Bill’s 1st Blog

Post Content The Hyper Grace Teaching ”. Beware they warn of “Hyper Grace Teachers” (Scary). They repeat the same cliched phrases in their warnings such as “greasy grace” “sloppy agape” or my favorite “licensed to sin”. They warn us that hyper grace teachers proclaim “you can sin all you want.” (They do?) I have personally listened to countless hours of Christian radio and Christian television and I have never heard the advocation “you can sin all you want”. So, there is the hype we have a warning without warrant. Hyper grace warnings are classic cases of made-up heresies with made-up evidence in search of phantom false teachers. Here is a direct quote from a very prominent hyper grace teacher “This I must confess to you—that in the way which some call a heresy, I worship the God of our forefathers, believing everything that is taught in the Law or is written in the Prophets, and having a hope directed towards God, which my accusers themselves also entertain, that before long there will be a resurrection both of the righteous and the unrighteous”. Here is another quote from the same hyper grace teacher “Are we to persist in sinning in order that the grace extended to us may be the greater?” and here is a third quote from the same writer and in this one he actually uses the term hyper grace “Where sin increased grace hyper increased”. Who is this hyper grace teacher you ask well it may surprise you that it is none other than the Apostle Paul and the preceding comments were quoted from the best-selling book of all time. My heart’s desire coupled with the ability God provides is to pass on to you; life changing insight out of the grace of God. And yes, it is hyper because if it wasn’t it wouldn’t be grace. To what conclusion, then, shall we come? Are we to persist in sinning in order that the grace extended to us may be the greater? (Romans 6:1) Romans chapter six verse one is the talking point fuel for the hyper grace heresy hunters. Paul said it (no doubt he did) but why did he say it. He said it because that is what he was accused of teaching, in other words he uses their accusation to launch into a teaching they know nothing about. Before we explore this hyper grace teaching, let me assure you if you continue in sin grace will continue to abound. “And law came in, that the offence might abound, and where the sin did abound, the grace did over abound” (Romans 5:20). You see it is the law that makes sin increase not hyper-grace teachings. What is Paul’s answer to shall we sin all we want? First a strong and to the point “Absolutely not!” followed by “We who died to the sin how shall we still live in it or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death”? Who knew; or rather who didn’t know? The people who didn’t know were and continue to be the people that warn beware of hyper grace”. How do we know that you ask; because of the words “or do you not know”. I was a part of the “or do you not know” until a bible study I attended in 1991 blew my carnal mind. I experienced for the first time the Greek word epignosis. It is my heart’s desire that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge (epignosis) of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Now armed with this prayer and some background from the old Testament let us understand the meaning of “shall we continue in sin”. Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:1-4) Here is what we are supposed to know: 1) you died to the sin 2) your dead body was buried 3) you were resurrected for the purpose of living a brand-new life. These three facts are known as spiritual realities and we take them by faith not by sight. I now call your attention to the words “the Sin” notice it is not a verb but a noun with a definite article (the) in front. Even some of the English bible translations like the one I purposely quoted at the beginning of the chapter translate sin as a verb instead of a noun. Remember a verb is an action and a noun is a person place or thing. In Paul’s epistles “The Sin” is portrayed as a person, as a thing, and even as a place. To understand Romans 6:1 (Shall we continue in the sin?) we will need to go back to Romans 5:12 to get some context. Therefore, just as (the) sin entered the world through one man, and (the) death through (the) sin, in this way (the) death spread to all men, because all sinned. In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law. (Romans 5:12,13) Paul tells us that “The Sin” (singular noun) got its entrance into the world through one man and “The Death” (also singular noun) got its entrance into the world through “the sin”. What is Paul talking about? Even the apostle Peter said Paul’s writings are hard to understand “Paul speaks about these things in all his letters in which there are some matters that are hard to understand. The untaught and unstable twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures”. (II Peter 3:16) Since Romans 5:12 is definitely hard to understand, we are going to need some Old Testament background as well as the Holy Spirit as our teacher. Before we get started, I would like to thank an old friend Pastor Bob Bew. Bob is the first person to show me this old testament principle called Corporate Identity. So, let’s get started “Corporate identity” or “Gods point of view”. When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My Son. (Hosea 11:1) The Exodus out of Egypt The Exodus out of Egypt might of involved as many as 2.5 million people. The 2.5 million all descended from one man named Israel and God viewed them as the one-man Israel. Paul gives his New Testament doctrine the same one-man identity to Adam and Christ as the Old Testament gave to Israel. Here is just one example “So also it is written, The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven”. (I Cor. 15:45-47) Let us now look at an Old Testament example of corporate identity. The following verse shows how the act of one man was credited to the entire nation of Israel. But the children of Israel committed a trespass concerning the devoted thing; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the devoted thing; and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel. (Joshua 7:1) Does it not sound like every single Israelite committed the sin of taking forbidden bounty? In the same way that the entire nation of Israel was credited with the act of the one-man Achan; Paul demonstrates how the entire human race was credit with one act of disobedience (Adam). Therefore, just as (the) sin entered the world through one man, and (the) death through (the) sin, in this way (the) death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12). In this verse corporate identity was bad news for all people. But this next verse below demonstrates how the same human race is credited with living the sinless life of Jesus. “But God’s free gift immeasurably outweighs the transgression. For if through the transgression of the one individual the mass of mankind have died, infinitely greater is the generosity with which God’s grace, and the gift given in His grace which found expression in the one man Jesus Christ, have been bestowed on the mass of mankind. (Romans 5:15) But in this verse corporate identity becomes great news and cancels the bad news. I will be following this Hyper-Grace blog with more on Romans chapter six. While you are waiting, I would like you to be a promise keeper for a week and promise to read and re-read Romans 5:15 in light of the corporate identity. When the smile on your face makes your legalistic friends angry you will be ready for the follow up Blog.