Amazing
Grace is a good old song. I have sung it from early childhood. If some of
the printed matter on "grace" that I have read lately is true, then it must
be more amazing than I had thought.
This newly
defined grace is a kind of warmed over, but just half-baked, version of the
Calvinistic concept of grace imputed righteousness. It allegedly covers some
of a Christian's sins unconditionally. Yet, it is not broad enough to cover
an alien's sins nor sins wilfully or knowingly done by Christians.
In order
to dramatize their point, these brethren talk a lot about a Christian who
ignorantly goes over the speed limit (a sin-Rom. 13:1-5). wrecks, and
is killed. Will that man be lost? Now, that is nearly as good as the one
about the man going to the creek to be baptized, a tree falls on him and
kills him on the spot! Will that man be lost?
But back
to our unfortunate speedster. Let us just have a big crash while we are at
it. While we are just pretending maybe all that will really be hurt will be
some foolish notions of brethren. Since these writers do not tell just why
the poor fellow was speeding maybe they won't mind if we supply the reason.
He was speeding because he was too busy talking to his passenger to notice
the speedometer. You see, his passenger had just learned that Jesus is God's
Son and was to be told about repentance and baptism. This poor fellow was
killed too. Wait, there is a second car in the wreck. It is driven by a good
brother who knows he is going too fast, but he was in a hurry to get to the
church building to baptize a man. The second driver was killed too.
Now if I
understand this newly defined grace, the first driver is covered by an
ignorance clause. His passenger is not covered because, though ignorant and
sincere all right enough, he was not yet in Christ. The second driver is not
covered because, though he thought he had a good excuse, he knew that he was
speeding and that it was wrong. You see, the first driver gets in under the
doctrine that the perfect life of Christ is imputed to those in Christ to
cover their sins. Christ lived a life perfect enough to cover the sin of the
ignorant speeder, but not perfect enough to cover his passenger's (though he
was more ignorant than the driver) nor does it cover the willful sin of the
second driver. Amazing Grace indeed.
There is a
man to whom God does not impute sin (Rom. 4:8). The reason that sin
is not imputed to him is not some special arrangement for God to overlook
sin, but because his sin is forgiven (v. 7). Forgiveness of sin is
conditioned on repentance, both for aliens and children of God. The alien
must REPENT and be baptized (Acts 2:38). The erring child of God must
REPENT and pray (Acts 8:22; cf. 1 John 1:7-9). A grace that promises
salvation to one child of God without repentance and to another only after
repentance is amazing. Sins of ignorance and weaknesses of the flesh are
supposedly taken care of by the perfect life of Christ-but not sins known to
be sin by the sinner. I wonder what happens to a brother who knowingly sins
but is too weak in the flesh to avoid it.
The DEATH
of Christ covers our sins, when we meet the terms of pardon (Matt. 26:28; Rev. 1:5; Acts 22:16; 1 John 1:7-9). But the Bible simply
does not teach that the perfect LIFE of Christ stands before God as a
substitute for our imperfect lives. We are made righteous by the redemption
of the blood of Christ (Col. 1:14). This is how grace covers our
sins. It forgives them when we repent and turn from them.
What about
sins that we do not know about? David prayed. "Cleanse thou me from secret
faults." (Psa. 19:12). "Secret faults" were not merely sins done in
secret. They are contrasted to presumptuous sins (verse 13). He knew that
such sins were against him, so he prayed to be (acquitted - NASB) cleansed
of them.
If a
Christian's sins through ignorance are simply not taken into account by the
Lord, then Paul did brethren a disservice by writing several times: "I would
not have you ignorant." Preachers had better stop right in the middle of the
Great Commission. They should teach enough to baptize folks in order to
place them under the perfect life of Christ-but stop short of "teaching them
all things whatsoever (Jesus) commanded" lest they learn and can no longer
be covered by the ignorance clause of this new law of grace.
Brethren,
all this talk about God's overlooking sins of ignorance and fleshly weakness
is a cover up. It is but a rationale for fellowshipping baptized believers
who practice unscriptural works, items of worship and organizations for the
church. That is the root of the matter. Let us not forget it. We are not
judging anyone's motives, but merely stating what is clearly evident on the
surface from the writings of these men.
The ones
whom I know that are teaching this new-found brand of grace, to their
credit, still teach some conditions of fellowship. One must have been
baptized (immersed) for the remission of sins. One must be sincere, just
ignorant and fleshly weak. Yet, if we suggest that there are other
conditions, we become guilty of setting up ourselves as judges. But, the
very area of judgment where one has not the right to pass judgment, the area
of motives and attitudes, is where they pass judgment. They try to pass
judgment on how much one knows and whether he is sincere or not. One may
know what one does and that such is wrong, but only God can know for sure
why he does it and if he knows better. If one plans to widen fellowship (and
benefits of grace) to include all good honest, sincere, but mistaken
brethren-regardless of how unscriptural their congregations have become-he
is going to have to play God a lot. He is going to have to pass judgment on
his brethren's heart so he can fellowship the sincere and ignorant ones and
cast out the insincere and knowing ones. He has his work cut out for him.
I am
thankful for God's grace. With Paul, I can say, "By the grace of God I am
what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10). I shall continue to sing about it. I plan
to pray "without ceasing" that God will continue to extend his grace in the
forgiveness of my sins, all my sins, as I repent and strive to know and do
better. He is faithful. He will forgive (1 John 1:7-9).
I also
pray that I will in no way encourage a brother to depend on his sincerity or
ignorance to get him by. Of course, we must leave final judgment to God. He
knows all the facts. If He wants to save both speedsters and the unbaptized
passenger, that's fine with me, but I am not going to be presumptuous and
hold out promise to anyone that God will save them from any sin without
repentance. I will let God handle such cases, if they exist, and continue to
teach what the Bible says that one must do about his sins, whether he be an
ignorant or knowledgeable brother or alien sinner. "The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all." (2 Thess. 3:18)
