To help our understanding of a particular subject, say "Grace", we look at a range of it. As "Grace" is the most important of Christian belief, we need to study a degree of it. The Calvinist and Armenian Doctrines seat on different positions on a scale of "Grace" from "Grace-less" to "Ultra-Grace" (or Hyper-Grace). Calvinist seats closer to "True Grace" and Armenian seats closer to "Grace Plus X".
True Grace
But first, let me cover my biased view of "Grace", or "True Grace". I have written quite a few posts on the definition of Grace, such as,
- "Grace is Unmerited Favor" - This Common Definition is Wrong
- Grace - God's Loving Power for You to become Your Very Best
- Grace-Based Doctrines
- Salvation of Tripartite Man - The Details
- Spirit Soul Confusion and 2 Types of Defeats
All will agree that Grace is a gift of God that we did not earn
but merely received by faith. However, unlike God's
mercy, which is given to all freely, Grace is given to the degree of our wanting or drawing from God. That is why Paul said God is glorified in his weakness as he leaned more on God that God may supply his greater grace for greater glory.
From the viewpoint of time, Grace covered our past sins by forgiveness and cleansing because of the price paid by our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. But we should not just stay there; we should focus more on the present and future of Grace. This side of Grace is the Power of Grace. Grace is the empowerment from God to enable us to do the right things that glorify God. It enables us to become what God wants us to be before the foundation of the earth. Grace
is here within us through Christ in us to power us to be like Christ. But we
hold the control to decide how much grace we want to release from our inner being. We
decide to walk according to the flesh (our old man's will
) or to walk according to the Spirit (within us).
The Bible uses two illustrations to show forth how, on one hand, we are complete in Christ and on the other
hand, we need to grow up to conform to the image of Christ. The first illustration is a seed. A seed is complete
in everything
for life. There is no lack. How can we tell? We just need to plant it. When the seed dies, a tree grows out of it. The tree may bear no fruit, some fruit, or lots of fruit. If the seed is not complete, it will not grow, or it will grow into something strange and die. Everyone has the same Christ within; due to different callings, we become different members of Christ. But not all fully live up to the full potential of the initial calling of God. We have to bear the responsibility of how we
respond and let Christ rule in and out of us.
Another illustration is the treasure in the earthen vessel, where Paul told us it is up to us to choose what type of vessel we become from the same treasure within. The process of growth comes from less and less of
old selves, and the vessel becomes more and more transparent to allow the treasure of Christ
within to show forth.
Ultra-Grace or Hyper-Grace
The important journey of growth is ignored
in the Ultra-Grace people. They think they are already complete in Christ and therefore entitled to all the blessings, which usually means wealth and health for oneself. They are entitled to God's
favours and need not work for anything. In fact, work is seen as
work of the flesh. They believe more in the revelation by the Spirit instead of spending time doing an extensive Bible study. Hard work is not compatible with God's favors. Failure is not allowed in the world of "Blessings and Favors," and hence it is to be hidden if such a misfortune does happen. It is like we are out of the will of God. The concept of discipline and training does not tally well
with the blessings and favors. Adversity
is to be avoided rather than
faced up to and accepted as part of growing up. Growing is not a concept acceptable in a world where we have arrived. Sin is taken lightly since all sins, past, present, and future, are already forgiven. Some people criticized this 'ultra grace' as a license to sin. Of course, no one is truly Ultra-Grace. It is a matter of degree in the scale of "Grace".
Grace Plus X
Grace Plus X people are grateful to God for His salvation. They thank God for His Grace of Salvation and then want to continue the growing-up process of sanctification by their own effort. God has done enough already; let me do the rest. To them, Grace is sufficient to
start but insufficient to finish the race. It is
Grace + Good Discipline, + Good Work, + Good Moral Living, or + good
thing. Different people
have different '+'
requirements. Because it is '+', salvation is conditional on my keeping in close connection to God and is not eternally secure. Grace + people live a stressful
life. It is we who are trying to hold on to God rather than trusting God to hold on to us as God has promised. Grace + people
live a life of ups and downs,
spiritual and emotional mood. They are on a high
if they felt they read the Bible and on a low if they did not.
Grace-less
Grace-less is typical of most religions. We achieve salvation by our own effort in following some form of the
Laws of Righteousness. I am not sure how they handle sin, though. It is very likely that they practice some form of accounting system, so that the amount of good work done can compensate for the amount of sins committed.
Again, there is no security, and likely a lot of hypocrisy.
Table of Comparison
Summary
On the scale of "Grace", it is a matter of degree. It is a reflection of what we
believe. Hopefully by knowing the truth, we can
growup to greater maturity.
Grace-less is not safe and not saved. Grace Plus X is missing the empowerment of Grace for our sanctification, and causing us needless stress and self-condemnation or self-pride. Ultra-Grace ignores the need for growth and our responsibility
to respond to God's empowerment of Grace. Let us rest in the
security of God's grace within to work out the Christ in us through relying and working with God to show God's glory through our good works made possible by His grace.
Grace in the New Testament is not merely God’s unearned pardon but God’s active power working within the believer to produce Christlike transformation. Christian error often arises when this biblical tension is distorted in one of three directions: a grace-less mindset that treats righteousness as primarily human achievement, a “grace-plus” approach that begins with God’s gift but functionally completes sanctification through self-effort, and an ultra-grace reaction that affirms positional completeness while neglecting the Spirit-empowered call to growth and obedience. A faithful theology of grace must therefore hold together both divine initiative and real human response: believers are already complete in Christ, yet are progressively transformed as they depend on and cooperate with the empowering grace of God.
