How do you define “free grace” theology and do you believe it is biblical? I believe Lordship Salvation is unbiblical as I understand it but the other side of the spectrum is “free grace” and I am unclear on how it lines up with scripture as it is defined by its proponents. I fully believe that God’s grace is given to us freely irrespective of our merit but I don’t want to label myself as “free grace” if that means I am one who thinks I can live any way I want because that is not the case. Does this make sense?
Strictly speaking, we’re saved by grace through faith alone (Ephes 2:8-9), and our salvation was guaranteed from the moment we believed (Ephes 1:13-14). God has accepted responsibility for us, put His mark of ownership on us and His spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing this (2 Cor. 1:21-22).
He has also forgiven all of our sins (Col. 2:13-14) and made us a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), as righteous as He is (2 Cor. 5:21), and perfect forever (Hebr. 10:14) in His sight.
Therefore we could live any way we want to, because from His perspective we’ve already been raised up and seated with Him in the heavenly realms (Ephes. 2:6-7) and nothing can change that (Romans 8:38-39).
But in the mean time, we know that He wants us to live up to what we’ve already attained (Phil 3:16). So how do we want to live?
Lordship salvation inserts a degree of obligation into this answer, saying we have to give evidence of our salvation by the way we live. No evidence equals no salvation. This can cause us to live in fear that we’re not doing enough.
But free grace relies on gratitude alone as the motivation to live the life God wants us to live. This gives us the freedom to please God without worrying about what others may think.
I think most people would say that having the freedom to do as we please, but choosing to live in a way that pleases God, following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is the purest demonstration of our gratitude because there’s no obligation to do so.