins has been made readily available for all people via Christ’s substitutionary death and resurrection. This is the gospel and explains one of the main reasons why it’s the “good news.” Yet it’s obvious that not everyone has been forgiven by God in light of the fact that multitudes of humanity will be thrown away into the lake of fire to suffer the second death (Revelation 20:11-15). What’s the difference between these people and believers? Simple: Believers procure God’s forgiveness through the conditions of repentance and faith (Acts 20:21 & Mark 1:15), which are the first two basic doctrines of Christianity (Hebrews 6:1-2).
Since God “forgave all our sins,” as pointed out in Colossians 2:13, does that mean believers don’t have to “keep with repentance” by ‘fessing up when we inevitably miss it? No, because that would render numerous other passages superfluous, like the aforementioned Matthew & Luke 3:8 and 1 John 1:8-9. Let’s read the latter passage again:
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:8-9
When people accept the gospel through repentance and faith they appropriate forgiveness for all their past sins. But this passage clearly shows that forgiveness for future sins cannot be procured until after they are committed and confessed. After all, how can you forgive someone for an offense that he or she hasn’t even committed yet?
You see, the Scriptures teach that God deals with us according to our current condition within the context of time. To understand this obvious principle, consider what the LORD Himself said on the matter:
13 “If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done. 14 And if I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but they then turn away from their sin and do what is just and right— 15 if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die.” 16 None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live.
Ezekiel 33:13-16
As you can see, God holds individuals accountable to their current condition: If a righteous man becomes arrogant and commits evil without care of repentance “none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered.” By contrast, if a wicked man turns away from evil and does what is just and right “none of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them.”
Someone might respond: “That’s Old Testament, brother.” But we’re talking about relationship with the God and the Lord is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Besides, the same simple relational principle is taught throughout the New Testament — God deals with us according to our current state. This can be observed when the Lord insisted that a dubious prophetess & those misled by her at the church in Thyatira repent of their immorality (Revelation 2:20-23). It is perfectly exemplified in 1 John 1:8-9 above. And the LORD expects us to do the same with others. Let’s consider a few relevant passages.
Earlier we talked about the unrepentant fornicator from the Corinthian church. Because this man was stubborn and refused to repent Paul insisted that the Corinthian believers expel him from their assembly (1 Corinthians 5:1-5). He only instructed that the man be forgiven and received back into the fellowship when he humbly repented (2 Corinthians 2:6-11).
Likewise, notice what Christ said to do when a brother or sister sins against you:
“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
Luke 17:3-4
You see? The Lord instructs us to deal with fellow believers according to their current state. When they repent we are to forgive them, but not before. This is precisely how God deals with us when we sin, as detailed above, and He expects us to treat others accordingly (Ephesians 4:32 & 5:1; and Colossians 3:13). See this article for more data.
I was just reading a book where a minister who supports the doctrine that a believer’s future sins are already forgiven and so we don’t really need to “keep with repentance” in order for God to forgive us when we miss it. He cited this passage for support:
“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”Hebrews 10:17
What’s audacious about quoting this particular verse to support this false doctrine is that Hebrews 10 goes on to warn believers of the danger of willfully sinning without care of repentance. Notice for yourself:
26 If we [believers] deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
Hebrews 10:26-27
To “deliberately keep on sinning” means to willfully sin as a lifestyle without concern of humbly ‘fessing up and procuring God’s forgiveness.
Needless to say, be quick to ‘fess up when you miss it and God will forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. If the LORD forgives you then please make sure you forgive yourself.
What’s so difficult about this? What’s so hard to understand about it? Nothing. It’s simple as pie: When you morally fail be honest about it with your Lord and repent. ‘Repent’ means to change your mind for the positive. It means making a 180 when you realize you’re going the wrong way. It’s a very positive thing and facilitates closeness in your relationship with God by keeping it honest and preventing your spiritual arteries from the clog-up of unconfessed sin.
How Long Can a Believer Live in Unrepentant Sin Before They’re Cut Off From Salvation?
I want to emphasize that there’s no doubt to God’s great mercy and grace in cases where believers stray into unrepentant sin, particularly in light of Jesus’ Parable of the Vineyard, but in view of the numerous crystal clear passages cited above why risk walking on thin ice by playing around with sin? Some are deceived into thinking they can flirt with the flesh—the deceptive beast within us all—but before they know it they become captive to it. This is the “deceitfulness of sin” noted in Hebrews 3:12-13 (quoted above). Sin has the power to harden a person’s heart to the point where s/he doesn’t want anything to do with God or the things of God.
Now let’s address the aforementioned Parable of the Vineyard, also known as the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree:
5 “…But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
6Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
8“ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’ ”
Luke 13:5-9
Please note Jesus’ preceding statement to giving the parable in verse 5: “unless you repent, you too will all perish.” There is a condition to not perishing—not suffering eternal death—and that condition is to repent. Also notice that Christ holds people responsible for adhering to this condition. God doesn’t force anyone to repent. It’s up to the individual person. God does His part, but we are obligated to do our part. Genuine repentance, by the way isn’t just confessing past sins, but also the resolve to no longer sin and to keep with repentance when we do, as already covered.
The meaning of the parable is obvious:
- The owner of the vineyard represents God;
- the fruitless fig tree represents an individual in covenant with God who’s not bearing fruit;
- and the caretaker represents Jesus, the mediator between the owner and the fig tree.
The owner wants to cut the fig tree down because it hasn’t produced fruit in three years, but the caretaker intercedes and convinces the owner to give the tree one more year wherein the caretaker will do everything he can to get it to be fruitful. If the tree still hasn’t produced fruit by the end of the fourth year the owner and caretaker agree to cut it down and remove it from the vineyard.
What we see here is patience, mercy and grace. The owner of the vineyard and the caretaker, who represent the heavenly Father and Jesus, are willing to give the tree a total of four years to be fruitful before ultimately cutting it down, if they must. The story is figurative so we can’t take it strictly literal, i.e. that God will pluck someone out of the kingdom if they’re fruitless for exactly four years. What we can get from it, however, is that God’s patience, mercy and grace are awesome and He will do everything He can to get us to be fruitful by adhering to the conditions of our covenant, i.e. repentance & faith. He’s invested in us greatly and understandably wants us to be productive.
Another thing we can get from the parable is that when the Lord’s mercy ends His judgment begins and he’ll cut off when/if necessary. Why be foolish and incur such judgment?
Closing Word
Those who rigidly advocate the “once saved always saved” doctrine argue that, if people fall away from the Lord, they were never really saved in the first place. They contend that such people merely dabbled in Christianity and their faith was never really sincere; consequently, any positive changes in their lifestyles were superficial, the result of practicing some Scriptural principles, but not actually knowing the Lord. Surely this is true, but the numerous passages cited above and many others also show that Christians can abort their salvation if they choose to neglect their faith (here are several passages that clearly support this: Galatians 5:19-21, Hebrews 10:25-27, 2 Peter 2:20-21, Romans 11:19-24, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Hebrews 3:6, 3:12 & 6:4-6, James 5:19-20, Jude 1:5, Matthew 10:22, Mark 13:13, Luke 8:13 & 13:5-9 and John 15:1-6).
I repeat: If it takes faith to be saved it naturally follows that people cannot be saved if they come to a point where they no longer have faith. That’s simple enough to understand, isn’t it? Let’s not make the issue more complicated than it is.
Suffice to say, don’t play foolish games with God. You can draw whatever conclusion on the matter that gives you peace and helps you sleep at night, just be careful not to play around with “the deceitfulness of sin” or encourage others to do so either. We’re all going to stand before the Lord and give an account one day where “each of us will receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10-11 & Romans 14:10).
The obvious weakness of the “once saved always saved” teaching is that it can create spiritual complacency, whereas the weakness of the opposite extreme—that believers can lose their salvation at any moment—creates anxiety. Both of these positions are extremes and unscriptural.
The sensible and balanced middle position is that a believer’s salvation is secure as one walks in faith and trusts God’s Word, avoiding both complacency and insecurity. If you miss it, be quick to repent, and God will forgive you. Then keep moving forward knowing that “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day” (Proverbs 4:18). Such people have eternal security in Christ (John 10:27-30). Eternal security is a biblical doctrine, but unconditional eternal security is not. “Do not be deceived” (Galatians 6:7-8).
Related Topics:
Did PAUL’S MESSAGE Contradict Jesus & James’ Gospel?