Free Grace theology

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Free Grace theology is the contemporary, dispensational theology-birthed expression of the controversial view that the Christian concept of eternal salvation is bestowed irrespective of the subsequent behaviour of the recipient of eternal salvation.[1] Its historical antecedents are considered[2][3] to be Anne Hutchinson[4], Robert Sandeman [5] and to a lesser degree, John Cotton.[6] Both in its historical antecedents and in its contemporary expressions in organizations like the Free Grace Alliance and the Grace Evangelical Society (GES), and in the writings of Charles Ryrie, Zane Hodges, Charlie Bing, Bob Wilkin, J. B. Hixson, and Jody Dillow, Free Grace Theology is a critical response to the classic Puritan view (or contemporary Lordship salvation view) of the dire position of doomed Christian hypocrites.[7]

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[edit] Free Grace soteriology

Free Grace Theology is distinguished by its soteriology or doctrine of salvation. The Free Grace Alliance doctrinal affirmation summarizes their distinctives:[8]

1. The grace of God in justification is an unconditional free gift.
2. The sole means of receiving the free gift of eternal life is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whose substitutionary death on the cross fully satisfied the requirement for our justification.
3. Faith is a personal response, apart from our works, whereby we are persuaded that the finished work of Jesus Christ has delivered us from condemnation and guaranteed our eternal life.
4. Justification is the act of God to declare us righteous when we believe in Jesus Christ alone.
5. Assurance of justification is the birthright of every believer from the moment of faith in Jesus Christ, and is founded upon the testimony of God in His written Word.
6. Spiritual growth, which is distinct from justification, is God’s expectation for every believer; this growth, however, is not necessarily manifested uniformly in every believer.
7. The Gospel of Grace should always be presented with such clarity and simplicity that no impression is left that justification requires any step, response, or action in addition to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[edit] Opposition to Free Grace soteriology

Conservative post-Reformation Protestant Christian theology typically agrees with the FGA statement that faith is the "sole means" for receiving the "free gift of eternal life" or the Christian concept of "eternal salvation". However, its very definition of faith is a departure from the consensus of reformed scholarship.[9][10] The Reformed tradition has long condemned the view that faith (as the "sole means" for securing eternal salvation) can be defined apart from the required presence of good works.[11]

According to the contemporary expression of Reformed soteriology, sometimes called Lordship salvation, "faith" that lacks the required good works is called "head faith" or "mental assent," as opposed to "heart faith," which is said to include good works. "True biblical belief does not stop with mental assent to the truth. It includes a heart trust, a confidence in the facts expressed by a voluntary act of the will."[12] Kenneth Gentry writes: "The Lordship view expressly states the necessity of acknowledging Christ as the Lord and Master of one’s life in the act of receiving Him as Savior. These are not two different, sequential acts (or successive steps), but rather one act of pure trusting faith."[13] The Free Grace view of faith is also sometimes known as "Sandemanianism", due to Robert Sandeman, who in the mid 18th century became known for his view that "bare faith" was adequate for Christian eternal salvation.[14]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bing, Charles Lordship Salvation, A Biblical Evaluation and Response, Ph.D. Dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1991
  2. ^ John F. MacArthur, Jr., Faith Works, The Gospel According to the Apostles, Word, 1993]
  3. ^ Michael Horton, Christ the Lord: The Reformation and Lordship Salvation (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992)
  4. ^ David D. Hall, The Antinomian Controversy 1636-1638 : A Documentary History, 1990]
  5. ^ Robert Sandeman, Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007
  6. ^ R.T. Kendall, Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649 2nd ed., Paternoster Press, UK, 1997
  7. ^ Dean, Abiding in Christ: A Dispensational Theology of the Spiritual Life, CTS Journal, 2006
  8. ^ Official Website of the FGA Doctrinal Affirmations found on the FGA Website, May, 2007
  9. ^ M. Charles Bell, Calvin & Scottish Theology, The Handsel Press, Edinburgh, 1985
  10. ^ R. T. Kendall, Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649 2nd ed., Paternoster Press, UK, 1997
  11. ^ Gresham Machen, What is Faith?, 1925
  12. ^ Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, 3rd Edition, 2003 p. 254
  13. ^ Gentry, The Great Option: A Study of the Lordship Controversy, Baptist Reformation Review 5 [Spring 1976]: 52
  14. ^ Sandeman, Letters on Theron and Aspasio, vol. 2 Edinburgh:Sands, Donaldson, Murray, and Conchran, 1759, 329-30

[edit] Free Grace advocacy

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