Grace Has No Limits
“...where sin increased, grace increased all the more…"
I ran across the term “HyperGrace” the other day. It was being used in a Facebook comment to criticize Christians who place too much emphasis on the grace of God, and not enough emphasis on God being Just. I had never heard it before but it accurately describes the unlimited Grace of God. The apostle Paul was talking about unlimited Grace when he taught that "where sin increased, grace increased all the more" and that Jesus’s "one act of righteousness" brought "justification of life to all" mankind just as Adam's one act of disobedience has brought death to all mankind. HyperGrace is a good term to describe the Grace of God.
It is this HyperGrace that now REIGNS over death...
"So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to ALL MEN, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to ALL MEN. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous...where sin increased, GRACE abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so GRACE would REIGN through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:18-21)
Hyper-Grace only bothers those who have a faulty idea of what it means for God to be Just. The word "JUST" in both Hebrew and Greek simply means to do what is “right”. God is JUST because He always does what is right. God thinks it right to save sinners by his Grace. Apparently the folks who dislike the term HyperGrace have limited the Grace of God to those who have joined their churches. And they have been taught that it is JUST for God to eternally separate himself from everyone else that He created and cast them into eternal conscious torment. That denies the Bible which clearly says that the penalty for sin is Death "but the free gift of God is Eternal Life" (Romans 6:23).
So what about the following verses written by Paul?
"God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might." (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9)
I believe the above is true just as a believe all of the Scripture. Paul and his followers were being persecuted by the religious folks of his day for preaching the salvation of both Jew and Gentile by the Grace of God apart from the works of the Law of Moses. So to me the above is a warning to those who trouble others with threats (like eternal conscious torment).
It is the false teaching of religious leaders that will be punished with "everlasting destruction". I say Amen to that. The false teachers themselves will be saved, but through the fire that will burn up the false doctrines made up by men and are the wood, hay and stubble which will fuel the fire when we all give account to God. Such false teaching will no longer have a place in the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might. For the Grace of God will have saved sinners from death!
"For by Grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the approach present of God...the grace of God which is being granted to me. As a wise foreman I lay a foundation, yet another is building on it. Yet let each one beware how he is building on it...each one's work will become apparent, for the day will make it evident, for it is being revealed by fire. And the fire, it will be testing each one's work -- what kind it is. If anyone's work will be remaining which he builds on it, he will get wages. If anyone's work shall be burned up, he will forfeit it, yet he shall be saved, yet thus, as through fire." (Ephesians 2:8-10; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15)
I ran across the term “HyperGrace” the other day. It was being used in a Facebook comment to criticize Christians who place too much emphasis on the grace of God, and not enough emphasis on God being Just. I had never heard it before but it accurately describes the unlimited Grace of God. The apostle Paul was talking about unlimited Grace when he taught that "where sin increased, grace increased all the more" and that Jesus’s "one act of righteousness" brought "justification of life to all" mankind just as Adam's one act of disobedience has brought death to all mankind. HyperGrace is a good term to describe the Grace of God.
It is this HyperGrace that now REIGNS over death...
"So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to ALL MEN, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to ALL MEN. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous...where sin increased, GRACE abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so GRACE would REIGN through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:18-21)
Hyper-Grace only bothers those who have a faulty idea of what it means for God to be Just. The word "JUST" in both Hebrew and Greek simply means to do what is “right”. God is JUST because He always does what is right. God thinks it right to save sinners by his Grace. Apparently the folks who dislike the term HyperGrace have limited the Grace of God to those who have joined their churches. And they have been taught that it is JUST for God to eternally separate himself from everyone else that He created and cast them into eternal conscious torment. That denies the Bible which clearly says that the penalty for sin is Death "but the free gift of God is Eternal Life" (Romans 6:23).
So what about the following verses written by Paul?
"God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might." (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9)
I believe the above is true just as a believe all of the Scripture. Paul and his followers were being persecuted by the religious folks of his day for preaching the salvation of both Jew and Gentile by the Grace of God apart from the works of the Law of Moses. So to me the above is a warning to those who trouble others with threats (like eternal conscious torment).
It is the false teaching of religious leaders that will be punished with "everlasting destruction". I say Amen to that. The false teachers themselves will be saved, but through the fire that will burn up the false doctrines made up by men and are the wood, hay and stubble which will fuel the fire when we all give account to God. Such false teaching will no longer have a place in the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might. For the Grace of God will have saved sinners from death!
"For by Grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the approach present of God...the grace of God which is being granted to me. As a wise foreman I lay a foundation, yet another is building on it. Yet let each one beware how he is building on it...each one's work will become apparent, for the day will make it evident, for it is being revealed by fire. And the fire, it will be testing each one's work -- what kind it is. If anyone's work will be remaining which he builds on it, he will get wages. If anyone's work shall be burned up, he will forfeit it, yet he shall be saved, yet thus, as through fire." (Ephesians 2:8-10; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15)