GES takes the Biblical view that Romans is not an evangelistic book. Instead, it is written to believers and teaches us how to avoid the deadly consequences of sin through the power of the Holy Spirit who indwells the believer. This kind of life will be rewarded in the coming kingdom of Christ.
Probably everybody reading this blog understands that GES’s views on the book run contrary to what the vast majority of people say about Romans. Most within Christendom maintain that Romans is an evangelistic book, written to explain how the unbeliever is saved from the lake of fire. I found out the hard way how strong those feelings are. Years ago, the first time I taught at a Bible college in a foreign country, I was asked to teach the book of Romans. I taught the view espoused by GES. The administration made it clear to me that I would not be welcomed at the school in the future. My view of Romans was too radical.
Many would say that this is not a big deal, and that GES–or any Free Grace person–should not necessarily promote the position that Romans is addressed to believers. Doing so, they say, will only cause division (as happened at that Bible college). We can preach grace without insisting that people reconsider how they teach Romans. We should just leave Romans alone!
I would disagree. If we meet people who have misunderstood a book of the NT, and we can try to clear up their misunderstanding, shouldn’t we do so? We have all taught things incorrectly, and we consider it a blessing that others pointed out where we were wrong.
The importance of this issue was made clear to me last week. I heard a very popular evangelical speaker deal with Rom 12:1-2. In those verses, Paul tells the brethren in Rome to present their bodies as living sacrifices. This would be their logical, or reasonable, religious service for all that God had done for them.
It is clear enough that these verses are addressed to believers. They fit nicely with the view that Romans is telling believers to live godly lives in order to avoid the destruction that the flesh and sin bring. Such a life will be pleasing to God and will be rewarded at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
This speaker, however, took a very different view. He started off by saying that Romans 1–11 tells us how to be saved from hell. True evangelists are those who have given up everything this world offers in order to proclaim that message. Those who are truly saved will offer their bodies as sacrifices to God. If we don’t live holy lives, we are not Christians. The title of the sermon was, “Holiness: The True Gospel.”
The speaker then related that his own wife realized some years ago that she was not truly saved, even after years of marriage and being in the ministry with him. She came to this realization while he was preaching at an evangelistic meeting. After hours of talking with him, she sensed the depth of her sins and was gloriously saved from hell.
It is impossible for me to think of a worse explanation of Rom 12:1-2. How could anybody twist the meaning of Paul’s words in such a horrible fashion? I wonder how all the people who heard that message processed what he said. I also wonder about the damage that was done to the people who thought he was accurately dividing God’s Word.
Of course, nobody can assess the harm done by such a message. But I know a couple of things. Such an understanding completely misses the beautiful teachings found in the book of Romans. The people who heard that message missed out on hearing those things. We can also be confident that some were placed under the bondage of thinking that they had to completely clean up their lives in order to receive the “gift” of eternal life. It would be practically impossible to hear the gospel of grace in such a situation.
It is a big deal.
