Someone on Facebook asked what were some Free Grace distinctives. Here are ten things that I think make Free Grace distinct from other traditions. There are different schools of thought within the Free Grace movement. These ten things reflect our corner of the movement:
1) Saving faith is persuasion that the saving message is true, and this totally excludes works from the definition of faith itself. First you understand the saving message; then you believe it. There are not different kinds of faith (all faith is persuasion), but there are different objects of faith.
2) God promises eternal salvation, meaning eternal security is the saving message, not something in addition to it.
3) Assurance is the essence of saving faith because assurance is simply being persuaded that the saving message is true “for me,” and that Jesus is “my” Savior.
4) People are born able to believe—total depravity does not include total inability.
5) Growth in the Christian life is expected but not guaranteed. Born again people can remain carnal and even depart from the faith and still be eternally saved. But all believers are expected to grow in experiential holiness.
6) There is a strong emphasis on rewards, such as ruling with Christ, in the Millennial Kingdom and beyond in the eternal state.
7) There is an emphasis on understanding the Christian life in terms of “fellowship with God” and “abiding in Christ.”
8) There is an emphasis on God’s judgment and wrath in this life, up to, and including, the physical death of the believer as a result of divine discipline.
9) There is an emphasis on being a Biblicist—that the Bible is our highest and final authority. Traditional Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant creeds are rarely cited as authoritative.
10) We tend to be part of the believer’s church tradition—practicing believer’s baptism and emphasizing a regenerate church membership. That is, we do not practice infant baptism or infant church membership. Only believers are part of the Body of Christ. This stems from our emphasis on salvation by “faith alone.”
