“Brothers, if anyone
is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a
spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on
yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear
one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For, if anyone thinks
he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” Galatians 6:1-3
(ESV)
I am an
explainer. There has always been
something in me which believes that if I explain something clearly enough
everyone will see things my way. Just
ask anyone who has been in a “discussion” with me. Phrases like dog-with-a bone
come to mind. It’s probably the teacher in me; but it also springs from
incidents where someone explained something to me and suddenly there was a
click which might or might not have actually been audible. Sometimes, explaining works.
Since the
birth of the Church, there has been a tension between those who have stressed
the importance of our obedience and those who have stressed God’s grace. Recently those who stress obedience have coined
the term “Hyper Grace” to describe those whom they feel place undue emphasis on
grace. This name represents their fear that those who are concentrating on
grace have abandoned the belief that our behavior matters to God. They are afraid
that, if there is too much emphasis on the fact that Jesus has paid for every
sin, people will take the position that anything goes.
Historically,
their fears are not unfounded. The
Apostle John was combating a heresy like that in his books. The heresy came from a branch of the
Gnostics, and, without going into great detail, included the belief that,
because matter was evil, nothing done in the flesh carried any significance
whatsoever. They literally believed that
“anything goes”. Interestingly, another
branch of Gnosticism believed that because matter was evil, the flesh needed to
be completely denied, and beaten into submission. They fell into the ditch on the opposite side of
the road.
The
Nicolaitans are another group whose mistaken belief system has all but faded
into oblivion, so there is only speculation on the specifics of their
philosophy, but the Nicolaitans are mentioned in Revelation chapter 2:6, 15,
where Jesus praises the church in Ephesus for hating their deeds, which Jesus
says he also hated; and the church in Pergamum is chastised for entertaining
the Nicolaitans in their midst. The one
thing which is agreed upon is that the Nicolaitans encouraged people to do
things which were considered to be sinful.
We also
know that in 1 Corinthians 5 Paul addresses a situation where a man who called
himself a believer was sleeping with his father’s wife, and openly bragging
about it with the apparent support of some in the church. The conclusion has been drawn that this
situation existed because some of the believers felt that it was not only all
right but good to sin and flaunt it, as a way of showing their faith in Christ
and his forgiveness. They went out of
their way to do things which, as Paul says, even pagans wouldn’t tolerate.
The thing
which characterizes each of these examples of heresy is that the people were
advocating the practice of sinning impenitently; in other words, they were
advocating unrepentant, remorseless, unashamed, unapologetic, unabashed sin, in
the name of Christ.
To those
who are afraid that the heralds of grace are placing too much emphasis on grace
and are falling into the ditch described above (and yes, I am one of those who
would fit into the category of believing in what you have termed “hyper grace”)
let me assure you that this is most definitely not what we are saying, or
doing.
I am not
aware of anyone in the “Hyper Grace” community who is advocating sinning
impenitently. On the contrary, most of
us come from a background of taking sin so seriously that our cycle of shame,
fear and despair was killing us. We
deeply felt the demands of the law and clearly saw how far short we fell from
what God required of us. We ran and ran
and ran in our attempts to please God, and were well aware that we were not
running fast or hard enough. Some
finally quit running and were despondently awaiting their deserved fate, while others
kept on, running hopelessly.
That was
where grace found us and showed us that Christ had already pleased God on our
behalf, and that our need for shame, fear and despair had been removed. Our lives were rescued from the grave. That is why we shout the good news of grace to all of the
others who are still living in that hopeless state. It is literally life-giving news!
We know
with all of our hearts the utter sinfulness of sin. And, when we sin, we are immediately
convicted and cut to the heart. Were it
not for grace, we would instantly plummet back into our old state; but,
instead, we are comforted by the Spirit with the reminder that the precious
blood of our Lord and Savior is sufficient to cover our sins and that we have
an Advocate in heaven. As a result of that reminder, we are brought back to the
sense of wonder and awe at what has been done for us, and humble gratitude
arises which motivates us once more to proclaim the Good News!
Impenitence
is the issue. In 2 Corinthians chapter
1, Paul told the church that it was now time for the church to turn, forgive
and comfort this same man, about whom he had written in his first letter, for
fear that he might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Once the man experienced
sorrow for his sin, Paul urged the church to reaffirm their love for him.
If some are
sinning impenitently; with no remorse or shame, and, in the name of Jesus,
encourage others to follow that path, they need to feel the full weight of the
Law of God and its holy requirements. Those who care for those mistaken
individuals need to take whatever measures are necessary to help them see their
error and come to a place of sorrow for their sin.
There is,
however, a world of difference between the brazen, impenitent sinner and those
who are bowed down under the weight of their failures to measure up to what God
wants them to be and to do. Those who
are ashamed to lift their eyes to heaven, because they know they are unworthy
to meet the gaze of their disappointed Father, do not need more Law, they need to
be told over and over the message of grace—that Jesus lived a perfect life for
them and that, in dying, he paid the penalty for their sins. They need to be told that no matter how far
they fall, they can never fall farther than the love of God can and will
reach out to them, and that he is not disappointed, because when he looks at them, he sees his son.
This is the
difference between the man in 1 Corinthians 5 and the Apostle Peter when he
denied Christ. The first man not only
felt no shame, but was proud of the statement he was making with his hideous
sin. Because of his impenitence he
needed to feel cut off and isolated for a time in order to grasp his sin’s
significance.
But Peter
felt the weight of his sin immediately; he deeply felt the shame and sorrow of
his betrayal. He had no need to be shown
the horror of his sin, it was inescapable. He didn’t need to be isolated, he
needed to be forgiven and comforted; and, at the first opportunity, when he
laid eyes on Jesus, Peter jumped out of his boat, swam to shore and ran to his
Savior to receive that forgiveness; and Jesus didn’t make him suffer for some “appropriate”
amount of time, or prove himself in order to earn back his trust; Jesus commissioned
him to feed his sheep, because Peter’s understanding of how it felt to fall and
be given grace had uniquely equipped him for that task.
Those of us
who cannot stop talking about grace know what it feels like to be forgiven for the
unforgiveable; to be loved when we were the most unlovable; to receive mercy
when we only deserved wrath; and we know that our sin was the reason Christ
suffered and died. We do not take the
gift lightly.
We do not
ever advocate sinning impenitently. But we
do advocate that, when you sin, you run straight to Christ to be loved.
