People sometimes confuse faith with obedience. Some preachers even claim that faith is obedience. We know that’s wrong. Paul was explicit that salvation is by faith apart from works. No obedience required (Rom 4:5; Eph 2:8-9). What, then, is the correct relationship between faith and obedience? Consider Abraham: “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and […]

Is every doctrine worth dividing over? Maybe you’ve heard the saying: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” The idea is that Christian unity shouldn’t depend on unanimity. That is, we don’t have to agree on everything to live and grow together as brothers and sisters in Christ. Some doctrines aren’t worth fighting over, let […]

When Christians talk about “spirituality,” we mean life lived by and through the Holy Spirit. And that kind of Spirit-led life was meant by God to be lived in community. Christian spirituality is not like secular approaches. The longer I walk with Christ, the more I grow to appreciate that fact. I’m realizing how much […]

“Americans are very friendly,” writes Stanley Hauerwas, “but we aren’t very good at being friends.” Why not? “Friendship, at least friendship that is a virtue, turns out to be very demanding” (Hauerwas, The Character of Virtue, p. 66, emphasis added). Do Christians settle for mere friendliness instead of costly friendship? Friendship is a profoundly theological […]

Downplaying sin goes hand in hand with downplaying grace. I once listened to a Holiness preacher rail against sin. He that simply believing in Jesus wasn’t enough to go to heaven. You had to stop sinning. If you sinned, you couldn’t be with the Lord. In a society that celebrates depravity and in churches where […]

I believe in grace for salvation, but I need help knowing how that translates into parenting. John’s Gospel says: for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). As a father, I’ve shown my kids a lot of Moses but not much Jesus. When they disobey, I’m quick […]

Adultery is one of the most painful acts of betrayal that one person can commit against another. It betrays a trust, violates your sacred vows, attacks your self-worth, and turns a home into hostile territory. We all know how adultery can destroy marriages, families, and careers. But as bad as it is, does it disprove […]

Is grace a license to sin? That is one of the most common objections to Free Grace theology and to the grace message in particular. People are afraid that if you teach that salvation really is by grace, through faith in Christ, and given as a gift totally apart from your behavior, that will encourage […]

What’s an antinomian? While researching responses to Lordship Salvation, I came across the transcript of a podcast that discussed the debate between Zane Hodges and John MacArthur over Lordship Salvation (see here). The hosts were interacting with a book entitled Christ the Lord: The Reformation and Lordship Salvation, edited by Michael Horton. Being a Reformed […]

Robert Farrar Capon, Health, Money, and Love & Why We Don’t Enjoy Them, Eerdmans, 179 pages, $23.99. In Health, Money, and Love, Robert Farrar Capon (1925-2013) offers a unique critique of religion. Here is his basic definition: “Religion is the attempt on the part of human beings to establish a right relationship between themselves and […]

Bonnie Kristian wrote an article in Christianity Today about dispensationalism entitled “The Surprising Staying Power of Dispensationalism.” The article reviews Daniel G. Hummel’s The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle over the End Times Shaped a Nation. I haven’t read Hummel’s book, so I can’t comment on either its accuracy or the […]

The biggest churches and most famous preachers and writers in the world do not preach grace. If anything, they preach against it to huge audiences, supported by enormous budgets. Meanwhile, with a few exceptions, grace churches and ministries are small. Why? Are we doing something wrong? Are grace pastors simply worse at preaching, counseling, and […]

Free Grace International is proud to share with you a new resource for your church or Sunday school. Everlasting Life is a children's curriculum written by Sandy Jones (Author), edited by Randy Jones and Lynn McCoy, and illustrated by John Goodding. By making the message of grace clear to children, this will help your church, […]

Like me, you probably grew up being told, “You can be whatever you want to be.” It’s an optimistic thing you say to children who hope to become astronauts, baseball players, or movie stars. But in our deeply humanistic, not to mention hedonistic, culture, that saying has morphed into something more sinister. Our culture teaches […]

Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is […]

Free Grace or Lordship Salvation—which is correct? There’s a test to see whether you’re preaching a Biblical gospel—it involves boasting. Here’s what Paul told the Corinthians: Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen what is foolish […]

I was talking to a brother who heard a rumor that I do not believe in eternal security, so he called me to ask if that was true. I was dumbfounded! Me? Not believe in eternal security? I’m not sure if a week has gone by in the last eleven years (or longer) where I […]

A Roman Catholic Bishop named Americo Aguiar of Lisbon, Portugal got into some hot water recently. He is the chief coordinator of the upcoming Roman Catholic World Youth Day, a major form of outreach for the Roman Catholic Church. However, the bishop apparently told a Portuguese station he doesn’t want young people to become Christian: […]

One of the most common objections to Free Grace theology is this: "If you tell people that salvation is by faith apart from works, and the believer is eternally secure no matter how badly he behaves, that will give people a license to sin!" What's the alternative? According to these preachers, the best way to […]

Some family gatherings have a tradition of leaving an empty seat at the table to remember the loved ones who have died, gone missing, or been alienated. The empty chair is more than just a chair. It’s a reminder that tells us something. Your church probably has some empty pews and chairs on Sunday morning, […]