When Grace Stops Too Soon

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So you believe in God? Believe in Jesus and salvation through Him? You believe in the Holy Spirit and believe that this Trinity works in unity to extend grace to humankind?

Great. So do the demons. But they believe this with such conviction they tremble. Why? Because they know what will happen if the grace of faith and the works of applied grace are integrated.

This somewhat sarcastic slap in the face comes from the Apostle James. His point? Believing in grace is insufficient; the demons believe. A full grasp of grace requires that you engage, expend effort, and habitually apply grace as essential to your theological foundation, life, and hope.

The story of God’s people is long. Like any great story, its theme is the battle between good and evil—the only story there is, said Steinbeck.

But the story isn’t the tension between good and evil. The story is which will triumph.

In the battle between good and evil, our heavenly Father knew we would live midst the “and” that lies between good and evil. Knowing this, He made provision: Jesus Christ, grace personified. This is the gospel. This is the message of grace. In the end, good wins, evil is defeated. Jesus is triumphant. Heaven awaits. It’s life in the “and” where grace is tested.

God knew you needed the whole gospel of grace.

Life is like a novel: Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is 340 pages long. J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is 1200 pages. Both books start with good and end with good, but for hundreds of pages the reader is caught in the drama, the tension, of how the story will resolve.

Let me translate: I became a Christian at age six. I’m currently seventy. For sixty-three years [and counting] my story has unfolded midst the “and” lying between good and evil. I know enough about the past-tense of grace—my new identity, my security in Christ, etc.—that I have written several books on the topic. At the other end of grace’s spectrum, I’m living in the fourth quarter of life and considering heaven. Both the past and the future are components of my theology. But if the past and the future are all I’ve got of grace, then I’m on my own while living midst the “and.” 

Biblically speaking, salvation, i.e., the grace of God in Jesus, is presented in three tenses: past, present, and future. This isn’t a biblical factoid. God knew you needed the whole gospel of grace in order to contend with the “and” of conflicted living.

James’ ridicule is to wake you up: If all you have of grace is past-tense faith, your concept of grace stops short. You need a working, present-tense grace if you are going to demonstrate the past-tense grace of your theological conviction in real time.

James states that the demons believe and tremble. His clear implication is: You believe as well. Why are you not trembling?

James’ point? The demons tremble when they contemplate the thought of grace applied. You fail to tremble because you are hyper-focused on the past tense of grace. If the grace of faith, and action, and eternal hope were integrated, the spiritual result would be cataclysmic.

James is slapping you in the face. Partial truth renders partial understanding resulting in either a distorted or failed application.

Of the twenty-seven books comprising the New Testament, fifteen (including James) deal in varying degrees with a first century misrepresentation of Christianity called, Gnosticism (nos’-te-sism). By the fourth century, the church declared Gnosticism a heresy.

End of story, right?

Unfortunately, no.

So what is this persistent distortion of Christianity?

Chief among the Gnostic tenets was separation between the spiritual and the temporal. The Gnostics perverted Christianity by hyper-focusing on the spiritual and disconnecting from earthly application and responsibility.

Scripture states the truth, then expresses intention.

For the biblical writers, this theological-philosophical failure to apply the gracious work of Christ to everyday life was an imminent concern. The finished work of grace without earthly application renders Christ irrelevant and you irresponsible.  

Today, there are more mentions of “grace” than at any other time in the history of Christianity. Churches, books, programs, concepts; entire ministries are dedicated solely to teaching grace. At first blush, this is good. But the preponderance of this grace teaching is in the past tense.

Not only this, but application connecting the spiritual world of grace to the life of grace is branded as legalism. Spiritual practices are denounced as performance-based righteousness. The action statements in Scripture, the imperatives—and there are hundreds of them—are minimized or explained away as misunderstandings of true grace.

Any question, or assessment, of how a Believer is actually living out their faith is viewed as placing people back under law. Anything evaluative. Any experiential struggle. Any falling short is a failure to embrace that you have everything you need in Christ, already and completely. Therefore, believe past-tense grace and trust Jesus to handle the rest. Any teaching that directs you toward assessment, practices, habits, disciplines, or obedience puts you back in bondage.

Do you hear the trappings of the ancient concern the biblical writers addressed?

Generally speaking, the message of grace, as it is often presented, is not wrong; it just stops short.

Colossians tells you that Christ is your life (past tense). Then it tells you to put to death what belongs to your earthly practices (present tense). Ephesians tells you that you are God's workmanship (past tense). Then it tells you to walk worthy of your calling (present tense). These are not contradictions. The imperatives in scripture are not a betrayal of grace. They are the shape of the whole scope of grace. Indicative, then imperative. Truth declared, then direction regarding truth applied. Statement, practice. Status, application. Truth, obedience.

Consider Hebrews 10:14: “…He has perfected for all time (past tense) those who are being sanctified (present tense).” The writer doesn’t resolve the differing tenses; he lives in the tension this creates. Past-tense perfection and present-tense process are not in conflict. They are the same gospel of grace, living, breathing in and breathing out.

The Gnostics did not view themselves as rejecting Christianity. Rather, they presented Gnosticism as Christianity's deeper meaning, its true completion, the fuller understanding available only to those who grasped the real message. Understand the deeper truth and you are enlightened and liberated.

I hear grace presented today with a similar architecture. True grace, as conveyed, is a deeper understanding. Grace demarcates those who know the truth and are enlightened from those who don’t.

Inside grace circles, I’ve heard dozens and dozens of times, "That person doesn’t understand the message [of grace]." This flippant rationale is applied to any pastor, author, teacher, or Believer who emphasizes application, imperative, or spiritual discipline as complementary to grace.

I was in a meeting of grace teachers not long ago where two thousand years of church history was dismissed with, “They didn’t understand the message [of grace].” Said another way, “We [in this room] are the first to truly understand grace.”

Why does this matter?

First, because a grace that is only spiritually relevant in the past tense means grace isn’t relevant in daily, present-tense doing.

Second, the biblical writers saw the handwriting on the wall and wrote to warn us of a past-tense grace with no present tense applicability. Just as occurred in the early history of Christianity, a grace message that stops too soon is rendering today the theological philosophies of perfectionism, pacifism, universalism, antinomianism, and questioning the relevance of the Old Testament for New Testament Believers.

For the record, all of these “-isms” and diminishments of Scripture have long been held as heretical perversions of Christianity.

I am not saying all of today’s presenters of grace are heretics. I am saying the pattern of today’s grace teaching rhymes with teaching the apostolic writers and church patriarchs identified as a distortion of the faith.

You are free to think, assess, evaluate, and implement.

Just like its words, the pattern of Scripture is inspired. It states the truth, then expresses intention: Here is the truth (indicative) and here is its intended application (imperative).

The truth of Scripture (indicative) is complimented with about fifteen-hundred statements regarding application (imperative): Go. Think. Set. Imitate. Love. Confess. Be. Rest. Remember. Take. Give. Receive. Discipline yourself. Humble yourself. Count. Preach. Teach. Baptize. Do not. Do. Consider. Believe. Repent. Make. Pray. Look. Beware. Seek. Ask. Conduct. Speak. Obey. Pay. Receive. Flee. Guard. Fight. Forgive. Trust. If the imperative commands of Scripture—the application and actions—are minimized, marginalized, omitted, or dismissed, then your Bible unravels like a cheap rug; divine inspiration is impossible.

That you are the recipient of grace means you are free to think, assess, evaluate, and implement. Because you are the recipient of God’s grace through Christ, you are liberated to struggle, to languish, to suffer doubt, and to engage life. Because you irrevocably belong to God, you are free to explore your new heart, confront your despondency, and wrestle with composure in dark times. You are free, responsible, and expected to live fully. This means you are free to experience failure and free to embrace triumph. The past tense informs the present tense. The present tense solidifies and tempers the past tense.

This is the tension Hebrews 10:14 is conveying: You are victorious in Jesus (past tense) while suffering the cycle of defeat and overcoming; failing and succeeding; walking after the flesh and walking in the Spirit; sinning and reckoning yourself dead to sin (all present tense) .

This applied theology transpires while you live in the midst of the “and” that is implied in the conflict between evil and good, flesh and spirit, doing the very thing you hate and not being condemned.

The fact that you are saved is an informed, robust, past-tense perspective of grace.

The fact that you are being saved—present tense—places you in the arena of life; living, wrestling, suffering, winning, losing, and celebrating the privilege of joining Jesus in His sufferings.

The fact that one day you shall be saved is the future tense of grace and is a glorious hope.

All three tenses integrated is how God structured life in the Spirit. Take any of the three tenses out of your theology, and your theology of grace stops too soon.

God would not have inspired His presentation, explanation, and application of salvation in three tenses if you didn’t need all three aspects in order to fully comprehend (past), deploy (present), and hope (future) in His grace extended to you in Jesus Christ.

Note: I recently spoke about mental health and identity. You can watch here.

 Also, delivery of “Everyday Grace” continues to be disrupted. If Anabel’s devotional fails to deliver to you, you can always read her devotional at, www.AnabelGillham.com.