The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Hyper Grace

Could you explain what is meant by the term "hyper grace" and how it is a form of antinomianism?

Good question! I found a short; 1 min. 28 sec. video by R.C. Sproul, Sr. from 2019 that explains the heresy of "Hyper Grace".

So you could say that hyper grace overemphasizes God's grace at the expense of holiness, in other words not heeding the whole counsel of God.
Would you say it confuses justification and sanctification? In an effort to adhere to justification by faith alone the promoter of hyper grace ignores the progressive sanctification that must accompany a Christian life?

Well, you know me well enough by now..... I would say that the doctrine of Hyper-Grace disallows the biblical doctrine of Sanctification. It also denies the struggle and striving after righteousness by the work of the Holy Spirit whereby the Christian works out his/her own salvation with fear and trembling. It also denies that the truly regenerate sinner delights is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. (Ps 1:2)

I don't have enough bad things to say about the heresy that God's Grace is only able to justify, but not sanctify.

Or that one can love God, but not His Law, and, hence, His Word (apart from select passages carefully cherry-picked to earn money for "hyper-grace" preachers).

The true Christian strives for holiness, which is only attainable by His Grace.

The true Christian grieves sin, all sin, but especially his her her own.

The true Christian longs for the day when sin will be no more.

But otherwise good people get drawn into this sort of worse-than-demonic filth, because they do not know their Bibles.

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."

Some of the stuff you will hear from these guys (I know them better than I'd like, because I tried, unsuccessfully, to steer some close family friends away from it, specifically Joseph Prince and his ilk).

"Sin is nailed to the cross, so you don't need to worry about it." Well, the sins of His people are, but that is precisely WHY they strive to avoid it. Why would they want to embrace that for which He died???

"The only sin is 'sin consciousness.' You should live as though sin doesn't exist. Then, you won't fall into it." (Self-refuting.)

"Dwelling on sin is like nailing Jesus to the cross all over again." (I think that's self-refuting as well.)

"The Holy Spirit NEVER convicts His people of sin." (My then-9 year old son said "That's stooooopid!")

"1 John was written only to Gnostics." (Never heard gnostics so frequently referred to as "my little children.")

"The Old Testament is obsolete." (Not one jot or tittle . . . )

"The Law is obsolete." (I came not to abolish the law, but . . . )

It just goes on and on.

Further, most prominent "Hyper-Grace" soul-murderers also are Montanists (they believe God speaks authoritatively outside His written Word) and many are affiliated with the NAR as well.

And I'm sad to say that they have some following even among the nominally reformed, though not among those who know Scripture. As Protestants we joyfully affirm that salvation is by Grace Alone through Faith Alone. However, we understand salvation to mean more than praying a prayer and then paying preachers to proclaim poppycock. It includes sanctification. That painful but absolutely necessary process by which God transforms us from the people we were before, to the people we will be throughout eternity.

I saw this comment “ During a discussion with a compromising Calvinist this morning, I said, "One does not “decide” to become a Christian. Salvation is all of Sovereign Grace." He responded by saying, "Absolutely. By their fruits you will know them!"
When saying this, the man was clearly speaking of fruit as being MORALITY. In other words, he was saying that through examination of the professing Christian's life over time, we will be able to tell whether or not the decision they made to become a Christian was a true or false conversion. Again, fruit to this man is the morality and perceived holiness others will see in the individual's life.
While fruit can be morality and a changed life in Scripture, that IS NOT THE CONTEXT from which the man got the verse he quoted to me. The verse is found in Matthew 7: 16 "You will know them by their fruits." In that section of Scripture, the context for "fruits" is DOCTRINE. Jesus is saying that by the DOCTRINE false prophets teach, you will be able to identify them.
Therefore, when some gives you that verse, DO THE FOLLOWING, which is what I did with this man.
1) Ask them where that quote is found in Scripture. Odds are they will have no idea. This should be a red flag to them, but don't count on it.
2) Direct them to Matthew 7:15. Tell them to read from verse 15-20. ASK THEM to determine for themselves what the fruit spoken of in this section of Scripture is referring to. After they have thought about it, tell them to get back to you. This works great for FB. If the discussion is in person, adjust accordingly.
3) Do not be surprised if after giving these instructions to someone on FB if you don't hear back from them. The man this morning never got back to me. That is not your or my concern. We are responsible for teaching truth. The rest is up to God.”

Sounds like this is hyper grace to me.

The obvious answer is, of course, this is not an either/or situation but rather a both/and situation. The answer which this suspected Hype-grace individual took issue with, i.e., the other individual must have meant morality is incorrect because it is TRUE that "fruit" is more than only morality. One can be outwardly very "moral/ethical" but bankrupt in regard to biblical truth. One is not saved simply because someone lives a "good life". Nor is one saved because they profess right doctrine. But the fruit of regeneration is knowing the truth and living that truth and having a radically changed disposition toward God and all that is pure and good as revealed in Scripture.

This individual just might be someone who has been deceived and who has embraced Hyper-grace or some other form of antinomianism or heresy.