It's amazing how adherents of Hyper-grace need to re-interpret so many bible verses that are so blatantly easy to understand. They have to twist and double twist to make all of them fit their theology.
After all these years, they have developed a standard counter-interpretation for anyone who question the validity of their understanding of scriptures. They pride themselves as having the ability to interpret the Bible quite differently from classical interpretation. Some immature adherents even attack all other interpretations as wrong.
Major portions of the Gospels and the teachings of Christ have been thrown out as irrelevant to believers because these were apparently taught and spoken by Jesus within the context of the Law. For example, the 'Sermon on the Mount' (Matthew 5) has been thrown out because as one adherent told me that if we were to believe that this teaching of Jesus is meant for us to apply, we will all be maimed. Let's check just two of the offending verses and they are found in Matthew 5:29 to 30.
If your right eye causes you to stumble,
gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part
of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
In spite of explaining that Jesus was using hyperbole, this adherent refused to accept that. He said that he was sure Jesus meant it to be literal. Well, what could one say when the obvious was rejected.
No matter how good this Hyper-Grace claims to be, any rejection of the teachings of Jesus Christ should give us a warning bell.
In fact, another man who called himself a 'grace-based' believer wrote me and asked me to only eat the meat and throw out the bones of Hyper-grace teachings. Honestly, I have been trying to do that for a long time. However, it is almost impossible because their fundamental theology is so shaky.
In spite of the truth that the 'Lamb was slain before the foundation' their teacher has taught them, the New Covenant only begun after the Cross. So any teachings before the Cross should be suspected unless they have been specially referred to by post-Calvary writers.
Another unwritten rule is that no scripture can be interpreted except through the lens of the Hyper- grace camp. Even ordinary words that contradict the theology of Hyper-grace must be given the 'right' meanings. Stories of people who left the faith or being killed by the Holy Spirit are to be rejected as being punishments for the believers. No believer will ever be punished. Ananias and Sapphira could be believers since the Holy Spirit killed them. ( Acts 5) What about Demas?
Reading a blog by one of these adherents, I could see a split image of the preacher in this blogger. He has memorized the Hyper- grace doctrines well and also the standard arguments used against biblical grace. For example, in defense of the non- repentance belief, he actually says that all the scriptures that admonish believers to repent are for unbelievers. The corrections and strong admonitions given by Paul and James are for unbelievers.
This blogger echoes his teacher well and says that the words 'repent' and 'convict' in the Greek have different meanings. 'Repent' to him means simply 'changing your mind' and 'convict' means 'convince'. In fact, this man says that 'convict' has the same meaning as 'condemn'. No wonder he is so afraid of the word, 'convict'. All English speakers know that these two words must be read within their contexts. In fact all words should be interpreted likewise.
When pointed out that Jesus actually rebuked churches in the Book of Revelation, the man says that most likely the rebukes are also meant for unbelievers. How can one even reason with such type of reasoning?
There is no talk about personal holiness. The concept is that God is only pleased with Christ and nothing that we do can add to pleasing Him or displeasing Him. The truth is that the underlying theology of Hyper-grace is faulty because whether they know it or not, they believe that believers are still depraved... even after being justified by faith.
All our obedience or disobedience does not mean a thing to God because only the obedience of Christ is acceptable. The idea beneath why they accept this is because they believer that all believers are somehow still under the Law. They need Christ to obey for them as they are too depraved to be able to obey.
That's not what the Bible says. After salvation, we are no longer under the Law. God therefore does not judge us under the Law. We have entered into relationship with the living God. Christ, through His one- time sacrifice on the Cross has opened this great door of reconciliation between God and Man.
Now, in this new relationship, we can please God and we can also displease God by our behaviors and attitudes. He rewards us when we please Him and reprimands us when we displease Him. That is why the scripture says that to whom He loves, He chastises. He does not leave us alone in this relationship. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. The Holy Spirit works within us so that we grow to become more pleasing to God. It's a relational type of pleasing and not to be confused with Christ pleasing God by His obedience and death for us on the Cross.
There is something very strange about this Hyper-grace people. They are very defensive and almost hostile. They really get very upset when confronted with the possibility that their interpretation of the scriptures may be inaccurate. Read their blogs and FB remarks and you will understand what I mean.
And they who claim to have more grace are the least gracious of any groups of Christians (or cultivate groups) that we have ever encountered. When we disagree with their interpretations, we are called 'Pharisees' and ' Legalists' etc. One guy attacks me on FB and challenged me with the question, "Who do you think you are?" He then went on with insulting words that are not fit to repeat.
All I can say is that most adherents of Hyper-grace have confused The Finished Work of Christ in Justification with the Work of the Holy Spirit in Sanctification. We believe that Christ alone provided us with salvation through Justification. No one can add anything to the finished work of Christ. We were saved not by works or our own righteousness. It's Christ and Christ alone. God accepted us as who we were during salvation. We have been justified and declared as positionally righteous in the sight of God. Then the next step is for the Holy Spirit to work within us so that we will become more like Christ. The grace of salvation and the grace of transformation are two different aspects of the grace and mercy of God. Justification and Sanctification are thus not the same thing.
It was John Newton, the former slave trader and the author of “Amazing Grace,” who penned the famous words, “How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.” I can relate to that personally, and that’s one reason I’m so jealous for the unadulterated grace of God, for grace without mixture, grace without leaven, grace without exaggeration.
On Dec. 17, 1971, the revelation of God’s love so flooded my heart that I told the Lord I would never put a needle in my arm again, and I was free from that moment on. No more heroin. No more speed. No more addiction to the needle. No more hallucinogenic drugs. Jesus truly delivered me!
For the previous six weeks there had been a tremendous battle in my soul—beginning Nov. 12, 1971, when I first believed that Jesus died for my sins, which was a major breakthrough for a 16 year-old, rebellious, proud, Jewish rock drummer. Prior to that, I had mocked the message of the gospel and boasted about my sin, but as the believers in a little Italian Pentecostal Church in Queens, N.Y. prayed for me, the Holy Spirit began to convict me (although I had no idea they were praying for me), and I knew something was terribly wrong with my life.
Then, after the light went on in my heart in November, I wrestled with God, shooting heroin one day and going to church the next, until that memorable service on Dec. 17. As the pastor’s wife played the piano and we sang the old hymns—hymns which sounded like little ditties to me compared to the Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix music I listened to day and night—I became overwhelmed by the joy of the Lord and received a dramatic revelation.
I saw myself filthy from head to toe, and then I saw myself washed cleaned with the blood of Jesus and clothed with beautiful white robes, only to go back and play in the mud. I was spurning God’s love, a love that was poured out on me when I was a filthy, godless sinner. I was mocking the blood of Jesus, blood that was shed for me when I was stealing money from my own father and bragging about how deceitful I could be.
At that moment, God’s goodness exposed my badness, and I surrendered my life to the Lord and said goodbye to the life I had been living. And it was not hard to make the radical break. What a Savior!
That was more than 41 years ago, and I can honestly say that I have experienced more of God’s grace as a believer than as a lost sinner. Every day of my life, I am cleansed from the defilement of the world by the blood of Jesus, even as I walk in the light (see 1 John 1:7). And when I have disappointed the Lord and grieved His Spirit (see Eph. 4:30), the moment I turn to him in repentance, he forgives and forgets my sins (see Mic. 7:17-19). What a gracious God!
But there’s still more. Every day of my life, I am empowered to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law by God’s grace (see Rom. 8:1-4; Titus 2:11-15). As Pastor David Wilkerson said, “According to Paul, we are not walking in grace until we have broken from worldly corruptions. Unless we are endeavoring through the power of the Holy Spirit to lead godly and righteous lives ... we do not know God’s grace.”
And that’s why I’m so jealous for the true message of grace. There are heretical “grace” teachers who exaggerate God’s grace, claiming that everyone will be saved in the end. And there are sincere, godly hyper-grace preachers who add mixture to God’s grace, claiming that if you ask God to forgive you when you sin as a believer, you are committing the sin of unbelief (really!).
Some of these teachers will even tell you exactly how you should express yourself to God, suggesting the right words to use to be sure you don’t say, “Father, forgive me,” since hyper-grace teachers believe the moment you get saved, God pronounces your future sins forgiven along with your past and present sins.
To me, when a preacher tells me what words to use in prayer and tells me it’s a sin to ask God to forgive me, he is mixing grace with legalism, forgetting the fact that we have a wonderful, intimate relationship with our heavenly Father who is more concerned with the condition of our hearts than with our religious formulas. And although my hyper-grace colleagues emphasize that God is always happy with us and pleased with us, as a righteous child of the Father, I have no problem saying, “Lord, I’m sorry for displeasing you. Wash me clean with the blood of Jesus, and forgive me.”
And when I say those words to the Lord, the blood that was shed on the cross is applied afresh to my heart, and that’s one reason why I live in 24/7 assurance of the Father’s love for me, condemnation free (always, without exception, for decades), eager to find out what pleases the Lord (see Eph. 5:10).
The hyper-grace message, which tells me that nothing I do will ever displease the Lord, which claims that I’m committing the sin of unbelief if I ask Abba to forgive me, and which is so quick to brand those outside of its camp as “law-keepers” and “Pharisees,” pollutes something very dear to my heart, and that’s why I continue to contend for grace without mixture.
Michael Brown is the author of The Real Kosher Jesus and the host of the nationally syndicated talk radio show The Line of Fire on the Salem Radio Network. He is also president of FIRE School of Ministry and director of the Coalition of Conscience. Follow him at AskDrBrown on Facebook or @drmichaellbrown on Twitter.
Hyper-grace teachers frequently emphasize that they do not condone sinful living and that God’s true grace will produce a holy life, and I believe they sincerely mean this. One hyper-grace author even states at the beginning of his book, “We are not propagating immorality, because if we truly believe in God and love Him there will be corresponding works (because faith without works is dead).” Absolutely!
There are boatloads of testimonies these teachers can point to, documenting how thousands of believers have found freedom and deliverance by embracing the message of grace. In previous years, these believers had lived under a weight of condemnation, thinking if they just worked a little harder God might accept them, feeling as if they never measured up. Then they encountered God’s amazing grace and were transformed.
This is wonderful news, and I rejoice in these testimonies too. In fact, that is the message of grace I believe in and preach as well.
Unfortunately, there are now boatloads of stories of believers who have been terribly injured by the hyper-grace message. In fact, since my article “Confronting the Errors of Hyper-Grace” was posted last week, I have not been able to keep up with all the horror stories that have been sent my way.
This one is typical, from Jessica:
“I have seen firsthand the changes that come with people who embrace this message.
“I joined a small group 3 years ago that went from having regular prayer meetings and living holy connected lives together to stating ‘prayer is a work and denies grace’ and ‘sin allows grace to do its great work.’ All of our prayer meetings and Bible studies were traded in for game-nights and nights out at the bar to ‘witness’ where many from the group got plastered ... all in the name of ‘grace.’
“My heart has been so broken for my dear friends who I walked so closely with. As a group, they have embraced sin as not only acceptable, but justified and desirable. I have been completely ostracized and mocked for my stand in holiness. They don’t even call me by my name anymore—they call me ‘Pharisee.’ Unfortunately, I have had to step completely away from these loved ones and am spending my life in prayer for them.”
Another wrote this:
“I had a loved one who was an intense follower of hyper grace start to lie and cheat in his business. … He was a different person before he started following hyper grace. … He wasn’t greedy, in fact he was selfless, humble and very much in integrity. Also I can’t mention to him the fact that he lied and withheld info in order to steer people to invest ... Why? Because he says there is no condemnation in Christ. So no one is allowed to mention that aspect of his behavior to him … or else.”
A worship leader wrote to me, describing what is happening among prominent worship leaders he knows, where “the drinking partying thing is rampant. Totally excused because they were under grace not legalism.”
Of course, my hyper-grace friends will protest: “This is not the fruit of our message. Our message produces love for Jesus and holy living. These people obviously misunderstood what we were teaching.”
But it’s not so simple, otherwise pastors and believers from around the country (and other countries) wouldn’t be contacting me day and night to talk about the destructive effects of the hyper-grace message.
Without a doubt, my colleagues who preach hyper-grace have discovered some wonderful truths that are liberating and transforming, and all of us should embrace those truths. Unfortunately, the hyper-grace message (in contrast with Paul’s message of abundant grace) is unbalanced and highly reactionary, to the real detriment of many believers.
Here are three major concerns (out of many more) that must be addressed:
1) Hyper-grace teachers (and their followers) denigrate those who differ with them, calling them legalistic Pharisees, branding them manipulators and tyrants who preach a counterfeit gospel, and sometimes even claiming that leaders who don’t preach hyper-grace are doing so for monetary gain (“sin management is lucrative;” there is an almost endless stream of quotes like this from respected hyper-grace leaders). This is destructive and divisive and needs to stop. (For the record, I use the term “hyper-grace” to be descriptive, not insulting, and some within the movement say, “Yes, we believe in hyper-grace!”)
2) In their zeal to exalt God’s grace, hyper-grace teachers often make extreme statements that lead believers to think that they are not responsible for their sins. After all, if we are always perfectly holy in God’s sight, we don’t really sin. Our bodies do! This is dangerous and unbiblical.
3) Hyper-grace teachers commonly claim that the words of Jesus no longer apply to us. Instead, they argue, Jesus’ teaching was for the Jews under the Law before the new covenant was inaugurated, whereas Paul brought the message of grace. If this false dichotomy doesn’t raise a red flag of warning, nothing will. Simply stated, any teaching that minimizes (or even ignores) the teachings of Jesus should be rejected.
I appeal to you, my brothers and sisters who are leaders in the hyper-grace camp (or, in your view, who are preaching the message of grace) to take these things to the Lord and make some serious course corrections before more lives are destroyed. Many have been helped by the truths you have taught, but many others have been damaged by your errors, and you cannot rejoice in the good without taking responsibility for the bad.
We don’t need any more horror stories.
Michael Brown is the author of The Real Kosher Jesus and the host of the nationally syndicated talk radio show The Line of Fire on the Salem Radio Network. He is also president of FIRE School of Ministry and director of the Coalition of Conscience. Follow him at AskDrBrown on Facebook or@drmichaellbrown on Twitter.
