- CHEAP GRACE
tʃip greɪs noun. Treatment of God’s forgiveness, generosity, and loving attitude, as if it’s nothing special; as if it cost him little; taking it and God for granted.
Whenever I bring up the subject of cheap grace, some ignorant Christian invariably objects:
Every. Single. Time.
It’s a knee-jerk response. They were taught all their lives how grace isn’t cheap at all; how it cost Jesus his life. So whenever someone brings up the subject of cheap grace, they’re offended, therefore emotional, therefore irrational, about it: “Grace isn’t cheap!” Someone tweets a comment about cheap grace, and they tweet right back, “Grace isn’t cheap!” Someone uses “cheap grace” in a sentence, and they wait for the very first chance to interrupt: “Grace isn’t cheap!”
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Adam Clayton Powell Sr. gets credited with coining this term, and if you think it came from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, it’s only because Bonhoeffer went to Powell’s church and got it from him, then popularized the heck out of it in his
Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. “All for sin could not atone.” The world goes on in the same old way, and we are still sinners “even in the best life” as Luther said. Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin. […] Cheap grace is not the kind of forgiveness of sin which frees us from the toils of sin. Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Bonhoeffer 44-45
That’s cheap grace: Taking expensive, valuable,
Part of the reason people object to the term “cheap grace” is they don’t like to see God’s generosity taken so casually like that. Well, me neither.
Part of it’s ’cause they don’t believe God’s grace actually can be cheapened. No matter what we do with grace, it’s still awesome, still worthy, still priceless. It’s like when you accidentally drop your phone down a porta-potty: Doesn’t matter how foul that commode is; they’re making some really expensive payments on that phone, so they’re going in up to their armpits to fish it out. (Although yeah, some people would never. Because they’re rich, and buy $1000 phones as stocking stuffers, and would casually pay $1000 to avoid touching poo-poo. The rest of us have real jobs. But I digress.) Grace is far more valuable than any phone, and has inherent worth, so nothing could cheapen it.
If that’s the way you imagine grace, I get why you’d balk at the concept of “cheap grace.” But I’m not describing the grace itself, nor devaluing it. I’m describing the crappy attitude people have towards it. When they treat it like it has no value, that’s cheap grace. If you wanna call it something different, go right ahead. “Cheap grace” has already caught on, which is why I’m using that term.
Sinning so grace can increase.
Romans 6.1-4 KJV - 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Romans 6.12-14 KJV - 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
If cheap grace is your thing, only one of those verses I just quoted is relevant. Namely the first one: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” The rest? Ignore ’em. They’re too confusing. We’re dead to sin! So why should we struggle with trying to stop sinning? You try
Let’s assume we haven’t adopted this hedonistic attitude, and the ridiculous explanation for why it’s totally okay for Christians to live
Simple: They call us
These folks glom onto any
But.
Once God saved us, there oughta be some sign he saved us, right? Something we can see, and say, “That person’s Christian.” Something others can see; something even pagans can see! We shouldn’t just spend the rest of our unchanged, untransformed, unregenerate lives wondering, “Am I really saved, or was that just wishful thinking on my part?” Yeah, there are plenty of Christians who actually teach that’s how the Christian life works: They tell us we actually never can know, but that’s what
That’s not Christianity. Jesus doesn’t leave us wishing and hoping and thinking and praying. He tells us exactly what to look for:
John 13.35 KJV - By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Jesus didn’t save us so we can go back to the same sinful lives we had before him, yet enter
And we’re gonna fail, ’cause we’re not perfect. But when we fail, we have Jesus, who dealt with our sins so we can continue in right standing with the Father.
Those who live by cheap grace, consider God a resource to exploit. Those who live by actual grace, love God back. Why wouldn’t we? He’s awesome!
Thing is, those people who exploit God, and take his grace for granted? Yeah, there’s a better than average chance he’ll let ’em into his kingdom regardless. Oh, don’t kid yourself; they’ll have the lowest rank imaginable.
But occasionally Jesus says something which indicates he’s not letting them in at all.
Matthew 7.21-23 KJV - 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Emphasis on iniquity. The original word for it is
This level of contempt for God reveals such people have no relationship with him. Nor his Son. Back to our drunk-driver simile: It’s like mistakenly phoning some random guy instead of Dad while we’re in lockup: “Hey… Dad? Bail me out, wouldya?” But this guy hasn’t a clue who we are. Even though we think it’s Dad, and insist Dad must know who we are, and has to get us out of there, all the other guy on the line knows is it’s some drunken criminal, who probably deserves lockup.
Yeah, the simile falls apart ’cause God’s omniscient and does know who we are. Even so. It’s his prerogative to let us out anyway… or not. And possibly not. Jesus wouldn’t have warned us if this wasn’t a real possibility. God has
Cheap grace in action.
Cheap grace doesn't produce the Spirit’s fruit, but it definitely produces fleshly works. Sin doesn’t offend them at all.
Now, telling them they need to quit sinning? Definitely offends them. Closing their
Saying God means it when he tells his people to quit sinning? Offensive. Saying Jesus means it when he expects Christians to obey his instructions? Offensive. Saying the apostles meant it when they trained Christians in righteousness? Offensive. Any rules,
Cheap grace erases the beauty of God raising his kids to be fruitful, powerful examples of what resurrection power can do in anyone’s life. It trades this for the ashes of a person who’s just as sinful, dysfunctional, fruitless, powerless, destructive, and joyless as any pagan. Who’s just as unlike Christ as any pagan. Then cheap grace claims, “That’s Christianity. You thought it’d be harder? Not at all! Christ does all the work.”
True, Christ Jesus does all the work—of salvation. But once we’re saved, there’s work to do! The Hebrews weren’t freed from Egyptian slavery so they could run wild in the wilderness, like the 15th-century
Cheap grace produces
Costly grace.
The real stuff isn’t just valuable; it helps transform us into those daughters and sons of God.
Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.
Bonhoeffer 45
True grace must be taken seriously. It doesn’t dismiss sin with the flick of a hand. It forgives sin because grace paid for it in Jesus’s blood. It doesn’t nullify sin; nothing does. It only nullifies sin’s eternal consequences, and frees us from sin’s captivity. It’s not a free pass. It’s a very, very expensive pass.
It picks us up when we fall down. Whereas the cheap stuff says, “You’re not down! So you needn’t get back up. Jesus came to free you from hell, not sin; all sins are canceled, and nothing’s a sin anymore! (Except, of course, the things you personally don’t like. Like people who don’t speak English around you, people who take government handouts, and gays.) Grace is abundant, and there’s plenty more where that came from.”
Real grace is for people who live in the light where God is, who admit we sin and submit to God’s correction and forgiveness. Real grace produces real Christians. Accept no substitutes.
