Is Grace a license to sin?

I read this article yesterday and wanted to share with everyone. I noticed that most of the Christian podcasts I've been listening to have been preaching alot about grace and how we can sin, but we're covered by the blood. Not sure what to think about all of this (thank you Shimmie for the private message and link ).


Is Grace a License to Sin?

“Don’t teach them Grace! I know these people, they are vermin, if you teach them that all their sins are forgiven, they will go and sin it up! They will take advantage of God!” – The Religious Mindset


I constantly remind people that it was not the world that persecuted Jesus, it was always the Religious. Religious people are offended by Grace, because Grace gives for free what many of them have dedicated their entire lives to getting by their sacrifice, efforts and dedication. The religious always feel that Grace will let people take advantage of God. Of course, the religious always forget that people can “take advantage” of God under Law or Grace.


The number one objection I get from the religious is that Grace is just a licence to sin, that we need law to keep people in line and to keep people to standard of good behaviour. Those religious people, who rely on the law for a standard of good behaviour, do not trust in the new nature of Christ in people to bring about Righteousness. They are so afraid to trust the Christ in people; they feel we need to add to the equation, with laws, rules and duty. The Gospel on the other hand says its Jesus Only, plus nothing.


The religious falsely accused Paul of teaching that grace was a license to sin (Romans 3:8); that we can just go on sinning all the more to the Glory of God’s Grace (Romans 6:1)? Paul rightly answered, we are dead to sin, we cannot live in sin anymore (Romans 6:2). Many believers when they first come to Grace, do go out and look like sinners at first, but that is because they were never really living right before. They were under the pretense of Law that forced them into Good Behavior. Now that Grace has been revealed to them, their first instinct in that liberty may appear to be sinful indulges, but the more they draw on the Life of Christ in them, His Grace will ultimately bring them into the God-life they are meant to live.


Grace would be a license to sin if all God did on the Cross was forgive all sins, then we would be at risk of “taking advantage” of God, but He also gave us a New Nature where we no longer desire sin, rather we desire Jesus. As I often teach in our Seminars, if you believed you were a Billionaire, would you ever need someone to tell you not to steal? Of course not, that person’s faith in their identity as a billionaire will keep them from stealing. So what do you think would happen if a believer trusted in all the Good things Jesus has done to us, in making us Saints, Holy and Righteous? Would you ever need to tell that person to Stop Sinning? Of Course Not, they would live Righteous by faith, like the Bible says they will; the Just shall Live by Faith (Hebrews 10:38)


In the words of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “First of all let me make a comment, to me a very important and vital comment. The true preaching of the gospel of salvation by grace alone always leads to the possibility of this charge being brought against it. There is no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel of salvation than this, that some people might misunderstand it and misinterpret it to mean that it really amounts to this, that because you are saved by grace alone it does not matter at all what you do; you can go on sinning as much as you like because it will redound all the more to the glory of grace. That is a very good test of gospel preaching. If my preaching and presentation of the gospel of salvation does not expose it to that misunderstanding, then it is not the gospel.”


Andrew Farley on is Grace a Licence to Sin?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L61oKuF43ps&feature=player_embedded



Link to Article: http://christianstt.com/by-his-blood-is-grace-a-licence-to-sin/

Thank you BostonMaria

Let's say a person dodged a bullet; they had a risky sexual encounter and by God's grace, they did not contract AIDS or any other dangerous disease.

However, once receiving God's grace (protection), this person goes out and resumes his/her risky sexual behaviour. There's a point where Grace runs out.

Romans 1:21-28

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools

23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.

27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved (reprobate) mind, to do what ought not to be done.

Grace runs out...

Thank you Shimmie! I need to read the bible more often.

BTW, off topic, who is that precious child in your siggie?

Romans 6
New King James Version (NKJV)
Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

From Slaves of Sin to Slaves of God

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

BostonMaria said:

Thank you Shimmie! I need to read the bible more often.

BTW, off topic, who is that precious child in your siggie?

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You're welcome, Loved One... I thank you even more.

The baby is my baby grandson who just turned 3 yrs old on Thursday.

Grace is a gift and as one matures in Christ one then in my thoughts begins to think more about pleasing God therefore things that they use to do will slowly stop. I can only speak for myself but after really finally accepting and still working on accepting God's grace and love it makes me not want to fail..not to say I still don't but it makes it harder.

I agree that grace is not a license to sin. Yes, technically we all sin but I'm talking about consciously choosing to commit grave sin knowing it's wrong but saying "oh well, God will just forgive me." That's abusing God's grace and mercy.

"If you love Me, you will keep my commandments."

For me, nothing is worth me be separated from my Lord in the sacrament of communion and I know that I cannot receive if I'm not in a state of grace. That actually helps to keep me in line. The beautiful thing is the more we receive Him, the more He helps us to stop falling. However, it still requires us to make a conscious effort to choose to go with God daily.

Grace is not a license to sin, even though there are alot of Christians out there that act as though it is a license to sin unconsciously.

^^you mean conciously?

because that's how some christians act, some are well aware of what they are doing...I've heard a christian lady say that the Lord know's she has 'needs' so she continued to have sex and ended up pregnant..

Iwanthealthyhair67 said:

^^you mean conciously?

because that's how some christians act, some are well aware of what they are doing...I've heard a christian lady say that the Lord know's she has 'needs' so she continued to have sex and ended up pregnant..

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Iwanthealthyhair67 - I guess I mean both unconsciously and consciously. There are some Christians they say that they sin without awareness of sinning, but I find that to be a bit suspect.

And that is really messed up for that "Christian" lady to say that the Lord knows she has needs as a reason to continue to have sex outside of marriage. It's like she's making excuse for sin.

@Poohbear exactly!


with knowledge of the word comes responsibility and for the most part we do not want to be responsible it requires that we 'live right', so we dont study the word or sometimes we purposely misquote and misuse scripture to suit our own purposes which really means we (some of us) make excuses to sin...

This is my EXACT response in the other thread about Poohbear's question on grace and sin



First let's look at grace, what the BIBLE says grace is.....

Titus 2:
11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Grace comes to teach us to refrain from ungodliness, not to indulge in it more. The scripture above says that it has appeared on to all of us that we may live right in THIS life. That's why we are saved by grace because it changes who we are, so that we would not live the same old way. It does not make us indulge into sin.

Thats why Roman 6 said Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? So it's saying shall we continue to do wrong because we know that God will give us another chance? No. Why? Because God gives grace and mercy so we may learn what is the right thing to do and turn from our evil ways.


In that very same chapter, few verses down it says this:

Romans 6
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.


So through grace appearing unto us, we are made new. The power of sin has been destroyed, not enhanced...

2 Cor 6:1

We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

Vain means to be profitless or of no use.So if Paul is saying to not take it in vain, that means grace profits us something. Going back to the first scripture, GRACE TEACHES.. So Paul is saying to learn from grace! Grow from grace! Don't stay the same way when God is giving you grace to change.
Grace is the oppurtunity to get things right, not an oppurtunity to do more wrong.


Now on Romans 7 people always take this is out of context because they are not studying the bible, but just reading it..They just stop where they want to and do not continue reading. When Paul wrote the Epistle Romans, he did not write out Romans Ch. 7 verse 1. But the bible scholars broke down the bible into chapters and verses so that we may understand and follow it easier. So when Paul wrote it, it was written out in a letter form. So just because a chapter ends at verse 25, that does not mean the Paul's thought ended there.

So lets take a look at the end of Romans 7:

22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.



Now let's CONTINUE the thought in Chapter 8


Now Chapter 8 begins with therefore, so it is a CONTINUATION of chapter 7.....People love to stop here, but Paul is not finished with his thought.....


Romans 8:1

1.There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit

So back in Romans 7:22-24 Paul was feeling condemned because he seen things working in his members. But He said that the INNER man delighted after God. But his flesh was saying something different. So he comes to encourage us that the believer should not be discouraged because they may "feel" a certain way but must remember if we live our lives according to the spirit of God we are not condemned.

So Paul was saying that YES he felt a battle in his flesh sometimes to do things that was contrary to God, but that's why he said with his MIND he serves God. His flesh had no dominion over what he did. But he walked in the spirit. He no longer walked after fleshly desires but he was totally ruled by the spirit of God. So that's why he said there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. People like to quote this scripture but they always stop there, but the scripture says, there is no condemation to them in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but the spirit. You must walk in the Spirit of God to be not be condemned.