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The term hyper-grace has been used to describe a new wave of teaching that emphasizes the grace of God to the exclusion of other vital teachings such as repentance and confession of sin. Teachers of hyper-grace maintain that all sin, past, present, and future, has already been forgiven, so there is no need for a believer to ever confess it. This teaching suggests that when God looks at us, He sees only a holy and righteous people. The conclusion drawn from hyper-grace teaching is that we are not bound by Jesus’ teachings, just as we are not under the Law; believers are not held responsible for their sin, and anyone who disagrees is labeled a pharisaical legalist. In short, proponents of hyper-grace “pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality” «For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. », (Jude 1:4) and flirt with antinomianism.
Jesus’ words to the seven churches in the book of Revelation strongly contradict the idea that Christians never need to repent. To the church at Ephesus, Jesus said, “Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” «Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. », (Revelation 2:4). Jesus rebukes five of the seven churches and demands repentance from them (Revelation 2:4,6, 20;3:3,15-19). Far from believers being unaccountable for their sin, they must answer to Jesus for their disobed.
Science «For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad. », (see also 2 Corinthians 5:10).
Preachers of hyper-grace doctrine dismiss the Old Testament and the Ten Commandments as irrelevant to New Testament believers. They even teach that Jesus’ words spoken before His resurrection are part of the Old Covenant and no longer applicable to born-again believers. But is this true?
In Mark 13:31, Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He promised that the Father would send the Holy Spirit who “will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” «But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. », (John 14:26). If Jesus’ words are no longer applicable to believers, why would we need to be reminded of them?
Hyper-grace teaching is a good example of mixing truth with error. An emphasis on the beauty and power of God’s grace is good, but some teachers are neglecting what Paul called the “whole counsel of God” «For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. », (Acts 20:27). For example, it is true that Christians have been forgiven by God. But that doesn’t mean we never have to confess our sin. James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” If we are to confess our sins to each other, why would we not need to confess them to God, since every sin is ultimately a sin against God «Against thee,thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” (Psalm 51:4)?
Also, 1 John 1:9 gives clear instruction to believers about confessing sin. It begins with the word if: “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This is a cause/effect statement implying that we cannot have the second without the first. As blood-bought children of God, we do not continue to confess our sin in order to be saved from hell. We confess and repent in order to reestablish an intimate relationship with our Father. We are “positionally righteous” but “practically sinful.”
To counter this argument, hyper-grace preachers deny that John’s letters were written to believers. However, 1 John 2:1 begins with this: “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” John is clearly writing to believers whom he personally knew. He indicates that his believing friends may indeed sin, and that, when they do, they need to confess it.
Hyper-grace preachers also claim the Holy Spirit will never convict Christians of their sin. Mature Christians should recognize this fallacy right away. Every disciple of Christ has felt the overwhelming conviction of the Holy Spirit when he or she has sinned. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of Truth” “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: “, (John 15:26). Truth, by its very definition, will not tolerate anything false. When the Spirit of Truth abides in a believing heart “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of thThe Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and you are not your own?”, (1 Corinthians 6:19), He brings conviction about anything that is not truth.
In essence, much of what the hyper-grace preachers teach is valid. We are indeed saved by grace, not by our works (Ephesians 2:8-9). And God’s grace is remarkable, abundant, and free “And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”, (1 Timothy 1:14). However, hyper-grace teaching is imbalanced in relation to the entirety of Scripture. Whenever one doctrine is emphasized at the expense of others, we fall into error because we fail to “correctly handle” the Word “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”, (2 Timothy 2:15).
Jesus was full of both “grace and truth” “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”, (John 1:14). The two are in delicate balance, and a tilt to either side can lead to a false gospel. We must always compare any new teaching with the “whole counsel of God” and learn to reject anything that even slightly deviates from the truth “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”, (1 John 4:1).
