As a preacher, I have noticed a recent surge in a form of teaching known as ‘hyper-grace’. This interpretation focuses excessively on the grace of God, often at the expense of other crucial teachings, such as repentance and confession of sin. Advocates of hyper-grace argue that since all sin – past, present, and future – has been forgiven, believers have no need to confess. They declare that God sees us as a holy and righteous people, thereby validating our actions, regardless of their moral standing. According to their perspective, we are free from the teachings of Jesus just as we are liberated from the Law; they claim we are not accountable for our sins. Anyone who disagrees with their views is labeled as a legalistic Pharisee. Hyper-grace teachers, in my opinion, distort the divine grace into a path for immorality and verge dangerously close to antinomianism (Jude 1:4).
The words of Jesus to the seven churches in the book of Revelation (Revelation 2:4, 6, 20; 3:3, 15-19) sharply contradict the notion that Christians never have to repent. For example, Jesus explicitly stated to the church at Ephesus, “Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (Revelation 2:4). Five out of the seven churches are reproached by Jesus who demands repentance. Thus, there is an imperative for believers to answer for their disobedience (2 Corinthians 5:10).
Harbingers of hyper-grace theology tend to discount the relevance of the Old Testament and the Ten Commandments to New Testament believers. They put forth the notion that Jesus’ words, spoken before His resurrection, belong to the Old Covenant and carry no weight for born-again believers. However, Jesus proclaimed in Mark 13:31, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” If these teachings were no longer relevant, why would He promise that the Holy Spirit would help remind us of everything He said (John 14:26)?
The doctrine of hyper-grace is a prime example of blending truth with error. While emphasizing God’s grace is commendable, it is essential not to neglect the full scope of God’s teachings or Paul’s “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). Yes, it is true that Christians have been forgiven by God, but that doesn’t pardon us from confessing our sins. James 5:16 instructs us to confess our sins and pray for each other for healing. Considering every sin is essentially against God (Psalm 51:4), it begs the question of why wouldn’t we need to confess to God?
1 John 1:9 gives clear instructions about confessing sin: “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” As children of God saved by His blood, we continue to confess our sin not to avoid hell, but to rebuild an intimate relationship with our Father. Therefore, we can be described as “positionally righteous” yet “practically sinful.”
Hyper-grace preachers try to negate the argument by stating that John’s letters were not directed to believers. This claim is refuted by 1 John 2:1: “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” Evidently, John writes to known believers, suggesting that they may sin and need to confess it.
One stunning claim hyper-grace preachers make is that the Holy Spirit never convicts Christians of their sin. This claim should immediately raise concerns among mature Christians, as every follower of Jesus has felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit upon sinning. Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of Truth” (John 15:26). Hence, anything false within a believer would surely prompt a conviction by the Spirit of Truth (1 Corinthians 6:19).
Ultimately, while some aspects of the hyper-grace doctrine are valid – we are indeed saved by grace, not our works (Ephesians 2:8–9), and God’s grace is indeed magnificent – the teaching exaggerates the emphasis on God’s grace and skews the balance of Scripture. It fails to “correctly handle” the Word (2 Timothy 2:15).
As disciples of Jesus who was full of both “grace and truth” (John 1:14), we must maintain a delicate balance of these two qualities. Any deviation can lead to a false gospel. Any new teachings must be weighed against the “whole counsel of God”. We must learn to disregard anything that strays even slightly from the truth (1 John 4:1).
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