So, what is Hyper-grace?
The short definition:
Hyper-grace emphasizes the grace of God to the exclusion of other vital teachings such as repentance and confession of sin. This emphasis also excludes God’s holiness and love. They fail to note God’s call for followers to be righteous. Hyper-grace pits God’s grace against God’s justice.
Concerning forgiveness and repentance
Hyper-grace teachers maintain that all sin, past, present, and future, has already been forgiven. They teach there is no need for a believer to ever confess it. God’s grace overshadows our need for confession of sin and repentance. Hyper-grace teaching says that, when God looks at us, He sees only a holy and righteous people, regardless of what they do in this life. To its adherents, there is no pleasing God, nor displeasing God. Holy living does not make God love you more. The lack of holiness will not make His love diminish.
Most in hyper-grace say it is wrong to ask God daily to forgive you. It is a sin to repent because repenting is a manifestation of doubts about the freeness of God’s grace. Believing that you must ask for grace is unbelief. They teach rather that we are to simply thank God for the forgiveness he has already so freely given. Your forgiveness of others has nothing to do with God’s forgiveness of you.
Concerning sin
They teach that the believer is not responsible for their sin, because Christ covered it. Sin is part of the flesh and not ‘them’ because their heart is perfect. The believer’s spirit is the only part of you that has been born of God. Christ purchased your soul and body, but they are not yet redeemed. So, your spirit cannot sin even though your body and soul can. This means that your actions do not affect the purity and holiness of your spirit. Their teachings about life in the Spirit come out of misapplied passages such as Galatians 5:16-18.
Some hold that the Law is for the Old Testament only. The law does not apply to New Testament Christians in any way because they are ‘under grace’ and not ‘under the law’.
Concerning codification of hyper-grace beliefs
Although hyper-grace does not have a special set of creeds, it uses a generally shared system of theology designed to exalt the honour and glory of God. This honor comes at the expense of minimizing the moral and spiritual responsibility of sinners toward God. They also place an excessive emphasis on the irresistibility of grace. This tendency leads to the teaching that an elect man is not only passive in regeneration but also in conversion. Hyper-grace teaches an order of salvation where not only regeneration precedes faith; but actual, real union with Christ also precedes faith; and where justification precedes faith. For hyper-grace, faith becomes simply the awareness of one’s justification and one’s eternal union with Christ.
Hyper-grace obsesses with all things eternal
Hyper-grace teachers place excessive emphasis on the immanent acts of God such as eternal justification, eternal adoption and the eternal covenant of grace. [Immanent – the belief that God is nearby and we can feel His presence. Opposite of: Transcendent – the belief that God is completely different to us and outside our world.]. This absorbing interest in the eternal, immanent acts of God leads to the notion that grace must only be offered to those for whom it was intended.
Concerning man’s duty and calling in this life
Hyper-grace deduces the duty of men out of God’s secret, eternal decrees. They especially pry into sovereign election to begin their search about their duty. One finds and knows their spiritual calling, or duty, after knowing one’s election. The assertion that man wills obedience with intent and purpose is a denial of God’s sovereignty. Even if it teaches that said will of man is still under and subjective to the sovereignty of God.
They teach that purposeful, willful duty and obedience is too great an emphasis on man’s will. This is putting the cart before the horse, or, man before God. They lean into the error of Determinism, the teaching that God’s will replaces man’s will. All is determined and executed by God’s immutable will. Man is utterly passive in all aspects of salvation. Therefore, sanctification becomes the continual remembering of one’s justification. This remembering of one’s justification will irresistibly produce a life of holiness.
Concerning assurance
A valid assurance of salvation consists of an inner feeling, or an inner illumination. It is an inner conviction of knowing one’s eternal election. Hyper-grace teaches that looking at your external works of sanctification for assurance will deceive you. This will deceive you because no man’s works are perfect and only perfection can assure. This is the equivalent of looking to your works and depending on them. Assurance is only gained through the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit. Assurance is almost totally subjective. For some, this internal testimony of the Spirit does not rely on the Word at all. Some teach that the Holy Spirit so indwells the believer that one can know their election directly from the Spirit.
For all their talk of grace, their understanding of God is that He is very austere. He is a threatening God, and he exacts perfection to the ‘last farthing’. God is almost impossible to please in any way while on earth. Only perfection is pleasing to God; therefore, pleasing God will happen in the next life. Obedience to the Law MUST be done perfectly. Even for redeemed believers, perfect obedience is impossible; so, obedience may not be commanded, required, or exhorted. Therefore the law, as a standard, must be eliminated rather than that God would accept ‘less than perfect’ obedience from believers. Requiring obedience, even though, (and as it will be) imperfect, is considered to be simply the teaching of Neo-Nomianism.
Other sundry points
People of hyper-grace persuasion often exist within conservative churches as a smaller group or clique. They find each other and often hold their own additional bible studies and socialize with each other almost exclusively. These bible studies may be secret in nature. But secrecy is often not needed because most churches do not frown on a group of friends doing an extra bible study together. There is usually a leader in such groups with much biblical knowledge and good people-skills. They define the creeds used by the church in their own way among themselves. Others in the church often view them as extra upright in walk, as well as gifted and learned; they are usually looked up to by others in the church.
Many of the leading Hyper-grace teachers are capable of making extreme changes in thought. They have no patience for nuance or tension. They were prone to extremes. To them, any who disagree with their teaching are pharisaical legalists. Legalism is their only enemy, and they can find it everywhere. Also, the conclusion of hyper-grace teaching is that Jesus’ teaching does not bind us. This is because we are not under the Law. Most of Jesus’ words are aimed at the Jews of his day and are not meant for New Testament people. Rather, we are led by the Spirit. But according to Hyper-grace, this leading can be apart from the preaching and even for some, apart from the scriptures.
Hyper-grace teachers have a low view of the early reformers
Many in the Movement believe that the first reformers like Luther and Calvin got it right concerning justification. But that they missed it on sanctification. Clark Whitten in his book, Pure Grace: The Life Changing Power of Uncontaminated Grace, said that Luther and Calvin taught a doctrine of “saved by grace but perfected by human effort”. The forefathers simply did not go far enough with grace itself. They teach that even the days of Luther will seem utterly primitive in their concepts of grace and faith. Therefore, though well-intentioned, the reformers mislead many to this day. Hyper-grace teaches that Calvin and Luther are now leading many churches back to works and the plague of conditional thinking. It has been a systemic problem that the church world needs to get rid of once and for all. Consequently, the need for this reformation of theirs goes all the way back to the beginning.
Although we have expressed many of the ideas of Hyper-grace, let’s remember:
Notice that we do not refer to this distortion of grace as “counterfeit grace”. These leaders continue to teach many grace truths. Yet, often, as we read their blogs and books, we would be shouting amen on one page. Then, we are groaning on the next page when a verse is misused, a key truth is overlooked, or a falsehood is asserted as true.
The closeness to biblical truth is one of the reasons why so many hyper-grace books get five-star reviews. Their readers say, “I have been so blessed and set free because of this message of grace”. They claim, “I am closer to the Lord than ever before!” We cannot denigrate this blessing. We cannot cast aspersion on all of what they teach since enough of it remains orthodox.
Some things to consider regarding the relationship of hyper-grace to the former members of the PRC
Some believers have a lifelong mindset of ‘I am never good enough’. This notion could come from a poor parent figure in the home, or spiritual, mental or physical trauma of some kind. This mindset of ‘never good enough’ may come from a legalistic heart. Such a heart misunderstands the proper value and purpose of obedience. These often do not understand its place in our lives, or the role of it in our salvation.
Neither do such hearts understand God’s value of our obedience. These might not see obedience as service and duty that God commands and uses for our good. They do not understand that God glorifies himself through the imperfect obedience of his elect. They may suddenly understand that their obedience does not make them ‘more loved’ by God. This understanding is a big step in the right direction of conforming to the scriptures, but they may find it to be disconcerting. They have yet to understand that the real effect of intentional obedience is the believer’s growth in love for God. The true value of purposeful obedience is, the more we obey, the more we find ourselves loving Him.
Therefore, it is our belief that if this former legal mindset is driving the RPs, then hyper-grace is not the correct response. Humble, Pauline-style submission to Christ’s call in the preaching is the proper answer to the legalism they found in themselves.
In conclusion:
We are not God’s policemen. It is not our job to keep the church straight or to enforce orthodox doctrine on every believer. We all grow spiritually at different rates, through different circumstances and in different ways. The Spirit is holy and uses all truth to teach and lead believers into more truth. See Philippians 1:15-18. We merely contend with the exaggerated and distorted notions taught in hyper-grace. God forbid that any of us would ever react against grace simply because others may teach about it in an exaggerated, distorted, or erroneous way. To the contrary, it is jealousy for God’s grace that moves us to take up this blog.
Reformed Protestants accuse the PRC of mixing law with grace. The PRC believe that the Reformed Protestants are guilty of mixing grace with error. We all believe that we should preach grace with truth. So, our proposal is simple. Follow us as we explore some major teachings put forth by the adherents of the “grace reformation”. Then, prayerfully compare those teachings with what the RPs teach and with the Word of God. Lastly, let’s follow truth wherever it leads and do so with grace toward each other.
For further in-depth explanations or definitions of hyper-grace please read what other blogs have written. You can read what we found at Got Questions, Compelling Truth, The Gospel Coalition, Aquilla Report . Also this lecture by Curt Daniels titled, History and Theology of Calvinism #12: Calvinistic Antinomianism.
