DOES FREE GRACE LEAD TO LICENSE TO SIN?
March 15, 2019
I was recently asked the question, “Does Free Grace lead to a license to sin?”
This person likely asked about Romans 6, because in his/her mind, “free grace” naturally leads to a license to sin, which is not true. This is a great example of the incorrect thinking that can result from a misunderstanding of the NT’s teaching about “free grace.”
Thanks a lot for asking the question about Romans 6. It’s a major misunderstanding that “free grace” naturally leads to a license to sin.
Only very legalistic people would incorrectly think that free grace (which the NT teaches) gives believers a license to sin more (see Rom 3:7-8).
John MacArthur, in his book The Gospel According to Jesus (which was first published in 1988; it was revised in 1994 and 2008), teaches that true regeneration includes liberating the sinner from sin in one’s experience (pp. 73-74). This isn’t correct. Paul taught in Romans 6 that believers are indeed set free, in our position, from sin, but this isn’t necessarily true in experience. I think it’s very obvious to most people that the hundreds of exhortations in the epistles imply that it’s possible for believers to not do what the epistles exhort us to do. For example, Paul commands us to love each other, but as we all know from experience, we don’t always keep that command.
The NT teaches that believers won’t be free from sin in our experience until the future tense of our salvation (ultimate sanctification or glorification) (see 1 John 3:2).
We know from many passages in the OT and NT that this statement by MacArthur that believers have been set free from sin in our experience is flawed. Peter was already born again when he lamented his sinfulness in Luke 5:8. Job was also a believer when he repented (Job 42:6). Isaiah was also a believer when he said he was a man of unclean lips (Isa 6:5).
Paul’s commands in Rom 6:12-13 (to not let sin reign in their bodies, etc.) don’t make the slightest bit of sense if according to MacArthur, believers have been liberated in their experience from sin. By strongly urging believers to not let sin dominate their experience, Paul was clearly showing that they might allow that to happen (cf. John 8:30-32). If we’ve been set free from sin in our experience (which the NT doesn’t teach), they why would any believer sin at all. If any believer claims they never sin, I’d like to meet them, because, in my 57 years, I’ve never met one. When a believer even thinks they never sin, they’re sinning just thinking that. It’s a major error not to make a distinction between what believers should do (not sin), and what we do indeed do (sin).
First, I’ll give an overview of Romans 6. In this entire section in Romans (chapters 6-8), Paul is focusing on present tense / progressive sanctification (our freedom from the power of sin). Chapter 6 refers to a believer’s freedom from sin. 6:1-4 refers to a believer’s new position in Christ, and in 6:1-11 Paul explains our new identity, then in 6:12-14 he applies our new identity, and then in 6:15-23 He encouraged the readers to act on their new union or identity in Christ.
I love the story David Anderson tells of Romans 6: “When I first studied Romans in seminary, the head of the NT department, S. Lewis Johnson, said, “Men, if you are not accused of preaching ‘easy believism’ or ‘cheap grace’ when you present the gospel, then you are not preaching Paul’s gospel. So, if you are accused of that, then you are in pretty good company.” Is Paul’s gospel cheap? Of course not — it was free for us, but infinitely costly for Him.”
Paul isn’t teaching in Rom 6:2 that Christians aren’t able to sin or don’t habitually sin (which doesn’t mean much of anything since the term “habitually” can’t be objectified; see next paragraph), but what he means is Christians must not sin because of our high position. For a Christian to deliberately sin is unthinkable (again, based on our high position).
My friend Pastor/Dr. Dennis Rokser makes an excellent point in his discussion of “habitual sin,” when he writes, “In addition, the view that claims ‘born again people don’t habitually sin’ simply doesn’t hold water logically. From a practical standpoint, how many times must you sin a particular sin before it can be considered habitual or a pattern and then conclude that you are not born again? This view leaves one floating on a sea of subjectivity since it undermines the absolute assurance of one’s salvation (which God offers all believers in His Word).”
If you truly understand grace, it doesn’t encourage sin. The fact that many like MacArthur, Grudem, Piper, Sproul and many others even say that free grace is a license to sin shows they don’t truly understand the NT teaching of grace. Believers can abuse grace (this is one reason why Paul wrote Romans 6-8), but that was disgusting to Paul. Paul’s point in Romans 6 (vv. 12, 16-22) is that Christians can live as slaves of sin, but they shouldn’t do that.
It is clear from Paul’s teaching in Romans 6 that our death to sin doesn’t make it impossible for us to sin. When Paul wrote in Rom 6:2 that we’ve died to sin, he doesn’t mean that sin has been eliminated, but we no longer have to be in bondage to it. For a Christian to continue to live in sin is a complete contradiction to our relationship to sin, since as Paul states in this chapter, we’ve died to it.
So, when Paul teaches that we’ve died to sin, we’ve died to that realm (Position) where sin rules and we’ve been transferred to a realm (Position) where sin doesn’t have any jurisdiction at all.
SOURCES USED (NOTE: when I list my sources, this doesn’t mean I agree with everything in these books).
Anderson, Dave; Reitman, Jim. Portraits of Righteousness. Liberty University Press.
Hodges, Zane. Romans: Deliverance from Wrath. Grace Evangelical Society.
López, René A. “The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans.” The Grace New Testament Commentary. Ed. Robert N. Wilkin. Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2010.
Rokser, Dennis. How to Interpret 1 John: Fresh Insights & Observations to Consider. Grace Gospel Press.
Wilkin, Robert N. A Gospel of Doubt: The Legacy of John MacArthur’s The Gospel According to Jesus. Grace Evangelical Society.