Too Much Grace?
Too Much Grace?
Dedicated to all those who love Christ through God's grace
In this brief treatise I would like to anticipate two possible objections to my last post, entitled, "What Is Preaching?" . . .
The first one, is, does not Spirit-filled preaching of the gospel of Christ lead to antinomianism, or the idea that Christians saved by grace in the Person and love of Jesus may "go crazy" in unbridled sin, fearing no wrath or repercussions of it?
The second is, is it not dangerous to preach so much (too much) grace? Does this not denigrate from the Scripture's frequent allusions to the law and the necessity of obedience?
. . . As for the charge of antinomianism, Paul had to field this sophistical insinuation himself, in Rom. 6:1 ff. Therefore, we are certainly in good company. The gospel, when regeneratively-received, does not lead to reckless and sinful living--in fact, it results in the exact opposite behavior.
. . . The related subject; and the one I hope to camp on a bit now, is the issue of grace. Is it actually possible to preach too much grace? Is it necessary, that we "balance" grace with the law? Does too much grace lead to "cheap grace"? These are the questions I wish to address. . . .
Can too much grace in Jesus actually be preached, by God's truly-appointed ministers of the church? I would argue, no. The reason is because both the guilt of our sin, and the grace and mercy of God in Christ are infinite. We could never overestimate our sinfulness; and we could never put a limited price on God's grace. The gospel is so magnificent, that its grace in Jesus could never be preached often enough, or fully enough. We are all guilty of not preaching enough grace.
With regard to the second query, re. whether law needs to be "balanced" with grace--I believe that this supposition is based on a mistake, and perhaps an understandable misunderstanding. Typically, we tend to almost automatically accept this kind of language as proper and legitimate. But, in my view, law does not need to be "balanced" with gospel, when the gospel is properly understood and preached. The forensic part (and heart) of the gospel thrills us with the truth that the original moral law had to be kept (by Someone), in order for any of us to be able to be truly, properly, and lawfully declared righteous and justified. Jesus Christ did this for His elect church, in both dying for our sins (paying the penalty of the law); and in perfectly living out the law for us, in His sinless life. Both of these aspects of our atonement are legally and lawfully imputed to us, by the grace of God. Therefore, the law's requirements are intimately connected with, and associated with Christ, His gospel, and His redemption of His church. (There can be no gospel-understanding without a law-understanding.)
. . . Because what is said above is true, there is no such thing, as "cheap grace." Those who even conceive of "cheap grace" as being something real, have no idea of what actual grace is. "Cheap" "grace" would be something entirely devoid of Christ, and His atoning work on our behalf. True gospel grace is completely wrapped-up in the Person of Jesus, and what He did for us--in redeeming us from sin, wrath, condemnation, hell, Satan, the flesh, the world, and ourselves. (The only reason people could even think that grace is "cheap," is because they do not come close to reckoning themselves to be as wicked as they actually are.)
Therefore, let us all preach more (not less) grace. If we do this with an eye to what we are as sinners, (viz. totally corrupted and wretched rebels); and with an eye to how wonderful and beautiful Jesus Christ is--then we will revel in the grace, mercy, and glory of our bountiful Triune God.
Rev. Mark J. Henninger
Treatise #22
11 August 2025
Mark, I have heard of too much grace, cheap grace, and hyper-grace. Thank you for pointing out what true grace is and how much of it we need!
ReplyDeleteThank-you for your comment, Nathan. The only way there could ever be "too much" *real* grace, is if the guilt of our sin against the Holy God actually had limits. But sin against God is an infinite evil. Therefore, on the other end of the scale, true redeeming grace in Christ must be (and is) actually infinite, too. The same would apply to the term "hyper-grace." There might be "hyper-grace," if we sinners did not have an infinite need of grace. But we do have an infinite need of grace. People that seek to "limit" grace's scope do so--whether they realize it, or not--because they actually think they are pretty good, or actually possess some righteousness in themselves. In that case, of course, grace would be "cheap," since it is not necessary for them--because they are not that bad, after all.
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