Every Christian wants to believe in free grace, so how could it be that “free grace theology” diminishes the gospel? That’s the title of Wayne Grudem’s newest book: Free Grace Theology: 5 ways It Diminishes the Gospel.
Hi, I’m Fred Zaspel, executive editor here at Books At a Glance, and today we’re talking to Dr. Wayne Grudem about his new book.
Welcome, Dr. Grudem, and thanks for talking to us today.
Grudem:
Thank you very much. It’s good to be with you, Fred.
Zaspel:
Don’t you believe in free grace? What’s your book all about?
Grudem:
I believe God’s grace is free. It’s by grace you been saved through faith that’s not of yourself, it is the gift of God not of works lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). And the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord in Romans 6:23. So I do believe God’s grace is free. But I’m using the phrase “free grace” for a specific view that came out of a minority of the faculty members at Dallas Seminary number of years ago especially led by a professor named Zane Hodges.
They said their view was free grace theology; what they were advocating, however, was more than just the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone. They were saying a couple of other things. And that is, with regard to repentance they generally said that repentance is a change of mind and doesn’t require any sense of remorse or commitment to turn from sin. So there’s no repentance from sin, it’s just repentance from wrong ideas.
The second thing was that they said that if someone claims that he or she has believed in Christ but there’s no change in his life, no evidence of a changed life, you can still give assurance to that person even without any change of life. And it seems to me that if you couple no repentance from sin with no need for a change of life with assurance, you get a very much weakened gospel and I’m afraid that you end up giving assurance of salvation to people who aren’t really saved.
Zaspel:
I think people are probably more familiar with the terminology of “the Lordship salvation controversy.” Explain for us why you don’t use that terminology.
Grudem:
Well, it is the controversy that was called the Lordship controversy 20 or more years ago. But as I read through the arguments back and forth between Zane Hodges, who was advocating free grace (this special free grace view) and John MacArthur who was arguing against him, I sided with MacArthur over all certainly. It seemed to me that just disputing over who thought that Jesus had to be Lord in a stronger sense was such a muddied discussion, and it wasn’t very clear. Because on both sides people say that Jesus is, of course, in fact Lord of the whole universe. And on the other side people would say that we are never perfectly submitting to him as Lord of our lives. So it boiled down to what degree of Lordship you have to confess and it just got confusing. I don’t think that was the issue. The issue was what is the nature of repentance; what is the nature of saving faith; and what is the nature of assurance. In those issues I think there was a clear difference.
Zaspel:
Okay, your central point is that advocates of free grace theology rest their case on a misunderstanding of sola fide, “by faith alone.” Would you explain this for us? And just what is meant by this Reformation slogan?
Grudem:
Well, in the beginning, with Martin Luther and the Reformation in 1517 and then others like John Calvin and other Protestant reformers afterwards, they insisted that we are saved not just by faith, but by faith alone. That is, God doesn’t require anything of us other than our faith in Christ for our salvation; for our forgiveness and justification and adoption. So faith alone is certainly important.
But the free grace people have expanded it beyond that and said “alone” doesn’t just mean it’s the only thing God looks for or counts. It’s the only thing, the human action, that has to happen. And so if we talk about repentance from sin, they say you are adding to faith. And if we talk about good works will necessarily follow from genuine salvation or genuine faith and they say, “Oh, if you say good works necessarily follow, you are adding to faith because you are not believing faith alone anymore.”
And my response is to say that faith alone means faith is the only thing that God counts in terms of the instrument of our taking the gift of salvation to ourselves. But that doesn’t mean that when it happens in us, nothing else happens. It isn’t alone in that sense because James 2 says faith without works is dead. I think that’s a repeated theme in the New Testament that there will be a change in life if the person’s faith is genuine.
Zaspel:
So we are saved by faith, and you agree with this old slogan, “we are saved by faith alone, but the faith alone by which we are saved, is not alone.”
Grudem:
Yes, that’s right. We are saved by faith alone but the faith is never alone; it is always accompanied by, certainly repentance from sin, and certainly good works or fruits or evidence of salvation, evidence of saving faith that follows saving faith.
Zaspel:
Just what is saving faith? And how does the biblical view of faith differ from that of “free grace theology.”
Grudem:
Well, here we get into a slightly detailed conversation because the advocates of this free grace movement kind of slid into two camps on this. One, led by a man named Bob Wilkin, says that faith is merely intellectual agreement. And so he says, for instance, “Do you believe that George Washington was the first president of the United States? If so, you understand what faith is. It is agreeing with the fact. Do you believe that Christ died for your sins? Okay, you are saved.” So that’s one free grace position – merely intellectual assent or agreement.
But the whole Protestant church since the Reformation, the Bible believing Protestant church, has insisted that there is more than just intellectual assent; there is a commitment of our entire self to trust in or rest in Christ. That’s what the Bible talks about when it talks about coming to Christ, believing in him, taking his yoke upon us, receiving him. Those are all very personal interaction kind of verses that talk about us personally placing trust in Jesus as a living person whom we now depend on and commit to and trust in for our entire life, and for our salvation. So it’s a very personal activity of trusting in Jesus as a person.
Now some in the free grace movement will insist, “oh, we believe that you have to trust in Jesus as a person,” but they don’t emphasize it very much. And I think the reason is, Fred, that you talk about faith being an element of personal commitment or personal trust then the question arises, “well, do I have genuine faith or not?” And they don’t want people to raise that question; they just want to give assurance quickly. So when we talk a lot about personal commitment to Christ or trusting in Christ personally, they think we are in danger of adding to faith alone. And I don’t think so; I think it’s the nature of saving faith.
Zaspel:
Yeah, I think that’s right. We certainly wouldn’t want to add to faith, but at the same time, we want to know what faith is.
Grudem:
Right, and we don’t want to cheapen faith.
Zaspel:
Exactly. Explain for us the “free grace theology” understanding of repentance. And just what is the role of repentance in conversion? How is it related to saving faith?
Grudem:
Well, again, it seems to me that this free grace movement has a very, I would say, inadequate or deficient or shallow view of repentance. At least in many of its advocates, they will say the Greek word metanoia or metaoeo, repentance or repent, and they will say that that means a change of mind. Well, the word did earlier in the history of the Greek language, before the time of the New Testament, you can find that the word has meant or did mean a change of mind, intellectual idea, or assent, but by the time you get into the Old Testament translation into Greek, the Septuagint, and certainly into the New Testament, the words for repentance have to do with a change of life, a turnabout in life orientation, a change of life direction.
What we would call a repentance from sin. And the many passages in the Gospels that I quote, and Acts, talk about the disciples being commanded by Jesus to preach the gospel and to preach repentance from sin. And that the summary of the gospel is preached by Paul and the other apostles often, often include mentions of repentance in the sense of a heartfelt decision of the will to turn from sin.
Zaspel:
Yes, the idea of returning or turning. I think it’s going to be a surprise to a lot of people to hear that evangelical theologians are actually saying that you can be saved, converted, without repentance.
Grudem:
Now they will say, “oh, it’s a change of mind.” Or, there is an alternative view and that is that it does mean something like a sincere commitment to turn from sin but then they’ll say it’s not necessary for justification. It’s an optional and desirable second step.
Zaspel:
What is the role of good works in Christian theology?
Grudem:
Scripture says, by their fruits you will know them. Jesus says that. And good works basically are an evidence that we have received justification and we have been born again and our lives of change, our hearts have changed. God has put his law within our hearts and a desire to obey him. That’s why James could say, in James 2, faith without works is dead.
That is, a mere intellectual assent without a change of life and a pattern of life that shows overall a pattern of obedience to God’s commands in Scripture is a necessary consequence of genuine saving faith. It’s the result, and it gives evidence of saving faith. So good works are a necessary evidence of saving faith, but they do not form the basis on which God grants to us justification; they follow from justification and the regeneration that accompanies it.
Zaspel:
I think it’s worth pointing out that what you are advocating is nothing new. You are in fact just teaching what Protestants have historically insisted on.
Grudem:
Lutherans and Calvinists in the Westminster Confession of Faith and I quote numerous doctrinal statements from the history of Protestantism from Reformed Presbyterian writings are created from the Philadelphia Baptist convention, from the Lutheran confessions, from John Wesley, from the Assemblies of God, I mean, Protestantism is united on the fact that faith is not alone in the person who is justified, but will always be accompanied by good works, by a changed life, by evidence of salvation.
There is practical application. There is the question that people should be asking: “Am I truly born again?” And I think the practical consequence of my book, Free Grace Theology will be to give people a solid basis for understanding, “How can I know that I am truly saved?” And, “What are the evidences according to Scripture?” And, “Have I genuinely repented and genuinely trusted in Christ as my Savior?” So I think that is the positive benefit for everyone from reading the material in this book.
Zaspel:
We’re talking to Dr. Wayne Grudem, professor of theology at Phoenix Seminary and author of the new book, Free Grace Theology: 5 Ways it Diminishes the Gospel. We encourage you to get a copy and clarify your understanding of the important matters of saving faith, repentance, conversion, and good works.
Dr. Grudem, thanks much for talking to us today.
Grudem:
Thank you, Fred.
