Explaining Hyper Grace

Q

Can you explain hyper-grace to me? And is it scriptural?

A

Hyper-grace (sometimes called free grace) is a man made term used to define a view of the doctrine of grace that some people feel is extreme. They see it as giving believers the freedom to act however they please without regard for the behavioral standards the Bible teaches.

In my opinion what men have called hyper-grace is what the Bible really teaches about grace. All of our sins, past, present, and future are forgiven (Colossians 2:13-14) we are now a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) and when we sin, God doesn’t attribute our sins to us, but to the sin nature that still lives within us (Romans 7:18-20). From His perspective we’re as righteous as He is (2 Cor. 5:21) having been made perfect forever by the Lord’s once-for-all-time sacrifice (Hebrews 10:12-14).

It is true that an immature believer can abuse the privileges afforded to us by God’s grace. But detractors fail to consider two things. First, all believers have the indwelling Holy Spirit, who counsels us on appropriate behavior and convicts us of our sins. When we sin, He drives us to the foot of the cross for confession and forgiveness as taught by 1 John 1:9 which immediately purifies us again from all unrighteousness.

Second, the freedom God’s grace gives us inspires a sense of gratitude that causes us to want to please God through our behavior.

Whenever rules are imposed, our sin nature wants to break them, and as Paul pointed out the harder we try to obey, the stronger the urge to rebel becomes. But people who are free to do whatever they want also have the freedom to do what is right. They understand what Paul meant when he said, “Everything is permissible – but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible – but not everything is constructive” (1 Cor. 10:23).

I obviously can’t prove this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if on the whole, advocates of free grace come closer to truly living the victorious Christian life than any other group of believers.