Dr. Charlie Bing's FGA Conference Presentation

(From the Free Grace Alliance National Conference, on October 6, 2008; paraphrased with permission.)

Introduction to the Free Grace Perspective by Dr. Charlie Bing, President of the Free Grace Alliance

I am aware that there are some five-point Calvinists in the free grace movement. There are also some four-point Calvinists, too, as well as some zero-point Calvinists [laughter all around]. There are a lot of differences in this room. There are a few things that are up for discussion within our movement, but, there are also a few core distinctives of what we believe that are essential.

Here are four distinctives of the free grace position:

1 -- Grace is an unconditional gift of God. It's elementary but it affects theology, or another better way to express "theology" is "ethic." It is this teaching of "grace" which brings us together. Grace means He "stoops" to help His people. His love to mankind is not a theology; it is an ethic, and the ethic is grace. Romans 3:24 says "being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," and we camp here. The price is paid. This is why salvation is free. This is why salvation is unconditional. It requires no works, no human merit. In the same way that wet cannot be dry, works cannot be grace. Knowing this, it totally humbles us.

2 -- The sole means of salvation is faith, to receive eternal life. It is "through faith" that we are saved. "Faith" means "persuaded," not obedience, not surrender, not commitment. Romans 4:4-5 says "Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness...". Some teachers believe that salvation requires both faith and repentance. However the meaning of repentance is specifically: a change of the "inner," a change of the "heart," or, a change of the "mind." We know that not all kinds of repentance leads unto salvation. God, in the Septuagint, "repents" 76 times. There is the "Harmony with God" view of repentance, which teaches that repentance is pre-evangelistic, or also a component of maintaining fellowship with God. This teaching is consistent with the free grace gospel.

However: the teaching that repentance is required for salvation, with "repentance" meaning "to turn away from sins", whether that means every sin or personal sin, we take issue with. The issue is this: Lordship Salvation's gospel includes surrender plus commitment to Jesus Christ, of one's life, upfront. The teachers of Lordship Theology distort even Acts 16:30-32, "And he brought them out and said, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' So they said, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.' Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house." They say somehow from this passage that "You must submit to the rulership of Jesus Christ and you will be saved." But they require more than surrender to Jesus' "rulership"; they also include His deity, kingship, sovereignty, etc. Lordship Salvation adds to faith as the only condition. It confuses justification and sanctification. It confuses salvation and discipleship. This is their error. They make assurance of salvation impossible.

These teachings are our fuel to do what we're doing.

3 -- Faith is a personal response to the gospel message for salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 says "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." What is the faith being described in this passage? "Faith" is not a gift of God. Most commentators on the bible say that the word is neuter. The gift of God is describing salvation. Lordship Theology teach "divine energy" as the gift of God, resulting in inevitable, quantifyable fruit. They teach that man is totally depraved and cannot do good or seek good on his own. We, however, do not teach total depravity; we teach that free will to choose good and have faith is marred, but we are still justly held responsible to believe. We still have the ability within us to believe in Christ for salvation. The object of discussion has been misplaced from this passage. The topic should not have been whether or not we have the choice. This passage is rather only discussing the object of our faith.

Works cannot be "front-loaded" to the gospel, meaning asking commitment before salvation or in tandem with salvation. Similarly, works cannot be "back-loaded" to the gospel of salvation, either. This persuasion teaches that one must have works to prove authentic salvation. As they commonly teach it, "the faith that saves is not alone, it is accompanied by good works."

Here is what is true about the requirements of salvation: That one must believe in the good news presented in the gospel; That Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on the cross for my sin, that He rose from the dead. But not just believing this is enough, one must also understand that by believing in Him, this Jesus, they might have eternal life (be saved). As for the teaching that one must "understand" the gospel to be saved, we can discuss the nuances of that content in the gospel message, but this is generally the gospel message.

Every other gospel, every other religion leaves you on a performance-basis for security of salvation. We say that salvation (meaning the gift of eternal life) is "forensic." It is a legal definition. God declares a man justified. This does not mean that God "makes" us righteous, as if there is a process or delay in the transfer of righteousness. Assurance of salvation should be the birthright of every believer, on the testimony of His Word, not on performance, not on perseverance.

Unlike our eternal security, our own personal understanding of this assurance, can indeed be lost.

We were created for good works, but good works are not uniform in every believer. We can become legalists by trying to measure the salvation of others. 1 Corinthians 11:30 makes it clear that some Chrisitians might possibly fall asleep and even die as carnal Christians.

Can good works prove salvation? That's an interesting question.

-Good works can characterize non-Christians
-Good works are hard to define anyway
-Some good works are going to be burned at the judgement seat
-Some good works are not visible, because they are passive in nature; for instance much of the obedience we give to Christ involves not doing something, such as saying no to temptation. Or another example is prayer, which is unseen.
-Good works can be deceptive
-Good works can be inconsistent, someone can have a "bad day"

Good works are probably a supporting evidence to say that someone might be saved. However they do not determine salvation of other people. Paul says that he does not even judge himself. He says he leaves judgment to God. How then can we judge others.

Free grace theology desires to preserve the clarity of the means of salvation. We avoid using language such as "public confession," "baptism," "repent from sins," or "faithfulness," to describe how we can know we are saved.

4 -- The free grace movement teaches it is essential that we share the truths of God graciously. We can so easily undo, in writing, in preaching, in teaching, what we sought to build. Graciousness should bind over the differences remaining after these core essential distinctives. The prodigal son had a gracious relationship with his father. The same grace the son was given upon returning back to the presence of his father, was the same grace that let him go in the first place. Freedom is important. God gives us the freedom to make a mistake. We know that those we have discussions with are going stumble and make mistakes with their theology. We can disagree in a gracious tone, and with respect. The Word of God is supposed to be good news. We don't argue about it; we share it. If freedom is really freedom, it makes enough room for deliverance from sin and deception for sure but also it will permit the exercise of error. Who wants to give freedom? Who wants to take freedom away? I often use this filter to weight the presidential candidates....

"Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"; this is what our founding fathers penned. They said that freedom comes from the Creator. He gives us life, and we also offer to others eternal life. Liberty is foundational too; many left England for the New World to escape religious persecution. The pursuit of happiness is also a high priority in the gospel of grace. Our purpose is to advance the grace message around the world, not argue about it.