If you've been around free grace people in the last year or so, you've probably heard the terms "Flexible Free Grace" and "Focused Free Grace." In case you might be wondering which I (Lucas Kitchen) am, you can download this short, free ebook to determine for yourself. In it, I discuss various topics in free grace. I have it in epub and pdf. Pick the one you like.
Thank you and other members in the body of Christ who had thoughtful, gracious, and clear explanations; regarding the gospel of Christ that is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Your comments strengthened my faith in sharing the gospel with clarity, as I ought to speak. I also was reminded to evaluate the motives of my own heart when learning of how other born-again believers present a more complicated response that is required (by unbelievers) to attain eternal life in Christ.
Awesome and Comforting!
You'll remember that I really really struggled with this issue and in the end, after 2 years, came to the conclusion that both sides have the CORE component correct and then there's a grey area on both sides of that.
These days; I am much more focused on professing Christians and pastors who contend for, promote, advocate, defend or...
are silent and neutral regarding the tyranny and clearly non-Christian behavior, words and actions done by the president and how Christian Nationalism has become a type of sub-cult among many professing believers.
What I am discovering is that those brethren who have Grace & Love as their Cornerstone are the same folks who bring back the attention to what matters most: Have you (the president, the mayor, your neighbor, your spouse) believed in Christ Alone for their Eternal Salvation or in something else?
Is there a chance pastor Shawn Lazar will write his own stance on this topic at some point?
Blessings,
Dove in Oregon
💗🕊💖
Thank you Lucas for the article on Free Grace and what is required for salvation. It boggles my mind how divisive folk can be. I agree with you that there is liberty and grace on this topic. It is clear that many came to faith with various ways of stating the path to life. Followers of the way were first called Christians in Athens-or was it Corinth?, and I'm sure there were arguments about that too. One thing is certain though, you are definitely FFG.
Thank you Lucas for the e-book. I will have to re-read it a few times though. I like your line," I do not intend to divide from other free grace believers who use a different approach from me." I have a few "wonderings" about the whole flexi-focus debate... My first"wondering" is to what extent is it good old Jerusalem-Council-like debate to bring us into unity as children of God our Father that causes His name to be hallowed? My second "wondering", Is it too naive to wonder about this? My final "wondering";is this the beginning of another "schism?" that will further weaken the Body of Christ to fulfill its work in this age?
Thank you for this article. This is what I have been looking for as I have lately begun to question some of the hard core focused free grace positions. You addressed each point!
Thanks, Lucas for your e-book. I found it very helpful and helps to free me from my judgmental attitude toward others. I think the issue is how much does one argue in an academic setting vs a more public or "lay" setting? I admire those who are academic and want to whittle down to specifics. That is worthwhile work that needs to be done. However, that may lead to a critical attitude toward those who disagree and I think that the typical lay person (that's me) has a hard time differentiating academic "discussion" from the more black and white "this is true and that is not true." It comes down to teachability, love and, yes, a graceful attitude. You have displayed this. Thanks!
Wow. Thank you. This is very kind.
I would say you're focusible. While you leave room for different ways to present the saving message, you seem to lean to the "believe in the promise of eternal life gospel." I held to the "assurance is of the essence of saving faith" for a long time , but have come to a different approach. This is not the first century and the majority of who we present the Gospel to , don't have the background of the Jews of that time and their knowledge concerning the promised Messiah. Jesus ministry was to convince that audience of one thing , that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. Has that changed? I don't think so. The problem we have in this present age is that we seem to think that the Gospel can be presented without explaining clearly who Jesus is and expect that people will have a clear understanding of what it means to be born again. I believe if we present to the unbeliever a clear message about who Jesus is, the Messiah God's anointed Savior , the Divine and human Son of God , who died for their sins on the cross and rose from the dead and that believing that is true we can tell them they have been born again.
I am totally comfortable with that approach. Thanks for sharing!
I did not read the entire document, but read much of it. I don't know whether you are flexible or focused because I don't know how those terms are defined. You didn't define them (I don't think), and really shouldn't have to. I, personally, don't think those terms are useful or worth my time to try to understand. I'm glad you wrote this. I hope anyone who is using these labels will read this before they assign one of them to you.
Thanks!
Bravo and amen, Lucas! I'm totally on this wavelength. Earlier this summer, after watching (via video) the display from the @!$& &%$#@% &%$#, and realizing that the speaker seemed to be defining eternal life as a destination (which is not how Jesus defined it in John 17:3, I wrote up the following but never sent it to anyone....
What is Eternal Life?
John 17:3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
1 John 5:20 “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”
What is eternal life? At its core, it not a destination. It is having a relationship with the Godhead. It is knowing the true triune God. It’s having God Himself. He is the life.
1 John 5:12 “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
How Does One Get Eternal Life?
As those living life after the cross…
To obtain eternal life, a person must believe in Jesus as the only One qualified to reconcile them to God (to bring them into an unending harmonious relationship with God).
This is always how people have obtained eternal life (even before the cross). The only difference was they didn’t know His name was Jesus. They also didn’t know what specifically, literally, qualified Him other than being God’s Chosen One.
He is qualified to make this offer by:
a) Being a sinless human who paid for the sin of mankind by dying on the cross
b) Conquering death by resurrecting from the dead Himself (proving to be God)
When sin entered into the world (and, consequently, separation occurred), God promised that, sometime in the future, the seed of woman would crush the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15). Adam and Even understood/believed that God was, one day, going to provide Someone to rectify this situation of separation. While the rectifying was yet future, their belief in the coming Rectifier gave them spiritual life which was eternal.
I believe, to get super-technical, that we get eternal life by believing in Jesus who is qualified by His death and resurrection, rather than believing in His death and resurrection. Like saints from the beginning of time, we are placing our faith in Him rather than in what He did. That said, we are indeed placing our faith in Jesus to accomplish something.
Anytime a person “believes in” someone, they are either:
a) believing the person exists or existed……or
b) they are believing in that person to be able to accomplish something
Eternal life does not come by simply believing Jesus existed. Rather, a person gets eternal life by believing in Jesus to accomplish something that applies to them.
A person gets eternal life by believing Jesus makes things right.
Jesus satisfied the Father (pertaining to the separation problem caused by sin) by:
- Being the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)
- Being the propitiation (satisfactory payment) for sin (1 John 2:2)
- By abolishing in His flesh the enmity (Ephesians 2:15)
- By putting to death the enmity (Ephesians 2:16)
- Canceling the certificate of debt, nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:14)
- Reconciling the world to God (2 Corinthians 5:19)
- Etcetera
Eternal life and all its benefits come by faith (believing) in Jesus.
John 3:16
John 5:24
John 1:12
Ephesians 1:13
Galatians 2:16
Acts 16:31
Acts 10:43
Romans 1:16
While eternal life would have never been secured without Jesus’ death and resurrection, it is not His death and resurrection that usher in eternal life. Eternal life comes by faith. And this faith is in Jesus.
To obtain eternal life, a person must believe in Jesus as the only One qualified to reconcile them to God (to bring them into an unending harmonious relationship with God).
Forgive me for posting a ridiculously long comment. What I really wanted to say was "Word up, Lucas!"
Thanks for sharing this! It’s a thoughtful approach.