Quite recently, the Lord opened my eyes to His awesome grace; as contained in the new covenant of God, which was ratified by the shed, precious blood of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ (Ezekiel 36: 26-29; Hebrews 8:7-12).
And to be very honest, God gave me this revelation after reading a book on grace teaching. Only that the grace message I read was pushed to the extreme. The revelation came from God to that man of God- quite alright- only that it was pushed to the extreme, thereby leading to mutilation of other scriptural truths.
If this great man of God had taught this great scriptural revelation in harmony with other balancing scriptural truths, most of the errors in this grace doctrine that have been proliferated all over the place, would have been mitigated.
This pushing of the grace doctrine to the extreme, has led so many people into devastating heresies. It has pushed many folks into getting off on very dangerous tangents.
And I’m sure it is from this extreme grace teachings that the heretic doctrine of OSAS (Once Saved Always Saved) was born. I’m also sure it’s from teachings such as this that led someone to share a forum post that read “Forgive—If you do not forgive, you go to hell—False doctrine”. By this message, the author doctored the eternal truth of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Which says if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly father forgive you (Matthew 6:15).
Hence, this article is written with the intention (and a great burden) in my heart to point out these extremism and smoothen them out. So people do not get deluded—believing a lie about the truth.
The Major Errors of The Extreme Grace Doctrine
- Error 1: The Commandments of Jesus Before Death and Resurrection Are No Longer Relevant Under Grace
The extreme grace doctrine says that all the Commandments of Jesus before he went to the cross, are no more relevant under this dispensation of Grace. And that Jesus’s teaching before going to the cross was to bring the law to its pristine position, with the intention that we could fully recognize that we cannot keep the law.
There is truth in this point of view, but its half-baked (and half-baked truths are worse than no truth at all). Yes, Jesus did bring the law to its pristine position by his teachings; and by so doing it was obvious we can’t keep them with our own strength or the energy of the flesh. But to say that we can’t keep them at all, is false. Because, if it is so, the Lord won’t demand that we should keep them in his own very words (see Matthew 7:24-27).
And yes, even the disciples observed the human inability to keep the Lord’s commandments in its pristine state. But right there and then, the Lord gave them the key to the obedience. He clearly told them that he knows that keeping the commandments is impossible with men, but it is a possibility with the help of God (Mark 10: 25-27).
In other words, Jesus was telling them that they could keep all his commandments through the help of the Holy Ghost, who is the Spirit of Grace. Hence, the bible tells us that we can establish (or keep) the law of Christ by Faith (Rom 3:31). That is, Faith in the new covenant of Grace through the death of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ (Ezekiel 36: 26-29; Heb 8:7-12, 9:15-22).
And by the grace of God, I’m a living testimony of this eternal truth; of establishing the law by Faith. By faith in the new covenant of grace, I live above sin. I don’t struggle to keep the commandments of Christ. All I just do is lean on the abundance of Grace and the gift of righteousness that I have received from Christ through his Holy Spirit that indwells me (Rom 5:17), and that automates my lifestyle of Holiness.
And if I err, I just quickly receive mercy and forgiveness from the throne of grace (Heb 4:16) and repent of the sin and move on by faith.
But to say we should disregard all the injunctions of Christ before going to the cross, because we are under grace, is a great error and anyone involved in spreading such doctrines should desist as fast as possible for their own good.
2. Error 2: “There is now no more condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus—whether you Walk in the Spirit or Not”
Another error which I have discovered from these extreme Grace teachings, is that they say, if you are in Christ Jesus, you can never come under any condemnation, whether you walk in the Spirit or not.
And by that, they re-state Romans 8:1, which says “there is now no more condemnation among them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”
Instead, they mutilated this scripture to say what they want to believe thus; “There is now no more condemnation among them that are in Christ Jesus”. The other completing part was mutilated. And to support their point, they quote the New American Standard Bible (NASB) version.
But I’m still wondering if they also mutilated the other scriptures which re-instated the fact that we should walk in the Spirit in order to live above sin (Galatians 5: 16, 18). And that if we walk in the flesh, we will lose our inheritance of the Kingdom of God (that is we will miss heaven and consequently be condemned to hell—Gal 5:19-21).
And again, one more question I want to ask, are the teachers of this doctrine by anyway saying that someone in Christ Jesus, who commits suicide will head straight to heaven– because he is not under condemnation? And also, is it possible that someone who is in Christ Jesus and eventually dies in the very act of Adultery or Fornication, will head straight to heaven?
Obviously, “there is no snowball chance in hell” of such an individual making it pass the pearly gate of paradise.
Unless they want to make God a liar. Because he says; “But the fearful, and unbelieving and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and Idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death”—Revelations 21:8.
3. Error 3 “ All your sins have been Forgiven- Past, Present and Future- so there is no need to ask for forgiveness”
As I read the book of the great man of God—Charles Spurgeon- Titled; “All Of Grace”. It confirmed the eternal truth that the Lord revealed to me concerning grace. And what is the truth? That grace is not without repentance. That forgiveness of sin, goes hand in glove with repentance. That this works of grace are inseparable twin. The bible says, Jesus came to give repentance and forgiveness of sin (Acts 5: 31). And this is in present continuous term.
And of course, for someone to repent of something, there must first be acknowledgement. Repentance of sin can never be passive. And more so, there won’t be a true sense or conviction of receiving divine forgiveness that doesn’t come from a genuine heart of penitence (repentance).
But the teachers of this extreme doctrine says, a believer ought not acknowledge their errors and ask for forgiveness with a repentant heart.
They term the conscious act of acknowledging sin and asking for forgiveness; “sin consciousness”. But that is not true. On the contrary, it is righteousness consciousness that makes a genuine penitent heart.
And the fruit of this erroneous teaching is that it has turned many of the practitioners into self-deceivers. They go on living in sin and keep on excusing their selves with “bold-face, righteousness”.
4. Error 4: “God does not judge people under this Dispensation of Grace”
One other error which I have discovered from this extreme grace teachings is that they claim that under the new covenant, God no longer judges anyone as a result of sin. But if this point of view is to hold water, what explanation can they give for the killing of Ananias and Sapphira his wife by the Holy Ghost? (Acts 5:1-10).
How can they explain the sleeping (death) and sickness of the folks who took the communion unworthily in 1 Corinthians 11:29-30? That particular scripture calls the act of God on those people- Judgment. How come we’re trying to twist it? So the truth remains that under the new covenant, God can judge us if we fail to fear him and judge ourselves.
If we don’t judge ourselves, God will have to judge us (1 Corinthians 11:31).
In conclusion, I want to exhort that as we get revelation from God, we should diligently meditate on it and balance it with other scriptural truth, before we start running with them. We should ensure that our doctrine does not contradict or mutilate other scriptural truths.
Remain Blessed!
Emeke Odili.
