The Free Grace Alliance

I have come to the conclusion I am not "truly" saved. I hope that rattles you. Let me explain why I have come to this conclusion: Traffic. Yep, traffic. You see, I consistently get irritated when other drivers fail to use their turn signals. I get a snarky attitude, and I often make some obnoxious comment about said driver (which does not please my wife, by the way). I am stuck in habitual sin. Sure, I confess.... but then it pops up again. And again. And again. Probably has for decades. Even after deciding to write this post, fully aware of my tendency, I still responded poorly to traffic. While driving through a little town outside Seattle, it took us 30 minutes to go two blocks through two lights. My attitude was stinky, my comments were not kind. My wife was, rightfully, not pleased with me. And then again today, I gave a snide "gee, thanks" to someone who failed to use their blinker. So here's my problem. As one well-known writer puts it,...

Have you ever wondered how God can be in control of everything and still allow people to have free will? I think that for many Christians, this is a real conundrum. Sure, there have been “fights” between Calvinists and Arminians over this issue for 500 years; Calvinists argue that God is great and in control, and Arminians counter that God is good and offers salvation to all.   For many Christians, though, neither answer is sufficient because God says both in His Word. But how can both be true?  Well, this week John Correia, an FGA executive Council member, published a new book titled Refreshing Grace . This book takes a new approach to this often emotionally charged issue and explains the issue, and a fresh biblical solution to it, in an understandable way.   If you’re interested in the issue of God’s sovereign control and our free will in salvation, our prayer is that Refreshing Grace will help you understand the issue with more clarity and passionately pursue Chr...

By Dr. Roger Fankhauser, FGA Executive Council member and the pastor of Burleson Bible Church in Burleson, Texas.  Dr. Fankhauser can be reached at rsfankhauser at bellsouth dot net.   Antinomianism.   A fancy word meaning “lawless”.   Many who don’t get the free grace message accuse us of practicing and teaching antinomianism. They think – wrongly – that the free grace message is light on sin and light on obedience. The author of a recent best-selling book describes the message that he alleges some present this way: “We have been told all that is required is a one-time decision, maybe even mere intellectual assent to Jesus, but after that we need not worry about his commands, his standards, or his glory. We have a ticket to heaven, and we can live however we want on earth. Our sin will be tolerated along the way….” Another well-known author put it this way: “What is no-Lordship theology (the author’s name for free grace theology) but the teaching that those w...

By Dr. Roger Fankhauser, FGA Executive Council member and the pastor of Burleson Bible Church in Burleson, Texas.  Dr. Fankhauser can be reached at rsfankhauser at bellsouth dot net.   A great puzzle pops up when we think about John’s purpose statement: “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:30-31). The puzzle is, what about the cross and resurrection?   My disclaimer: I am not trying to tackle the so-called “cross-less gospel” (I don’t like the label, but it identifies the problem). I simply want to point out five ideas that, to me, connect the death and resurrection with the many passages in John prior to John 19 that say “whosoever believes” and don’t mention the resurrection!   1. The death and resurrection are not “signs” t...

I just saw this post from Bill Mounce on Koinonia, and thought it was a helpful analysis: http://www.koinoniablog.net/2011/10/antecedents-and-faith-eph-28-9-monday-with-mounce-113.html It's short and to the point. Salvation is all by grace, through faith, and that salvation is a great gift from God.

Grace-Filled Evangelism in Preaching and Teaching   It has been said by many that Christianity is always one generation from extinction. [1] Thus the gospel of faith alone in Christ alone must go out clearly and succinctly to fulfill the task of evangelism that God has called us to as His ambassadors. [2] We must also be diligently mindful of what the Apostle Paul proclaims with vigor:   “ I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! ” [3] We must pay special attention to the presentation of the gospel message lest we fall u...

By Dr. Fred Lybrand   Repentance has been a sticky issue and has been around as a major conversation piece since the Reformation. I know, because ‘my view’ (which I found out I share with Dr. Elliot Johnson of Dallas Theological Seminary) has been labeled an error by those involved in the Marrow of Divinity Controversy way back in the 1600s! Of course, no need to get excited, every view on the planet and throughout history is an error to someone or some group.   So, the issue of concern here --- is repentance necessary to get saved (as in from-hell-to-heaven)? If it is necessary, then is it a part of saving faith? These are the essential questions. There are many views, often being represented as repentance meaning the necessary turning from all known sin (and interest in future sin, usually) to ‘believe’ in Christ. In this regard, some purveyors of salvation make repentance as much of a part of faith as they do works (see http://www.backtofaith.com ).   I have a b...

By Ryan Lambros   When I was 9 years old, my family went to California for a jump-rope tournament (yes, I was a competitive jump-roper…but that’s another blog discussion). While staying at the hotel near Coronado Island, we met 2 young Naval officers who were on a brief stay from the USS Kitty Hawk. My dad, being the talkative, I-can-befriend-anyone type guy, got them to see if we could go on board the aircraft carrier that night and tour the incredible ship. They pulled some strings and got my family and the whole jump rope team passes to tour the carrier.   When we arrived at the dock to enter the hugest ship I’d ever seen, we were each given passes that identified us as being with the two young men, thus giving us authorization to board the ship. I remember my dad telling me, “Ryan, if anyone asks who you are or why you’re here, you show them your pass and say, ‘I’m with him’ (pointing to one of the guys).” We continued the tour and I stayed super close to the two guys...

Over at Relevant Magazine, Craig Groeschel writes about different “lines in the sand” that represent various “stages” of faith in Christ.  Go read his article and then come back here for a discussion of the issue from a Free Grace perspective.  (the comments can be a bit snarky, so take my advice and don’t feed the trolls!) First of all, let’s thank God for opportunities like this to discuss the most important issue in the world: “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30) Rather than bemoan the fact that the writer makes judgments that we disagree with, let’s rejoice that this gives us an opportunity to discuss a significant issue and once again trumpet the free gift of God through faith alone in Christ alone. The “lines in the sand” analogy is an interesting one.  In the analogy, the “third line” represents someone who has crossed into the territory that is fully committed to following Christ whatever the cost.  No matter the sacrifice, service to Christ out of...

I ran across a blog post from Lisa Robinson on Reclaiming the Mind today, and thought it was worth sharing.  This blog is “owned and operated” by Michael Patton of Credo House Ministries.  Dan Wallace of Dallas Theological Seminary occasionally posts there as well, and Michael was his intern.  All that to say, the Reclaiming the Mind blog tends to be fairly Reformed in its soteriology. Go read the post and I think you will find some interesting and (mostly) agreeable thoughts from Lisa.  The question she asks is, how can I know if someone is a Christian"?  She had some significant time after her “conversion” (I use the italics meaningfully, as she is on the fence when it occurred) when she ignored Christ and lived the lifestyle of an unbeliever. I think it is worth reading and interacting with because it represents not a hard-line Lordship position, but rather a moderate position that questions, perhaps doubts, but allows for the fact that she may well have...