Michael sent in this excellent question:
Good afternoon. I recently listened to your radio episode from August 7th titled “If I Lose Assurance, Do I Lose Everlasting Life?” During this episode, the common question or objection to the free grace position was discussed concerning assurance/OSAS giving people a license to sin and to live any way they desire with no consequences. I think that accusation is a straw man argument. The evidence I have seen doesn’t back it up. Having experienced free grace and mild lordship teaching in my life, my experiences would indicate that commitment and perseverance is much more likely from those who hold the free grace position. The impossible standards of lordship salvation seem to burn people out and many walk away when they see they can’t live up to the requirements. I’m sure it is possible, but I have never known a person who holds to free grace theology that also believed they had a license to sin. I would like to hear your thoughts on this subject.
I agree with Michael that the license-to-sin argument is a straw man. Even atheists do not think they have a license to sin. Everyone knows that if you do fentanyl, you will die soon unless you go through rehab. Everyone knows that drug addiction (including alcoholism) is terrible. No Free Grace person believes you can walk away from the Lord with no consequences. We reap what we sow.
It is true that many who hold to works salvation, including Lordship Salvation, eventually burn out and walk away. Fear of hell can be paralyzing.
The Free Grace position teaches that once we are saved, we are saved forever. That is true no matter how we live. But we also teach that we reap what we sow. Therefore, if we become prodigal sons, we will find ourselves in a famine and suffer unless and until we return to the Father (Luke 15:11-24). And if we die out of fellowship with the Lord, we will experience shame at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1 John 2:28) and miss out on ruling with Him forever (2 Tim 2:12), though we will be with Him forever (1 Thess 5:10).
I have known some Free Grace advocates who came close to believing they had a license to sin. Not many. But a few.
I once met a man who had a radio ministry. He claimed to advocate Free Grace. He said that believers are under no law whatsoever today. Everything is legal. We do not need to confess our sins. We are always in fellowship with God, no matter what. Confession of sins is legalistic.
He gave the illustration on the air (and in print) of a king who married a prostitute and then declared prostitution legal in his country. He thought she’d quit being a prostitute since it was no longer illegal. His point is that when believers realize nothing is illegal, sin loses its appeal, and we delight in obeying God.
Ironically, a few years later, he was arrested for soliciting prostitution during a sting operation in which a female police officer posed as a prostitute. They had a recording of him offering to pay for sex. He pleaded no contest. Later, he said he was innocent but pled guilty in order to save his ministry money. His explanation was not convincing to the scores of radio stations that dropped his show.
I believe even that man and his followers knew that we reap what we sow. He certainly experienced that when he was arrested, booked, tried, and convicted in a court of law.
Even a cursory study of the word law (nomos) in the NT shows that believers are under the “law of Christ” and “the royal law” (Gal 6:2; Jas 2:8). While we are no longer under the Law of Moses, we are under the commands of the NT.
Free Grace teaches that we reap what we show in this life, and that we will reap what we sow in the life to come (Luke 15:11-24; 19:16-26; Gal 6:7-9; Rev 2:26).
Are there Free Grace people who fall away? Sure. But there are plenty of Calvinists and Arminians who fall away, too. I agree with Michael. Free Grace people fall away far less often than those who believe in Lordship Salvation.
Keep grace in focus.
