Blog – Page 476 – Grace Evangelical Society

Six Questions Regarding Assurance of Salvation, Part 4

October 16, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - assurance is of the essence of saving faith, Ephesians 2:8-9, Galatians 1:6-9, Galatians 5:4, John 5:39-40

The fifth objection is that if “assurance is of the essence of saving faith” were true, then from AD 100 until 1517, almost no one was born again. This is not a Biblical argument. If we based our theology on this type of reasoning, then we certainly would not believe that only people who profess

Six Questions on Assurance, Part 3

October 15, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Assurance of the essence of saving faith, Galatians 3:6, Genesis 15:6, Hebrews 11:10, John 8:56, Romans 4:3

We are considering six objections to the teaching that assurance of everlasting life is of the essence of saving faith. In this blog we consider objections three and four. The third objection is that John 20:31 is saying someone can correctly perceive who Jesus is and yet not believe that by faith in Him, he

Six Questions Regarding Assurance of Salvation, Part 2

October 14, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - 1 John 5:13, Assurance of Salvation, Assurance of the essence of saving faith

In this blog I will discuss the first two objections to assurance being of the essence of saving faith as stated in Part 1. Those two objections are that when a person believes in Christ, he has objective assurance, even if he is not sure he is eternally secure, and that 1 John 5:13 proves

Questions Regarding Assurance of Salvation, Part 1

October 11, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - 1 John 5:13, Assurance of Salvation, John 20:31, saving faith

I received the following email from a Free Grace friend I haven’t seen in maybe twenty years. My friend asks some tough questions, so hang with me. I hope I can answer his questions clearly. It’s been a while since we’ve been in touch, but I’d like to interact with you on the concept of

The King James Study Bible on James 2:14-17 and Saving Faith

October 10, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - dead faith, King James Study Bible, living faith, saving faith

In November 1995, my mom presented me with a King James Study Bible. I had come to faith only a few months before, around June. I found the Bible in storage and was leafing through it, in preparation for writing the first draft of a Free Grace Study Bible. The contributing editors include, among others,

The Importance of Understanding the OT to Understand the NT

October 9, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - 1 Cor 3:2, Acts 20:27, Heb 5:12-14, the use of the OT in the NT

I wrote a review of a book and published a form of the review as a blog post. That led to this excellent question: Hi, Bob, I enjoyed reading today’s blog post, Irresistible, by Pastor Andy Stanley. You made several astute points. However, in response to one of the main points you identified in Stanley’s

What Do Nominal Church-Goers Believe About Salvation?

October 8, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Canada, church rolls, missionary, secularism

In Joel Thiessen’s The Meaning of Sunday: The Practice of Belief in a Secular Age, he interviews a number of Canadians about their involvement with different “Christian” denominations. Frankly, I would consider every single person he interviewed a candidate for evangelism. No one gave any evidence of knowing or believing the gospel. I wouldn’t call

E. W. Kenyon on Eternal Life

October 7, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - E. W. Kenyon, prosperity theology, Word of Faith

I’m reading through a book by E. W. Kenyon on The Two Kinds of Life. Kenyon was a forerunner of the Word of Faith movement. He influenced Kenneth Hagin who influenced Joseph Prince. I hear rumors that Word of Faith teachers are catching on to the grace message. Joseph Prince is an example of that.

Reaping Eternal Life for Work Done? (Galatians 6:8)

October 4, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog

A U.S. pastor sent me this excellent question: Grace in Focus Crew, Thanks for the series on eternal rewards. Not sure if you covered this yet: Galatians 6:8 says, “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit

Where Did the Term “Free Grace” Come From?

October 3, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Bonhoeffer, Cheap Grace, Free Grace, Soteriology

We believe in Free Grace Theology—which is distinct from Calvinism, Arminianism, Lutheranism, Thomism, and other –isms. But where did the term “Free Grace” come from? Some people think it’s redundant. I wish it were. Historically, the expression “free grace” was used by both Calvinists and Arminians. For example, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, preached