"For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." John 1:16
Grace is typically defined as Yahweh God’s divine unmerited favour and loving-kindness toward you. Some say it is God's riches at Jesus' expense. It is receiving something that you do not deserve. Grace means there is nothing you can do to make Yahweh God love you more, and nothing you can do to make Yahweh God love you less. So why are there those who are opposed to the message of Yahweh God’s grace? "Hyper-grace"? "Cheap grace"? "Greasy grace"? Do the ill-informed critics of the grace message even have a clue what in the world they are talking about? Do they even hear themselves when they speak? Do they even have a clue what grace is?
"Cheap grace" was defined by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in 1937. I am not sure Bonhoeffer had a clue what grace is, but it is anything but "cheap." Grace cost Jesus everything! Yahweh God is not "cheap" when it comes to lavishing His grace upon us. He gives abundantly out of His fullness; not in proportion to our needs, but in accordance with His riches (Eph. 1:7). Grace is anything but "cheap." Those who use this term, as well as the next term, should really think before they speak and embarrass themselves.
"Greasy grace" is a relatively modern pejorative phrase, an American colloquialism, that first appeared in the early 2000s and became fairly common by the 2010s. It implies a grace so "slick" that sin "slides off" without consequences. Clearly these people do not understand grace or consequences, for if they did they would not make such blunders in understanding. When you place your trust and faith in Christ Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, all your sins—past, present, and future—are totally forgiven, removed as far as the East is from the West, and remembered no more. Let's clarify: When Jesus hung on the cross, how many of your sins were future? All of them! In other words, as far as Yahweh God is concerned, there are no more consequences for sin (Rom. 8:1) because Jesus took the punishment on Himself. This is Christianity 101. This is basic understanding of the New Covenant and the Gospel. However, in this world there are still consequences for sin. If you lie to your boss, you will likely get fired. If you steal from a store, you will likely be charged. If you murder someone, you will likely face life in prison. It would appear that the users of this term have confused much: consequences, repentance, confession, etc. Their grasp on theology, and especially the New Covenant and the Gospel, is extremely tenuous.
"Hyper-grace" first gained widespread use around 2013-2014. Let us be clear, those who use the term "hyper-grace" seldom ever define it, unless they are deliberately misrepresenting Yahweh God's absolute grace using the same ridiculous nonsensical definition they give "cheap grace": "a no-strings-attached, open-ended package of amnesty, beneficence, indulgence, forbearance, charity, leniency, immunity, approval, tolerance, and self-awarded privilege divorced from any moral standards" (John MacArthur, 1993). Quite obviously those who use this term are extremely ignorant of Scripture. In Romans 5:20 to 6:2, Paul informs us that Yahweh God's grace is "huperperisseuó." Huperperisseuó is a Greek compound word made up of the words huper, where we derive the English prefix hyper, and perisseuó, which means to superabound (in quantity or quality), be in excess, be in abundance, be superfluous, overflow, excel. In other words, grace abounds exceedingly in great excess—that is, super-abounds or hyper-abounds. But wait! What Paul actually said was that grace hyper-superabounds.
It is clear from Romans 5:20 to 6:2 that Paul taught what ill-informed critics of the grace message call "hyper-grace." He also anticipated the ill-informed question that many professing Christians, especially their "leaders," raise today: "If we preach such a message of grace, won't it result in people committing Olympic world records in sin?" No! Why? Let's look at Paul's anticipation of this argument and his response to it: "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" Seems pretty clear to me. Let's look further: "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under Law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under Law but under grace? God forbid! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?" Again, seems pretty clear to me.
Those preachers who misrepresent biblical grace and badmouth it as "greasy grace," "cheap grace," or “hyper-grace” (in a negative way) have shown demonstratively that they have no idea what grace is. You cannot put a strong enough emphasis upon Yahweh God's grace. However, in their ill-informed ignorance, these preachers call such an emphasis "dangerous" and have watered down Yahweh God's grace in order to try and mix it with their obvious legalism. Such preachers claim that "The Law doesn't save us, but it sanctifies us." This is completely and utterly false. Trying to mix Law and grace is like trying to mix oil and water. You cannot put new wine into old wine skins. Once you understand the New Covenant, the Gospel, and grace correctly, it changes everything. Such sentiments expressed by such preachers expose the depths of their ignorance. Paul said that the Law was brought in to increase sin—not decrease it (Rom. 5:20). He said that the Ten Commandments were a ministry of condemnation and death (2 Cor. 3), and that they cause us to sin (Rom. 7). The author of Hebrews said that the Law was weak and useless and could perfect nobody. In other words, the Law cannot help you to live holy, righteous, godly lives. Do such preachers not understand what "you are not under Law but under grace" means? Seriously.
“The grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness!” Titus 2:11-12a
In case you missed it, Jesus is the grace of God that offers salvation to all men! To say that grace promotes sin is like saying Jesus promotes sin. It is slanderous at best, and blasphemous at worst. Grace is not permission to sin; it is the power of God to "sin no more." (Enjoy Romans 5:20-6:2, 14-16.)
As far as we know, Jesus never defined grace. The Lord of grace Who came from the throne of grace full of His Father’s grace, and from Whom we receive grace upon grace, never used the word ‘grace.’ However, Jesus is the embodiment of grace, He personified grace. In other words, Jesus IS grace. "Grace and truth came through Christ Jesus" (John 1:17b). The order is important. What does the grace of Yahweh God look like? It looks like Jesus! What does the grace of Yahweh God sound like? It sounds like Jesus! It is grace that saves us and it is grace that keeps us. It is grace from start to finish. If you do not have a proper understanding of biblical grace, then chances are extremely high that you do not know Who Jesus is or what He has done.
“No doctrine is so calculated to preserve a man from sin as the doctrine of the grace of God. Those who have called it ‘a licentious doctrine’ did not know anything about it.” —Charles Haddon Spurgeon
“There is no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel of salvation than this, that some people might misunderstand it and misinterpret it to mean that it really amounts to this, that because you are saved by grace alone it does not matter at all what you do; you can go on sinning as much as you like because it will redound all the more to the glory of grace. That is a very good test of gospel preaching. If my preaching and presentation of the gospel of salvation does not expose it to that misunderstanding, then it is not the gospel.” —D. Martyn Llord-Jones
If you preach absolute grace, the scandalous grace of God, there are some (perhaps many) who will misinterpret your message as an endorsement of sin. It is absolutely inevitable.
If the “grace” you are preaching says “Yes” to sin, it is not the grace of God! It is a man-made substitute. This is dangerous.
If the “grace” you are preaching is not absolute grace, it is not the grace of God. It is a watered-down cheap counterfeit. This is dangerous.
Let us identify three gospels, shall we:
- Graceless Gospel: You are saved by works and sanctified by works.
- Mixed-grace Gospel: You are saved by grace but sanctified by works.
- Hyper-grace Gospel: You are saved by grace and sanctified by grace.
Since there is no such thing as a "graceless" Gospel, that leaves us two options. The second option, a "mixed-grace" Gospel, is thoroughly debunked and refuted by Paul in Galatians. Paul posed two multiple-choice questions to the Galatians:
- How did you receive the Spirit?
- by the works of the Law (human effort)
- by grace through faith (dependency on Christ)
- How do you plan to continue your spiritual journey?
- by the works of the Law (human effort)
- by grace through faith (dependency on Christ)
His questions are obviously rather rhetorical. Since you began by grace, you can only continue by grace. Therefore, such concepts as "Torah observance" are anti-Christ. If you are flirting with Moses, then you are cheating on Jesus! Pure and simple. That leaves only one option: the Hyper-Superabounding-grace Gospel!
Christianity today is really no different than what we read in Scripture about the first century. Our "leaders" (preachers, theologians, and "scholars") are exactly like the Pharisees. The Pharisees were against Jesus and the grace message. The Pharisees kept burdening the people with the Law. The Pharisees thought only they could interpret and understand the Scriptures because they knew Hebrew. The warnings Jesus issued to the Pharisees could easily be issued to the "leaders" of today. Beware the mixed-grace gospel, which is no gospel at all. It offers carrots (as rewards for obedience) and sticks (as punishment for disobedience). This is the Old Covenant system: If you do this, then I will do this. The New Covenant system says: I have already done it, now rest in Me.