Monday, February 20, 2012

Understanding Grace??

Understanding Grace??

Back in the 1950’s and 60’s there was the testing of ideas of authority under God’s grace.  Brethren knew that salvation was by grace through faith, and they also knew that the grace of God taught us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live under the authority of Jesus (Matt.28:18-20; Eph.1:19f).  Because of Jesus’ authority and being head over all things to the church, brethren tested issues to make sure they could hold to the practices that they were engaged as a congregation (1 Thess.5:21).  Even though it was a system of grace, brethren knew that grace teaches us to “prove what is acceptable”(Rom.12:1-4; Eph.5:11) to the Lord, and not just ASSUME what is acceptable to the Lord.  This led to a testing of whether we could support human institutions from the common treasury.

Much dispute was engaged according to the pattern of Acts 15, where brethren believed that discussion and debate was a very needed and helpful tool toward understanding an issue, and developing the convictions that align with what grace teaches and what is truly authorized under grace in Christ.  Yes, division will come about when one side MUST live under the authority of Jesus and the other side thinks grace is a ticket to act without authority.  Jude 4 mentions people using the grace of God for license.  When the treasury is used in ways that force people to violate their consciences, grace does not teach us to just sear our consciences and ignore the issue.  The division was not due to non-institutional brethren not understanding grace, it was due to institutional brethren misusing grace and forcing brethren to either ignore the issue of authority or get out.  Those who fought those battles knew that if there was any other way to avoid division, they would have loved to avoided it.  Sometimes division is just not avoidable (1 Cor.11:19) where brethren will not “test all things and hold fast that which is good” as the grace of God teaches us.

In spite of all the study and testing of ideas, there came along a wave of people who thought a proper knowledge of grace would allow us to fellowship just about anybody. Thus, a wave of people thought they knew more about the grace of God in the 70’s, and thus a battle with the “grace-fellowship” brethren was engaged to test those claims of how to properly understand and use the grace of God toward proper fellowship with institutional brethren.  Brethren were willing to debate the issues, but the “grace-fellowship” advocates preferred not to debate and discuss, but chose hit-and-run tactics instead.  It seems that every time somebody writes an article that suggests that brethren divided “needlessly” over issues of authority, and then someone wants to test their claim, that these brethren do not possess the love and courage of true grace to actually test their claims as we see the apostles and elders doing in Acts 15.  It seems that the new breed do not really believe that their new views can stand up when tested, and so they prefer the techniques of the false teachers in Jude and 2 Peter 2 where you try to slip in and convince people without testing all things openly.

The cycle turns and the cycle turns, like the cycle we see in the book of Judges.  A new generation arises that does not know the issues, and then they think they have discovered “grace” in a way that brethren have always been ignorant about. They visualize being heroes of the faith who can now unite brethren by showing them that they have discovered the “true” grace of God, and that all the division over the issues of the work and organization of the church can now be resolved with a better understanding of grace.

Here is a recent quote I want to examine:

Another key point of understanding for Christians is on the topic of Justification. A good friend of mine has told me time and again that our understanding of justification affects the way we view the rest of the Bible. I think he is right. For instance…



If you believe we are justified by our own power, through things God has given us to do, then your salvation becomes dependent on you and your obedience to God. On the other hand, if you believe we are justified by God’s grace and power, then your salvation becomes totally dependent on God and His lovingkindness. You can figure out which of those paths leads to confidence and which of those paths leads to deluded self-righteousness or hopelessness. –Unquote!

Now, catch the subtlety of the above comment.  It is actually the same claim that denominational “faith-only” people have been advocating for years.  They said baptism is not essential because that is “believing we are justified by our own power”.  Peter did not think so in Acts 2:36-41. They argued that we were wrong about baptism because that is the same as believing that “your salvation is dependent on you and your obedience to God rather than becoming totally dependent on God and His lovingkindness”.  Now, the young brother I am quoting above does not take his words to the logical conclusion. He DOES believe that baptism is essential to salvation, but he did not realize that by borrowing his ideas from denominational writers about grace and justification, he has prepared those who read from him to take his words to the next logical step.

These very arguments were used by a denominational preacher I have debated twice on the issue of baptism’s place in justification (See the Benton-Olson debates at the ReligiousDebates site in YahooGroups).  His argument was exactly what our brother argued above. It is a very weak argument because if taken to the logical conclusion will mean that everyone is saved.  Think about it.  If I “believe” by relying upon my mind to judge truth from error and arrive at conviction, then that would also mean that I should not exercise any thought about the matter, else I would be relying upon my own power to believe, and salvation would be up to me and dependent upon me.  I should not repent because, again, if that is up to me too, then I am relying upon myself and my own actions to bring about what should be “total dependence on God and his lovingkindness” rather than my own efforts and responses.  Our brother uses the denominational arguments of justification without yet taking them to the logical conclusion.  The universalist is “totally dependent on God and His loving-kindness” for he does not believe anything is a condition for justification.  They are taking the grace-justification argument to the logical conclusion. They are simply wrong about whether we have to meet certain conditions for grace and what those conditions are.

The truth is that we are totally dependent on God and His loving-kindness, and that is why we obey Him. If He has conditions for me to meet, I depend on Him to justify me on the terms He gives.  I am totally dependent on Him.  I depend on Him to offer the pardon itself because I cannot produce it, and I depend on Him to tell me what the terms or conditions of pardon are.  I cannot invent my own terms. I totally depend,  as those 3,000 on Pentecost, on God’s grace to provide pardon and to tell me what I must do to obtain His pardon.  Likewise, I totally depend on Him to tell me what His will is for my life.  My obedience is not the basis of salvation. His grace is the basis.  Obedient faith is the condition through which grace is acquired and enjoyed.  Grace does not allow me to quit submitting to His terms and conditions of ongoing pardon (1 John 1:7-9).  I am confident because of forgiveness, not because I feel worthy or good enough.  I am confident because Jesus authored my salvation and is able to aid me on my journey and will be with me to help me finish the race (Heb.2:18; 12:1-4). As I know Him, I love and obey Him. When I see that I am failing, I ask His forgiveness and I know He forgiveness me and lets me start over again and again. That is what His grace teaches me (Titus 2:11-15).

Let us be careful that we do not misuse the grace of God to teach people that they are safe without obeying God.  I do not see the grace taught in the New Testament ever talking like that. Beware that you do not let someone teach you that grace allows people to continue in sin (Rom.6:1f) or that it allows us to fellowship and participate with brethren who are acting outside the bounds of authority. That is surely turning the grace of God into license (Jude 4). That is a misunderstanding of grace, not an understanding of it.

Terry W. Benton