The Hyper-Grace Gospel: A Response to Michael Brown and Those Opposed to the Modern Grace Message (11 page)

Before the Cross: Matt. 6:12,14,15, 9:2,5,6 12:31,32 18:27,32,35,
Mark 2:5,7,9,10, 3:28, 4:12, 11:25,26, Luke 5:20,21,23,24, 7:47,48,49, 11:4,
12:10, 23:34

After the Cross: Acts 8:22, Rom. 4:7, Jas 5:15, 1 John 1:9, 2:12

Aphesis
(forgiveness as a noun)

Before the Cross: Matt. 26:28, Mark 1:4, 3:29, Luke 1:77, 3:3 4:18

After the Cross: Luke 24:47, Acts 2:38, 5:31, 10:43, 13:38, 26:18,
Eph. 1:7, Col 1:14, Heb. 9:22, 10:18

From this little scripture study we can
draw one extraordinary conclusion: the cross changed the meaning of the word
forgiveness.

Before the cross,
divine forgiveness was mainly described as a verb to be done (
aphiemi
);
but after the cross, it was typically described as a noun to be received (
aphesis
).
Before the cross, God’s forgiveness was never expressed as a noun (except when
used in a prophetic foretelling of new covenant forgiveness); after the cross
it was rarely described as a verb (except when there were good reasons for
doing so, such as quoting the Old Testament).

This distinction
becomes even more obvious when we focus on the words of Jesus. Before the cross
Jesus described forgiveness as a verb and never as a noun (except when looking
ahead to the new covenant). After the cross Jesus described forgiveness as a
noun and never as a verb.

Do you see? The
cross of Calvary changed the message. Prior to the cross, forgiveness was
something
God does
, but after the cross forgiveness became something
God’s
done
.

It seems to me
that if Jesus preached and demonstrated unconditional forgiveness, so should
we. As Peter (Acts 2:38, 5:31) and then Paul (Acts 10:43, 13:38) said on
several occasions, forgiveness is a gift to be received and not a wage to be
earned. We are not forgiven in accordance with our acts of confession or
contrition but in accordance with the riches of God’s grace (Eph. 1:7).

The hyper-grace gospel declares that when
you were born again and joined to the Lord, you became just as righteous and
holy as He is. Dr. Brown sort of agrees but he also advocates progressive
sanctification. “I agree with modern grace teachers when they state that we
have already been sanctified, but that is only part of the story. The Word
plainly states that we are being sanctified” (page 98).

So are you holy
or not? The answer, apparently, is yes and no. You are, but you aren’t. (I
know, it doesn’t make any sense to me either.)

Progressive
sanctification is the old carrot that says you’re holy but you’re not really,
so act holy then one day, maybe, you’ll become holy. This idea is based on
scriptures such as Hebrews 10:14 (ESV) which say “He has perfected for all time
those
who are being sanctified.
” However, other Bibles translate this
passage differently. For instance, the King James Version says, “
For by one offering He hath perfected for ever
them that are
sanctified.
” Do you see the difference? One Bible says you are
sanctified, the other says you are being sanctified. Big difference.

No matter which
translation you read, Hebrews 10:14 also says, “He has perfected us,” and the
verb here is
teleioo
which means “to complete.” This is good news for
imperfect, incomplete man: Jesus completes us.
[80]

Except that He
doesn’t, apparently, because progressive sanctification says you are a work in
progress. You’re an incomplete, partial saint. So pull your socks up and act
holy and maybe you’ll become a full saint and a complete Christian. This sort
of logic appeals to our desire for self-improvement, but it isn’t Biblical:

And you are
complete in Him … (Colossians 2:10a, NKJV)

He who has Christ lacks no good thing. In
Him you are fully, completely, and totally sanctified.

Dr. Brown reads
Paul’s epistles as though they were handbooks for progressive sanctification.
He writes of Paul’s demand for a lifestyle that requires effort and obedience
(page 99). The words
demand
and
require
should raise red flags.
In what sense is holy living demanded and required? And what happens if you
fail to live up to these demands and requirements?

Dr. Brown doesn’t
come right out and say it but he quotes someone who says the goal of
sanctification is eternal life. Put one and one together and you’ll get two. If
you don’t deliver on the required performance—if you fail to do all the things
listed in the New Testament and attain the requisite level of holiness—you
won’t inherit eternal life. How is this not a message of works-based salvation?

Under the old
covenant holiness was demanded of unholy men. But under the new covenant,
holiness is freely given to unholy men through Jesus Christ (see 1 Cor. 1:30).

Holiness preaching
that emphasizes
what you must do
is carnal Christianity. Make no
mistake, it comes straight out of the old covenant. Heed this sort of teaching
and you will exalt the flesh at the expense of grace. And it won’t make you
holy.

On page 96 Dr.
Brown quotes a theologian who says our past holiness is merely
positional
(i.e., not real) while our current holiness is progressive (i.e., as good as
you make it). To paraphrase Bill Gillham, that’s like saying God is deceiving
Himself by only pretending we’re holy when we’re actually grubby.
[81]

So are you
sanctified or not? What is the answer to the question that is the title of this
chapter? This is what the gospel declares:

You were washed,
you
were sanctified
, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11b, my italics)

You
were
sanctified by the Spirit
of God. You are not sanctified through any effort of your own. Your personal
pursuit of holiness didn’t aid God one bit.

Do you not know
that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? ... For God’s
temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16–17, ESV)

A Christian is someone who has been joined
to the Lord and has received the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing what is
to come (2 Cor. 5:5). Do you think the
Holy Spirit lives in an unholy
temple? To quote Ralph Harris, you are God’s sacred mobile home. “He didn’t
make you just a believer. He made you an excellent place in which to live.”
[82]

You may say, “But
I don’t
feel
holy.” Your sanctification is not something to feel, it’s
something to believe. It’s a faith thing. God has done His part. Your part is
to say, “Yes Lord, I trust what you say. I am the holy temple of your Holy
Spirit.”

Therefore, I urge
you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a
living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper
worship. (Romans 12:1)

We are exhorted to present our bodies as
living and holy sacrifices to the Lord. Is your body living? Then your body is
holy. (So much for the idea that only the spiritual part of you is holy.)

You may ask, “If
we are already holy, then why does God call us to be holy?” He’s calling us to
be who we truly are. He is saying, “You are my sanctified children. Act like
it. Be who I made you to be.”

As D. Martyn
Lloyd-Jones once said:

Holiness is not
something we are called upon to do in order that we may become something; it is
something we are to do because of what we already are …
[83]

“Paul, I’m still confused. It seems there
are a lot of scriptures exhorting us to become holy. How do we reconcile those
with other scriptures that say that we are already holy?” The best answer I’ve
heard comes from Bill Gillham, who compares Christians to oak trees:

Are Christians a
truly holy people, or are we trying to
become
a holy people? ... As an
oak sapling grows, it doesn’t get “oakier.” Oak is oak. It simply
matures
into
what it is, a full-grown oak tree.
[84]

You don’t become an oak tree by acting
like an oak tree; nor do you become holy by acting holy. Jesus makes you holy.
Your part is to mature into what He has already made you. This takes time, but
just as a baby never becomes more human as it grows, you will never become more
holy as you mature. You simply grow into who God has already made you to be.

Needless to say,
maturity doesn’t occur in one giant leap, but through a process: “But we all …
are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians
3:18). Notice it’s “from glory to glory,” not “from garbage to glory.” You are
already holy in Christ … Just as an oak sapling does not get
oakier
as
it matures, neither does a new creature in Christ get holier, more forgiven,
more accepted, etc.
[85]

Critics of the modern grace message say we
who preach it are opposed to holy living. As we saw in Part B, nothing could be
further from the truth (see Myth #10). What we are opposed to is the old habit
of trying to make yourself holy by acting holy. You just can’t do it. The
standard is too high. But the good news declares God makes us holy. He takes
the shards of our broken lives and makes something beautiful, pleasing,
sweet-smelling, and Christ-like.

 New Testament
exhortations to live holy should not be read as a self-help guide to holiness.
Rather, they are pictures of the wholesome, healthy life we get to enjoy as we
allow Christ to express His holy life through us. They are advertisements for
the abundant life that is already ours in Christ.

Now that we have
a good understanding of why the Bible calls us to be holy, we can look at some
of the scriptures Dr. Brown cites in this chapter:

To all those in
Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints (Romans 1:7a, ESV).
Be
saintly because you are saints, as Paul says many times in his letter to the
Romans.

Just as you used to
offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so
now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness (Romans 6:19b).
Given that Christ has already sanctified us, a better translation might be
“unto holiness” as in, “Just as you used to live unto wickedness when you were
wicked, live unto holiness now that you are holy.”

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become
slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is
eternal life (Romans 6:22).
A better translation may be, “have fruit unto
sanctification.” Holy fruit are reaped not manufactured. Like eternal life,
fruit are gifts, not wages (John 3:16, 5:21).

To the church of
God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be His holy
people … (1 Corinthians 1:2a).
You are sanctified so act like it.

Put to death,
therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity
… (Colossians 3:5a).
If you’re a butterfly, don’t act like a caterpillar. If
you have been given a new nature, don’t act in accordance with your old nature.
That’s hypocrisy. It’s pretending to be someone you are not.

It is God’s will
that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality … (1
Thessalonians 4:3).
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified in your
conduct, not because your salvation hinges on it, but your wellbeing does. Sin
is destructive.

Each of you should
learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in
passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God (1 Thessalonians 4:4–5).
You
know who your Father is so don’t act like someone who doesn’t.

May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and
through (1 Thessalonians 5:23a).
Sanctification is God’s work, not yours.
Just as His gift of salvation is something to work out in your life, so is His
sanctification. You already have it, so enjoy it!

But just as He who
called you is holy, so be holy in all you do (1 Peter 1:15).
You are not
holy because you act holy. You are holy because you are children of a holy
Father. Indeed, you are a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9). Be who you truly are.