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Re: Word of Faith: "Metaphysical" "Gnostic" "Cultic" "Not really Christian"-Justin Pe
A Biblically balances grace, is the Biblical grace, Grace as the Bible teaches, Not as the false grace teachers teach.
Which is, we can live as we want to and do what we want to, as it's not what we do or don't do, It's all by grace.
They say they can sins much as they want to, because all our sins have been forgiven, they say we don't have to confess sins or repent of sins, as that is a work and being legalistic, and putting oneself back under the law.
One of the leading well known false grace teacher said,
"All we need to go up in the rapture, is to be alive on earth at that time, Then he said, We don't have to be faithful or holy, Just here at the time".
He also had Acts 20: 32 on a screen, which said,
"I commend you to God, and the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and give you an inheritance",
But he left out, "Among all them who are sanctified".
And the reason he left the "Sanctified", out, is because he says living a sanctified life is being legalistic and putting yourself back under the law.
That's what I call a false grace teaching.
But a Balanced Grace teaching would be, Grace builds up by God's word and gives an inheritance to those who are sanctified,
[Those who live sanctified lives].
A Biblically balances grace, is the Biblical grace, Grace as the Bible teaches, Not as the false grace teachers teach.
Which is, we can live as we want to and do what we want to, as it's not what we do or don't do, It's all by grace.
They say they can sins much as they want to, because all our sins have been forgiven, they say we don't have to confess sins or repent of sins, as that is a work and being legalistic, and putting oneself back under the law.
One of the leading well known false grace teacher said,
"All we need to go up in the rapture, is to be alive on earth at that time, Then he said, We don't have to be faithful or holy, Just here at the time".
He also had Acts 20: 32 on a screen, which said,
"I commend you to God, and the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and give you an inheritance",
But he left out, "Among all them who are sanctified".
And the reason he left the "Sanctified", out, is because he says living a sanctified life is being legalistic and putting yourself back under the law.
That's what I call a false grace teaching.
But a Balanced Grace teaching would be, Grace builds up by God's word and gives an inheritance to those who are sanctified,
[Those who live sanctified lives].
Re: Word of Faith: "Metaphysical" "Gnostic" "Cultic" "Not really Christian"-Justin Pe
I saw J Prince say,
"All we need to go up in the rapture, is to be alive on earth at that time, Then he said, We don't have to be faithful or holy, Just here at the time".
He also had Acts 20: 32 on a screen, which said,
"I commend you to God, and the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and give you an inheritance",
But he left out, "Among all them who are sanctified".
And the reason he left the "Sanctified", out, is because he says living a sanctified life is being legalistic and putting yourself back under the law.
That's what I call a false grace teaching.
I saw J Prince say,
"All we need to go up in the rapture, is to be alive on earth at that time, Then he said, We don't have to be faithful or holy, Just here at the time".
He also had Acts 20: 32 on a screen, which said,
"I commend you to God, and the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and give you an inheritance",
But he left out, "Among all them who are sanctified".
And the reason he left the "Sanctified", out, is because he says living a sanctified life is being legalistic and putting yourself back under the law.
That's what I call a false grace teaching.
E
Re: Word of Faith: "Metaphysical" "Gnostic" "Cultic" "Not really Christian"-Justin Pe
Again, Who says this (the bolded parts?) . A few of your brothers make the same accusations and can not poin tto people who actually say it, Can you?
Who was this please. Actual quote. Not a quote from someone else.
Again, Who says this (the bolded parts?) . A few of your brothers make the same accusations and can not poin tto people who actually say it, Can you?
Who was this please. Actual quote. Not a quote from someone else.
E
Re: Word of Faith: "Metaphysical" "Gnostic" "Cultic" "Not really Christian"-Justin Pe
What was the context
So because you THINK he left it out because of that, Means that is what he actually meant?
So you too can rread peoples minds. Wow we have alot of mind readers in CC lately!
What was the context
So because you THINK he left it out because of that, Means that is what he actually meant?
So you too can rread peoples minds. Wow we have alot of mind readers in CC lately!
J
Re: Word of Faith: "Metaphysical" "Gnostic" "Cultic" "Not really Christian"-Justin Pe
there are many that are looking into these "Not really Christian" movements. does anyone ask why? im sure many are into these things as they think its the next cool fad or what ever but many and i mean many are knocking and seeking, what did Jesus teach on knocking and seeking?
i think in todays age we have something very similar to the days when Jesus was teaching. those that followed Jesus did it because they knew the current way was not working. i think many are seeing the same thing today.
there are many that are looking into these "Not really Christian" movements. does anyone ask why? im sure many are into these things as they think its the next cool fad or what ever but many and i mean many are knocking and seeking, what did Jesus teach on knocking and seeking?
i think in todays age we have something very similar to the days when Jesus was teaching. those that followed Jesus did it because they knew the current way was not working. i think many are seeing the same thing today.
Re: Word of Faith: "Metaphysical" "Gnostic" "Cultic" "Not really Christian"-Justin Pe
Nonsense, he doesn't say that living a sanctified life is being legalistic. He's all for living a holy life by the transformation of the Holy Spirit inside of us. That's a "construct" of your own mind.
The having been sanctified is in the Greek perfect tense and it is passive. The ones that believe in Christ have been sanctified in their new creation in Christ - the inner man where Christ dwells by the Holy Spirit. You are making the gospel into a works righteousness.
perfect tense = The perfect tense is used in the Greek to describe a completed past action which produced results which are still in effect in the present. This is continuously happening.
Passive = in the Greek means that something happened to you from an outside source - you didn't do it to yourself
We are 100% sanctified in our inner man in Christ and now we need to work out what is already in us in Christ as the Holy Spirit transforms us to reflect outwardly in our behavior the life of Christ in us.
What I call false teaching is someone that maligns others for the type of clothes they wear.
Nonsense, he doesn't say that living a sanctified life is being legalistic. He's all for living a holy life by the transformation of the Holy Spirit inside of us. That's a "construct" of your own mind.
The having been sanctified is in the Greek perfect tense and it is passive. The ones that believe in Christ have been sanctified in their new creation in Christ - the inner man where Christ dwells by the Holy Spirit. You are making the gospel into a works righteousness.
perfect tense = The perfect tense is used in the Greek to describe a completed past action which produced results which are still in effect in the present. This is continuously happening.
Passive = in the Greek means that something happened to you from an outside source - you didn't do it to yourself
We are 100% sanctified in our inner man in Christ and now we need to work out what is already in us in Christ as the Holy Spirit transforms us to reflect outwardly in our behavior the life of Christ in us.
What I call false teaching is someone that maligns others for the type of clothes they wear.
Re: Word of Faith: "Metaphysical" "Gnostic" "Cultic" "Not really Christian"-Justin Pe
I know Hagin was wrong on a few things. I heard him say it himself.
He said one time the Holy Spirit took him through 1 Corinthians and showed him where his beliefs were wrong about carnal living Christians and how to deal with them.
Another time he said that the Lord showed him some darkness he had in his thinking and he asked the Lord what is that. The Lord said - "It's some of your Pentecostal beliefs".
I know Hagin was wrong on a few things. I heard him say it himself.
He said one time the Holy Spirit took him through 1 Corinthians and showed him where his beliefs were wrong about carnal living Christians and how to deal with them.
Another time he said that the Lord showed him some darkness he had in his thinking and he asked the Lord what is that. The Lord said - "It's some of your Pentecostal beliefs".
D
Re: Word of Faith: "Metaphysical" "Gnostic" "Cultic" "Not really Christian"-Justin Pe
I did a few weeks ago, but apparently many prefer to simply ignore the obvious and still go with things like "expect preachers to be right and wrong at the same time," "no one gets it right," and the famous "you put in the effort to figure out what he says that isn't true, because I rather listen than think."
Here it is again to be ignored again and to respond to with a sound definitive, "Nan-Nanh!" Joseph Prince: Unmerited Favor - Christian Research Institute
I did a few weeks ago, but apparently many prefer to simply ignore the obvious and still go with things like "expect preachers to be right and wrong at the same time," "no one gets it right," and the famous "you put in the effort to figure out what he says that isn't true, because I rather listen than think."
Here it is again to be ignored again and to respond to with a sound definitive, "Nan-Nanh!" Joseph Prince: Unmerited Favor - Christian Research Institute
Re: Word of Faith: "Metaphysical" "Gnostic" "Cultic" "Not really Christian"-Justin Pe
That heretic hunter website has not given the truth about what is really being said.
Here is what people that believe in the grace of God "really" say - not a distortion of the truth view like in that link above.
Introduction:
In recent times, a label has surfaced regarding what some view as a “dangerous” or “imbalanced” teaching of the grace of God. “Hyper-Grace” is now a term being used to suggest that there are some folks (such as myself) who “take God’s grace too far” and in so doing either ignore or minimize other significant teachings of the Bible.
What follows is an attempt to address a few of the most common “warnings” some have offered regarding those of us who make much of the finished work of Christ.
Objection #1: The Hyper-Grace Gospel is Unbiblical
For starters, you may be shocked to discover that “hyper-grace” is really the only adequate description for grace in the first place, according to the Bible. For example, when Paul wrote in Romans 5:20 that “…where sin increased, grace increased all the more” he was literally referring to God’s grace as “hyper.”
The Greek term for the phrase “increased all the more” (NIV) is huper-perisseuo which literally means “super-abounded.” Hyper is simply a transliteration of the prefix “huper” in Greek and means “above and beyond” in scope or quality. The term “perisseuo” refers to that which is “in far excess of what might be expected, superfluous or gratuitous.”
So in Paul’s description of God’s amazing grace, he is literally saying that because of the abundance of sin in this world, God’s grace has super-abounded in order to rescue us from sin! Paul literally describes God’s grace as HYPER in this passage. It is super-abundant and unfathomably plentiful and powerful. In fact, a few verses later Paul would state that the very reason sin is no longer our master is because we are no longer under law, but under this hyper-abounding grace (Rom. 6:14)!
If this is what one means by “hyper-grace,” then count me in as one of the “grace-heretics!” It is a label that was applied to both Paul and Jesus by the Pharisees of their day, so I am more than happy to wear it in ours. As the late scholar D. Martin Lloyd-Jones famously pointed out (andthis is my paraphrase), "If people do not sometimes misunderstand and falsely accuse you of being soft-on-sin or against God’s law, you are not preaching the real gospel!"
Objection #2: Hyper-Grace Preachers are Soft on Sin
This is a common one, of course. The idea here is that because of our high esteem of the finished work of Christ and our insistence upon keeping our eyes fixated on Jesus as Author and Finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2), we are either afraid to preach against sin or do not take sin seriously enough.
Far from being “soft on sin” – we who preach grace are extremely big on Jesus. Any gospel worthy of the hyper-grace label is a gospel which points all fingers toward Jesus rather than judgmentally pointing them at those He came to save.
There are definitely many contexts in which it is appropriate to talk about sin, warn about sin and preach against sin. I do this routinely in my preaching ministry, as do my friends who are also labeled as hyper-grace preachers. Sin is bad. It is ugly. It brings death to everything it touches. It grieves God. It makes us miserable. It comes with a variety of consequences.
No legitimate grace-preacher that I am aware of minimizes the reality that sin is evil, wrong, bad, unproductive and unfitting for a new creation in Christ. What we DO focus on, however, is the Answer to sin, which is Jesus – and the fact that His grace alone is precisely what delivers us from its penalty (death), its power (enslavement) and eventually even its very presence (when we live in the fullness of His heavenly kingdom one day).
I talk about sin all the time, but not as a means of manipulating, judging or condemning people. I talk about sin so as to help people understand both their daily and eternal need for Jesus as Savior and Lord. We hyper-grace preachers are simply standing with Paul on the promise that it is the grace of God which “teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age…” (Titus 2:11-13).
Paul taught that the power of sin is the law (1 Cor. 15:56). If a person wants to ensure that they will remain in slavery to life-dominating sin and addiction, one simple way to do that is to live under a law-based mentality. A grace-saturated life, however, frees us from the grip of sin’s mastery over us.
Far from being soft on sin, we take sin very seriously. So seriously that we are pointing people unapologetically to the only Source of rescue from it! That Source is not trying harder to be a good person, culturally-espoused self-help tactics or pop-psychology. That Source is Jesus Christ and the grace He alone offers.
Objection #3: Hyper-Grace Preachers Don’t Believe in Repentance
Not only do webelieve in repentance, but we seek to understand and teach it thoroughly and accurately. In the New Testament, “to repent” is a translation of the Greek verb “metanoeo” meaning “to change one’s mind or perspective.” Obviously, when we receive Christ, we have repented in the genuine sense of the term – changing our minds about our need of a Savior and receiving Christ.
Before Christ, we lived as self-sufficiently as possible, thinking that God would probably grade on a curve and accept us at least partly on the basis of our own best efforts and self-generated goodness. When we came to understand our spiritual bankruptcy and our desperate need for Christ’s forgiveness and new life, we repented (had a change of perspective) and received Christ by trusting in Him alone to rescue us.
Beyond this initial experience of “getting saved” (as we often call it), repentance is a daily lifestyle in which an ongoing “renewal of the mind” process is taking place within us. As we grow in faith and in our understanding of God through His Word and our union with His Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), we begin to replace old thinking with new thinking and false thinking with true thinking.
This renewal of the mind (Rom. 12:1-3) is an integral part of the transformative process of the Spirit’s work in our lives. This is the essence of a lifestyle of repentance – taking false thoughts captive, making them obedient to (in conformity with) Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).
Paul affirmed in no uncertain terms that God’s kindness (His expressed grace toward us) is what leads to repentance (Rom. 2:4). Far from being anti-repentance, hyper-grace theology affirms repentance and the ongoing renewal of the mind as an integral part of what it means to follow Jesus under His New Covenant.
Objection #4: Hyper-Grace Preachers Are Against Confession of Sin
This is one of the most common misrepresentations of hyper-grace theology. The Biblical term “to confess” simply means “to speak the same thing as” or “to agree with.” We teach that confession is important because we should yield our minds to agreement with God about everything He reveals – including, but not limited to, sin.
What we often also teach (and this is where the rub is with some people) is that confession is not about triggering any transaction between us and God that would issue forth more forgiveness, as though God were dispensing forgiveness in various doses based upon our confessions. Forgiveness of sin is something that was provided objectively ONE time by ONE act of grace through ONE Savior who shed His blood on the cross for us 2000 years ago. As the book of Hebrews repeatedly emphasizes, He is the “once for all” sacrifice for sin.
Confession of sin then, is about humility and walking in agreement with God – not about getting more forgiveness from Him. Some will suggest that God’s forgiveness is dispensed using a “two-tiered” approach. On one level, they say, God has forgiven our sins judicially and objectively through the cross. On the second tier, however, we need to confess our sins in order to receive “relational” or“experiential” forgiveness in order to maintain close fellowship with God.
This two-tiered approach is nowhere taught in the New Testament, and has only been popularized because of two basic levels of rationale. The first is based upon a misinterpretation of two passages in the New Testament, both of which have been clearly explained in books and sermons by a host of solid gospel teachers. These two passages are Matthew 6:12 (where Jesus appears to be commanding His followers to ask for God’s forgiveness) and 1 John 1:9 (which seems to link forgiveness to confession of sin).
In my book “The Gospel Uncut: Learning to Rest in the Grace of God” I deal with these passages quite clearly, as do other authors such as Bob George, Andrew Farley, Ralph Harris, Paul Ellis, Cathy Hildebrand and Andrew Nelson. I encourage you to investigate these writings for yourself in order to understand the context in which these passages were intended to be understood.
The bottom-line is this. We hyper-grace preachers DO value confession of sin. We also practice confession of sin in our own lives. However, we understand confession to be about agreeing with God concerning the foolishness of our sin rather than begging for forgiveness based upon a humanly-invented two-tiered approach to somehow "maintaining close fellowship" with Him.
Our fellowship with God was purchased unconditionally and irreversibly by Jesus at the cross. Once we receive that fellowship by simple faith in Christ, it is our eternal possession regardless of our recent performance or track-record. As I’ve written in my book, The Gospel Uncut:
"The way I now approach confession is to simply agree with God about the foolishness of my sin. I admit to Him that my sin hurts me as well as others and that it fails to bring glory to His Name. Often I am sorrowful over the foolishness of my actions.
The Apostle Paul wrote that there is a “godly sorrow that brings repentance” (2 Cor. 10:7). When I know I have sinned, I humbly admit that my sinful behavior is out of step with my new nature and identity in Him, and I ask Him to help me rest in His completed work. Now here comes the best part! After agreeing with God about my sin, I begin thanking Him for the fact that this sinful act was already forgiven at the cross.
Understanding these realities has literally transformed my practice of confession, changing the experience from a guilt-ridden begging session into a dynamic, worshipful encounter in which my conscious mind (and behavior) is realigned with the grace and truth of Jesus.
So yes! By all means confess your sin to God! Agree with Him about sin and everything else He has revealed. But don’t think of confession as a means of obtaining something that Jesus Christ died “once for all” to secure for you. Remember that confession is about humility and the ongoing renewal of the mind process – and never about getting something from God that is already yours in abundance through the finished work of Christ.
If you are a believer in Christ, you are NEVER out of fellowship with God. Fellowship is an identity issue, meaning that you now share "all things in common" with God as a joint-heir with Christ (Rom. 8:17)! This never has been and never will be based upon your behavioral performance and is not something that you must confess sin in order to have reinstated! Because of Christ, you are always clean and God is always close!
Objection #5: Hyper-Grace Preachers are Against God’s Law
Some take this claim so far as to suggest that we even want to throw out or ignore the Old Testament. Wow! What wild imaginations these accusers have! The truth is that we are by no means antinomian (against the law of God), nor do we disbelieve or avoid teaching the Old Testament. Most of us actually esteem the power and purpose of God’s law so highly that we understand grace to be the only way of escape from its impossibly stringent demands.
Paul shared in Romans 3 and elsewhere that God’s purposes for the law were two-fold: 1) to stop our self-righteous excuses, minimizations and justifications of our sin and 2) to reveal our desperate need of a Savior by grace through faith. The entire thrust of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was to bury His very self-righteous audience under the weight of one inescapable reality: “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the world’s most stringent law-keepers (the Pharisees and teachers of the law) you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt.5:20).
That Jesus came to “fulfill” the Law (Matt. 5:17) means that He came to keep its demands perfectly because He knew that we couldn’t and wouldn’t. He fulfilled the stringent demands of the Law on our behalf as our Substitute so that His record of perfection could be credited to our spiritual account when we received Him by grace through faith. He did what you and I couldn’t and wouldn’t, and the Sermon on the Mount is a damning indictment of anyone who thinks they can measure up to God’s standards on their own effort.
And have you heard of this “cheap grace” idea? Sometimes the term is ripped off and redefined from Bonhoeffer’s vocabulary to insinuate that the hyper-grace movement has cheapened the grace of God by making it “too easy” for people to attain. After all, we live in a world where there’s no such thingas a free lunch, right? We certainly don't believe or teach that grace is cheap. It cost Jesus His life! But we DO agree with the New Testament that His grace is FREE to those who receive it freely by faith.
The truth of the matter is that hyper-grace teachers are not guilty of promoting cheap grace at all. Rather, our critics are often guilty of promoting cheap Law! Far from being anti-law, WE are the ones who esteem God's Law so highly as to conclude that there is no escape from its condemnation apart from faith in Christ alone! The Law is an all-or-nothing proposition.
To stumble in just one aspect of keeping it is the equivalent of breaking all of it (James 2:10). The Law is a ministry of death and condemnation (2 Cor. 3:7-11). The Law is not the bad guy, however. It simply points out who the bad guys are (the world, the flesh and the devil)! The Law is holy and pure and designed to show us what sin is (Rom.7:7).
But living under Law cannot save, change or transform a single heart – only grace can! And this is why we are so adamant about never mixing a law-based mentality with a grace-based mentality toward spiritual life or growth under God’s New Covenant. The New Testament repeatedly affirms that our salvation and sanctification are either completely by law or completely by grace, but cannot be a result of mixing the two.
Conclusion:
With all of that said, the idea of trying to somehow “balance grace” with anything is ludicrous according to both Scripture and plain reason. Grace, by definition, is radically IMBALANCED in our favor! If it were not, it would cease to be grace on that very basis! The term “hyper-grace” is far from insulting! It is in fact the ONLY kind of grace taught, supportedand promoted in the Bible.
God understands that His grace is open to the possibility of abuse by those who might misunderstand it. He understands that people may take His grace for granted or even at times misrepresent it as a license to sin. Paul addressed those concerns very clearly, as did Jesus and the other New Testament writers.
Why I am Hyper-Grace: Answering Five Common Objections
That heretic hunter website has not given the truth about what is really being said.
Here is what people that believe in the grace of God "really" say - not a distortion of the truth view like in that link above.
Introduction:
In recent times, a label has surfaced regarding what some view as a “dangerous” or “imbalanced” teaching of the grace of God. “Hyper-Grace” is now a term being used to suggest that there are some folks (such as myself) who “take God’s grace too far” and in so doing either ignore or minimize other significant teachings of the Bible.
What follows is an attempt to address a few of the most common “warnings” some have offered regarding those of us who make much of the finished work of Christ.
Objection #1: The Hyper-Grace Gospel is Unbiblical
For starters, you may be shocked to discover that “hyper-grace” is really the only adequate description for grace in the first place, according to the Bible. For example, when Paul wrote in Romans 5:20 that “…where sin increased, grace increased all the more” he was literally referring to God’s grace as “hyper.”
The Greek term for the phrase “increased all the more” (NIV) is huper-perisseuo which literally means “super-abounded.” Hyper is simply a transliteration of the prefix “huper” in Greek and means “above and beyond” in scope or quality. The term “perisseuo” refers to that which is “in far excess of what might be expected, superfluous or gratuitous.”
So in Paul’s description of God’s amazing grace, he is literally saying that because of the abundance of sin in this world, God’s grace has super-abounded in order to rescue us from sin! Paul literally describes God’s grace as HYPER in this passage. It is super-abundant and unfathomably plentiful and powerful. In fact, a few verses later Paul would state that the very reason sin is no longer our master is because we are no longer under law, but under this hyper-abounding grace (Rom. 6:14)!
If this is what one means by “hyper-grace,” then count me in as one of the “grace-heretics!” It is a label that was applied to both Paul and Jesus by the Pharisees of their day, so I am more than happy to wear it in ours. As the late scholar D. Martin Lloyd-Jones famously pointed out (andthis is my paraphrase), "If people do not sometimes misunderstand and falsely accuse you of being soft-on-sin or against God’s law, you are not preaching the real gospel!"
Objection #2: Hyper-Grace Preachers are Soft on Sin
This is a common one, of course. The idea here is that because of our high esteem of the finished work of Christ and our insistence upon keeping our eyes fixated on Jesus as Author and Finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2), we are either afraid to preach against sin or do not take sin seriously enough.
Far from being “soft on sin” – we who preach grace are extremely big on Jesus. Any gospel worthy of the hyper-grace label is a gospel which points all fingers toward Jesus rather than judgmentally pointing them at those He came to save.
There are definitely many contexts in which it is appropriate to talk about sin, warn about sin and preach against sin. I do this routinely in my preaching ministry, as do my friends who are also labeled as hyper-grace preachers. Sin is bad. It is ugly. It brings death to everything it touches. It grieves God. It makes us miserable. It comes with a variety of consequences.
No legitimate grace-preacher that I am aware of minimizes the reality that sin is evil, wrong, bad, unproductive and unfitting for a new creation in Christ. What we DO focus on, however, is the Answer to sin, which is Jesus – and the fact that His grace alone is precisely what delivers us from its penalty (death), its power (enslavement) and eventually even its very presence (when we live in the fullness of His heavenly kingdom one day).
I talk about sin all the time, but not as a means of manipulating, judging or condemning people. I talk about sin so as to help people understand both their daily and eternal need for Jesus as Savior and Lord. We hyper-grace preachers are simply standing with Paul on the promise that it is the grace of God which “teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age…” (Titus 2:11-13).
Paul taught that the power of sin is the law (1 Cor. 15:56). If a person wants to ensure that they will remain in slavery to life-dominating sin and addiction, one simple way to do that is to live under a law-based mentality. A grace-saturated life, however, frees us from the grip of sin’s mastery over us.
Far from being soft on sin, we take sin very seriously. So seriously that we are pointing people unapologetically to the only Source of rescue from it! That Source is not trying harder to be a good person, culturally-espoused self-help tactics or pop-psychology. That Source is Jesus Christ and the grace He alone offers.
Objection #3: Hyper-Grace Preachers Don’t Believe in Repentance
Not only do webelieve in repentance, but we seek to understand and teach it thoroughly and accurately. In the New Testament, “to repent” is a translation of the Greek verb “metanoeo” meaning “to change one’s mind or perspective.” Obviously, when we receive Christ, we have repented in the genuine sense of the term – changing our minds about our need of a Savior and receiving Christ.
Before Christ, we lived as self-sufficiently as possible, thinking that God would probably grade on a curve and accept us at least partly on the basis of our own best efforts and self-generated goodness. When we came to understand our spiritual bankruptcy and our desperate need for Christ’s forgiveness and new life, we repented (had a change of perspective) and received Christ by trusting in Him alone to rescue us.
Beyond this initial experience of “getting saved” (as we often call it), repentance is a daily lifestyle in which an ongoing “renewal of the mind” process is taking place within us. As we grow in faith and in our understanding of God through His Word and our union with His Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), we begin to replace old thinking with new thinking and false thinking with true thinking.
This renewal of the mind (Rom. 12:1-3) is an integral part of the transformative process of the Spirit’s work in our lives. This is the essence of a lifestyle of repentance – taking false thoughts captive, making them obedient to (in conformity with) Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).
Paul affirmed in no uncertain terms that God’s kindness (His expressed grace toward us) is what leads to repentance (Rom. 2:4). Far from being anti-repentance, hyper-grace theology affirms repentance and the ongoing renewal of the mind as an integral part of what it means to follow Jesus under His New Covenant.
Objection #4: Hyper-Grace Preachers Are Against Confession of Sin
This is one of the most common misrepresentations of hyper-grace theology. The Biblical term “to confess” simply means “to speak the same thing as” or “to agree with.” We teach that confession is important because we should yield our minds to agreement with God about everything He reveals – including, but not limited to, sin.
What we often also teach (and this is where the rub is with some people) is that confession is not about triggering any transaction between us and God that would issue forth more forgiveness, as though God were dispensing forgiveness in various doses based upon our confessions. Forgiveness of sin is something that was provided objectively ONE time by ONE act of grace through ONE Savior who shed His blood on the cross for us 2000 years ago. As the book of Hebrews repeatedly emphasizes, He is the “once for all” sacrifice for sin.
Confession of sin then, is about humility and walking in agreement with God – not about getting more forgiveness from Him. Some will suggest that God’s forgiveness is dispensed using a “two-tiered” approach. On one level, they say, God has forgiven our sins judicially and objectively through the cross. On the second tier, however, we need to confess our sins in order to receive “relational” or“experiential” forgiveness in order to maintain close fellowship with God.
This two-tiered approach is nowhere taught in the New Testament, and has only been popularized because of two basic levels of rationale. The first is based upon a misinterpretation of two passages in the New Testament, both of which have been clearly explained in books and sermons by a host of solid gospel teachers. These two passages are Matthew 6:12 (where Jesus appears to be commanding His followers to ask for God’s forgiveness) and 1 John 1:9 (which seems to link forgiveness to confession of sin).
In my book “The Gospel Uncut: Learning to Rest in the Grace of God” I deal with these passages quite clearly, as do other authors such as Bob George, Andrew Farley, Ralph Harris, Paul Ellis, Cathy Hildebrand and Andrew Nelson. I encourage you to investigate these writings for yourself in order to understand the context in which these passages were intended to be understood.
The bottom-line is this. We hyper-grace preachers DO value confession of sin. We also practice confession of sin in our own lives. However, we understand confession to be about agreeing with God concerning the foolishness of our sin rather than begging for forgiveness based upon a humanly-invented two-tiered approach to somehow "maintaining close fellowship" with Him.
Our fellowship with God was purchased unconditionally and irreversibly by Jesus at the cross. Once we receive that fellowship by simple faith in Christ, it is our eternal possession regardless of our recent performance or track-record. As I’ve written in my book, The Gospel Uncut:
"The way I now approach confession is to simply agree with God about the foolishness of my sin. I admit to Him that my sin hurts me as well as others and that it fails to bring glory to His Name. Often I am sorrowful over the foolishness of my actions.
The Apostle Paul wrote that there is a “godly sorrow that brings repentance” (2 Cor. 10:7). When I know I have sinned, I humbly admit that my sinful behavior is out of step with my new nature and identity in Him, and I ask Him to help me rest in His completed work. Now here comes the best part! After agreeing with God about my sin, I begin thanking Him for the fact that this sinful act was already forgiven at the cross.
Understanding these realities has literally transformed my practice of confession, changing the experience from a guilt-ridden begging session into a dynamic, worshipful encounter in which my conscious mind (and behavior) is realigned with the grace and truth of Jesus.
So yes! By all means confess your sin to God! Agree with Him about sin and everything else He has revealed. But don’t think of confession as a means of obtaining something that Jesus Christ died “once for all” to secure for you. Remember that confession is about humility and the ongoing renewal of the mind process – and never about getting something from God that is already yours in abundance through the finished work of Christ.
If you are a believer in Christ, you are NEVER out of fellowship with God. Fellowship is an identity issue, meaning that you now share "all things in common" with God as a joint-heir with Christ (Rom. 8:17)! This never has been and never will be based upon your behavioral performance and is not something that you must confess sin in order to have reinstated! Because of Christ, you are always clean and God is always close!
Objection #5: Hyper-Grace Preachers are Against God’s Law
Some take this claim so far as to suggest that we even want to throw out or ignore the Old Testament. Wow! What wild imaginations these accusers have! The truth is that we are by no means antinomian (against the law of God), nor do we disbelieve or avoid teaching the Old Testament. Most of us actually esteem the power and purpose of God’s law so highly that we understand grace to be the only way of escape from its impossibly stringent demands.
Paul shared in Romans 3 and elsewhere that God’s purposes for the law were two-fold: 1) to stop our self-righteous excuses, minimizations and justifications of our sin and 2) to reveal our desperate need of a Savior by grace through faith. The entire thrust of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was to bury His very self-righteous audience under the weight of one inescapable reality: “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the world’s most stringent law-keepers (the Pharisees and teachers of the law) you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt.5:20).
That Jesus came to “fulfill” the Law (Matt. 5:17) means that He came to keep its demands perfectly because He knew that we couldn’t and wouldn’t. He fulfilled the stringent demands of the Law on our behalf as our Substitute so that His record of perfection could be credited to our spiritual account when we received Him by grace through faith. He did what you and I couldn’t and wouldn’t, and the Sermon on the Mount is a damning indictment of anyone who thinks they can measure up to God’s standards on their own effort.
And have you heard of this “cheap grace” idea? Sometimes the term is ripped off and redefined from Bonhoeffer’s vocabulary to insinuate that the hyper-grace movement has cheapened the grace of God by making it “too easy” for people to attain. After all, we live in a world where there’s no such thingas a free lunch, right? We certainly don't believe or teach that grace is cheap. It cost Jesus His life! But we DO agree with the New Testament that His grace is FREE to those who receive it freely by faith.
The truth of the matter is that hyper-grace teachers are not guilty of promoting cheap grace at all. Rather, our critics are often guilty of promoting cheap Law! Far from being anti-law, WE are the ones who esteem God's Law so highly as to conclude that there is no escape from its condemnation apart from faith in Christ alone! The Law is an all-or-nothing proposition.
To stumble in just one aspect of keeping it is the equivalent of breaking all of it (James 2:10). The Law is a ministry of death and condemnation (2 Cor. 3:7-11). The Law is not the bad guy, however. It simply points out who the bad guys are (the world, the flesh and the devil)! The Law is holy and pure and designed to show us what sin is (Rom.7:7).
But living under Law cannot save, change or transform a single heart – only grace can! And this is why we are so adamant about never mixing a law-based mentality with a grace-based mentality toward spiritual life or growth under God’s New Covenant. The New Testament repeatedly affirms that our salvation and sanctification are either completely by law or completely by grace, but cannot be a result of mixing the two.
Conclusion:
With all of that said, the idea of trying to somehow “balance grace” with anything is ludicrous according to both Scripture and plain reason. Grace, by definition, is radically IMBALANCED in our favor! If it were not, it would cease to be grace on that very basis! The term “hyper-grace” is far from insulting! It is in fact the ONLY kind of grace taught, supportedand promoted in the Bible.
God understands that His grace is open to the possibility of abuse by those who might misunderstand it. He understands that people may take His grace for granted or even at times misrepresent it as a license to sin. Paul addressed those concerns very clearly, as did Jesus and the other New Testament writers.
Why I am Hyper-Grace: Answering Five Common Objections
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Re: Word of Faith: "Metaphysical" "Gnostic" "Cultic" "Not really Christian"-Justin Pe
Amen. I think it comes from an improper understanding of faith .This is in respect to whose work of faith as a labor of love. The faith of God that works towards us or our faith that could works towards Him id we are given a new born again spirit. A distinction between the things of God and the things of men must be made. The two directions of faith seem to get over looked by some.
The idea that from our own fleshly mind we can develop a faith to bring what we desire is simply to turn things upside down .There is no name it and claim it as if we were in the place of God and we knew what the future had in store for us.
Interestingly in Ecclesiastics we are informed of if a person is angry because in their anxieties they do not have what they want, simply use the name it $$$$ claim it doctrine of men.Not. In so much that $$$$ is a shelter just as wisdom is.
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun.For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, “to the end” that man should find nothing after him. Ecc 7:9
Not five seconds or five years....nothing. We pray he might give us the desires of His heart. Let him name and claim the glory. Not the TV evangelist.
Amen. I think it comes from an improper understanding of faith .This is in respect to whose work of faith as a labor of love. The faith of God that works towards us or our faith that could works towards Him id we are given a new born again spirit. A distinction between the things of God and the things of men must be made. The two directions of faith seem to get over looked by some.
The idea that from our own fleshly mind we can develop a faith to bring what we desire is simply to turn things upside down .There is no name it and claim it as if we were in the place of God and we knew what the future had in store for us.
Interestingly in Ecclesiastics we are informed of if a person is angry because in their anxieties they do not have what they want, simply use the name it $$$$ claim it doctrine of men.Not. In so much that $$$$ is a shelter just as wisdom is.
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun.For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, “to the end” that man should find nothing after him. Ecc 7:9
Not five seconds or five years....nothing. We pray he might give us the desires of His heart. Let him name and claim the glory. Not the TV evangelist.
Re: Word of Faith: "Metaphysical" "Gnostic" "Cultic" "Not really Christian"-Justin Pe
Just because you haven't heard J Prince say wrong things, it doesn't mean He hasn't said them.
What I have shown you, is what JP has said.
He said we are ALREADY holy, as Jesus has made us holy, and misquoted the Greek, just like you have.
If what you saI'd was true, why would God want us to live a sanctfied life, and why would He comman us to BE HOLY.
And we know that some Christians aren't holy, you are one of them, as you are living in unconfessed and unrepented sins. So you are unforgiven, unclean seductive and unrighteous.
Can't you see what a false grace teachers you abdominal JP are??.
Just because you haven't heard J Prince say wrong things, it doesn't mean He hasn't said them.
What I have shown you, is what JP has said.
He said we are ALREADY holy, as Jesus has made us holy, and misquoted the Greek, just like you have.
If what you saI'd was true, why would God want us to live a sanctfied life, and why would He comman us to BE HOLY.
And we know that some Christians aren't holy, you are one of them, as you are living in unconfessed and unrepented sins. So you are unforgiven, unclean seductive and unrighteous.
Can't you see what a false grace teachers you abdominal JP are??.
Re: Word of Faith: "Metaphysical" "Gnostic" "Cultic" "Not really Christian"-Justin Pe
Those in Christ, has also been healed, yet many Christians don't live in divine health.
Jesus gave us abundant live, but not every Christian walks in the abundant life.
It's the same with sanctification, Jesus is made unto us sanctification, but it's something that we have to do, just like we need to receive healing.
You are one of end time deceivers, who teach the same as the Nicolaitions, which Jesus hates.
Those in Christ, has also been healed, yet many Christians don't live in divine health.
Jesus gave us abundant live, but not every Christian walks in the abundant life.
It's the same with sanctification, Jesus is made unto us sanctification, but it's something that we have to do, just like we need to receive healing.
You are one of end time deceivers, who teach the same as the Nicolaitions, which Jesus hates.
Re: Word of Faith: "Metaphysical" "Gnostic" "Cultic" "Not really Christian"-Justin Pe
There are some things that Prince says I don't agree with - the same as I don't agree with Hagin either. But I don't throw them under the bus for it like some people try to do.
But here is what scripture says about being holy or sanctified.
This is what believers in the grace of our Lord Jesus have to say about "sanctification"..the word itself means = "to be set apart"
We are perfectly sanctified in Christ now....very true....we as an identity the new creation in Christ will never be more holy....
However there is a "sanctifying" of our behavior that is on-going that reflects our true nature in Christ...so in essence...we are becoming outwardly who we really are in our inner man which is in Christ.
God sets apart ( sanctifies ) our attitudes and actions outwardly but you are 100% set apart ( sanctified ) as a person..the real you in your inner man..the new creation in Christ.
Hebrews 10:14 (NASB)
[SUP]14 [/SUP] For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
( who are sanctified this is present passive..passive is that something is being done to you ...the Spirit of the Lord in us changing us. )
Here is what Jesus told Paul on the road to Damascus....having been sanctified ( perfect passive ).
Perfect tense =The perfect tense in Greek is used to describe a completed past action which produced results which are still in effect all the way up to the present. This is continuously happening in the present.
Passive means something is being done to you - you are not doing it.
Acts 26:17 (NASB)
[SUP]18 [/SUP] to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.' (perfect passive )
It is obvious from scripture that we are to walk out the holiness that is in us.
There is a difference between us as a person being "set apart" ( sanctified in our spirit ) and "setting apart " ( sanctifying ) our behavior.
1 Peter 1:15-16 (NASB)
[SUP]15 [/SUP] but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;
[SUP]16 [/SUP] because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."
There are some things that Prince says I don't agree with - the same as I don't agree with Hagin either. But I don't throw them under the bus for it like some people try to do.
But here is what scripture says about being holy or sanctified.
This is what believers in the grace of our Lord Jesus have to say about "sanctification"..the word itself means = "to be set apart"
We are perfectly sanctified in Christ now....very true....we as an identity the new creation in Christ will never be more holy....
However there is a "sanctifying" of our behavior that is on-going that reflects our true nature in Christ...so in essence...we are becoming outwardly who we really are in our inner man which is in Christ.
God sets apart ( sanctifies ) our attitudes and actions outwardly but you are 100% set apart ( sanctified ) as a person..the real you in your inner man..the new creation in Christ.
Hebrews 10:14 (NASB)
[SUP]14 [/SUP] For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
( who are sanctified this is present passive..passive is that something is being done to you ...the Spirit of the Lord in us changing us. )
Here is what Jesus told Paul on the road to Damascus....having been sanctified ( perfect passive ).
Perfect tense =The perfect tense in Greek is used to describe a completed past action which produced results which are still in effect all the way up to the present. This is continuously happening in the present.
Passive means something is being done to you - you are not doing it.
Acts 26:17 (NASB)
[SUP]18 [/SUP] to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.' (perfect passive )
It is obvious from scripture that we are to walk out the holiness that is in us.
There is a difference between us as a person being "set apart" ( sanctified in our spirit ) and "setting apart " ( sanctifying ) our behavior.
1 Peter 1:15-16 (NASB)
[SUP]15 [/SUP] but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;
[SUP]16 [/SUP] because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."
E
Re: Word of Faith: "Metaphysical" "Gnostic" "Cultic" "Not really Christian"-Justin Pe
I will??
Or will I find more false accusations.. From people who hate the word Grace?
Like I said, I want to hear them in their own words in context of what they said Do you have any proof. or just like your brothers. false accusations?
I am sick of people getting falsly accused for believeing things they do not believe. We all should be, It is satan working against Gods people. to tear them down.
I will??
Or will I find more false accusations.. From people who hate the word Grace?
Like I said, I want to hear them in their own words in context of what they said Do you have any proof. or just like your brothers. false accusations?
I am sick of people getting falsly accused for believeing things they do not believe. We all should be, It is satan working against Gods people. to tear them down.