Grace Revolution: Experience the Power to Live Above Defeat. By Joseph Prince. New York, NY: FaithWords, 2015. 384 pp. Paper, $15.99.
In Grace Revolution, Joseph Prince notes that many people try to mix grace and law in Christian living: “Yet today many believers are still living in confusion, and get law and grace all mixed up by holding on to some aspects of the law and some aspects of grace in their Christian walk” (p. 9). Instead, Prince argues for what he considers a consistent grace position for Christian living. Grace is the only possibility for living a victorious Christian life: “The only way to help precious people overcome the power of sin is to preach them into God’s amazing grace” (p. 25). Hence, this book is about sanctification in light of God’s grace.
The book has several strengths and several weaknesses. Let me begin with the strengths.
Prince makes an excellent case that right living depends on right believing—echoing Scripture’s teaching that we are transformed by renewing our minds (Rom 12:1-2). What we believe matters.
JOTGES readers will also strongly agree with Prince that not only is grace not a license to sin, but it alone “produces true holiness” (p. 60). Prince reports, “the more I preach God’s amazing grace and unconditional love, the more my ministry office receives testimony after testimony from people who have been set free from all kinds of sins and addictions” (p. 26). And in support of that claim, the book reprints many of those encouraging testimonies.
Additionally, readers will also appreciate Prince’s emphasis on knowing our position in Christ, and renewing our minds in light of that position. “When God’s people are not established in their righteous identity in Christ, they become susceptible to the weapons of the enemy” (p. 106).
Lastly, Prince’s denunciations of both works salvation and legalistic forms of sanctification are much appreciated.
However, the book also has some weaknesses.
First, while Prince does quote Scripture, sometimes his interpretations are fanciful. For example, when he assigns meaning to each letter in the Hebrew word for repentance (e.g., “hei is the fifth letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and the number five in Bible numerics represents grace,” p. 23) to eventually come up with the sentence: “Because of the cross, return to grace” (p. 23). That is not responsible Biblical interpretation, and not how you determine the meaning of a word.
Second, Prince is weak on God’s discipline. He does affirm that believers can be disciplined, but not with “tragic accidents, sicknesses, and diseases” (p. 216). (What about the Corinthians?) That leads him to wrong interpretations of key passages such as the warning in Heb 10:26. Prince denies that warning applies to believers, in part, because he cannot imagine a believer going back to the sacrifices (p. 75). However, all the warnings in Hebrews are to believers. And is it so hard to imagine why a new Jewish convert facing social pressure from friends and family and outright political persecution might be tempted to return to Judaism? The question is, what is the consequence for that apostasy? Prince thinks that John 5:24 teaches that believers will not come into any judgment at all (“What is it that God wants us to be assured of? That we believers will never come into krisis judgment!” [p. 77]). Hence, Prince reasons that the judgment of Heb 10:27 cannot apply to believers. The answer to Prince’s objection is to distinguish between types of judgment. While it is true that believers will not be judged for their eternal salvation (as per John 5:24), that does not mean they cannot experience God’s temporal judgment for the sins they commit. God disciplines those He loves (Heb 12:6; Rev 3:19), and Paul relates that discipline to temporal “krisis” judgment (1 Cor 11:32). That explains why the Hebrews could experience God’s judgment if they apostatized. All believers can experience that judgment for their sins (cf. Jas 5:12).
Third, Prince strongly rejects the distinction between legal forgiveness and parental forgiveness (pp. 285-90). He says that believers are totally forgiven. He used to think that 1 John 1:9 applied to believers, but that led him into a legalistic and obsessive approach to the confession of sins which nearly led to a breakdown: “The oppression grew so heavy that I felt my mind was about to snap!” (p. 79). Now he believes 1 John was not written to believers but to Gnostics who claimed that they had no sin (1:8, 10). According to Prince, John only begins to address believers (“my little children”) in chap. 2. JOTGES readers will likely interpret all of 1 John as being about fellowship with God, which includes the ongoing fellowship forgiveness of 1 John 1:7, 9.
Fourth, Prince is unclear on the condition of salvation. Though he says, “There is no ambivalence in Scripture as to how a person becomes a born-again believer in Christ,” I found that Prince was ambivalent. JOTGES readers know the one and only condition to be born again is to believe in Jesus for everlasting life (John 3:15-18, 36; 5:24; 6:47; Gal 2:16, etc.). To his credit, Prince often says we are saved “by grace through faith” (p. 55), which is very good. However, at other times he makes salvation depend upon inviting Jesus into your heart (p. 50), making a personal decision to receive the forgiveness of all their sins (pp. 52-53), confessing that Jesus is the resurrected Lord (p. 53), or by acknowledging and confessing your sinful state (p. 82). I think Prince really does believe in faith-alone salvation, but is inconsistent in his language, often using popular Christian phrases that actually confuse the issue of the one condition of salvation. It would be better if Prince was consistent in his faith message. It would also help if he reconsidered the role “confession” plays in the Christian life, especially in Romans (see Zane Hodges’ Romans: Deliverance from Wrath).
Other strengths and weaknesses could be mentioned, but these will suffice. I hope that Prince’s emphasis on grace gets a bigger hearing in the Charismatic world. I recommend this book for discerning readers.
Shawn Lazar
Associate Editor
Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society
