“SALVATION BY GRACE ALONE.” It’s a modern theological cliché—by definition, “a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.” This cliché has become the way you establish your bona fide evangelical credentials. It is meant to bolster a doctrine that emerged from the Reformation, that salvation has nothing to do with behavior. The phrase has provided a secure hiding place for millions, somewhere they could rest from the obvious labor the gospel requires. The divorcing of grace from behavior is responsible for the church relieving itself of the moral burden to live better and be better than the general population. Dietrich Bonhoeffer applied his stinging rebuke of this development in his 1937 manual for ministers, The Cost of Discipleship.
There are actually Christians who proudly proclaim that they are no better behaved than people of other religions or no religions at all. If this is the gospel—that you are saved, you get your sins forgiven, and you gain entrance into heaven but that your morality, behavior, and the collective contribution of the church will not improve life on earth—why would anyone be interested? Any honest person with moral integrity would be repulsed by such an idea. Skeptics would (rightly) say, “Christians go to heaven regardless of life and conduct, but non-Christians go to hell forever, even if they live better and contribute more to society.” Even flawed humans reserve life sentences for only the most heinous crimes.
So we can conclude that “salvation by grace alone” is a cliché: It clearly reveals a lack of thought.
“Salvation by grace alone” protects the option to live as a partial Christian—to take advantage of religious goods and services, the assurance of heaven, the immediate and unconditional availability of forgiveness. You can come and go as you please, live a selfish life, be critical of the church and its leadership but not help solve the problem—and still get Communion.
Cheap grace means justification of sin but not of the sinner. . . . The church that teaches this doctrine of grace thereby confers such grace upon itself. The world finds in this church a cheap cover-up for its sins.
There are actually Christians who proudly proclaim that they are no better behaved than people of other religions or no religions at all. If this is the gospel—that you are saved, you get your sins forgiven, and you gain entrance into heaven but that your morality, behavior, and the collective contribution of the church will not improve life on earth—why would anyone be interested? Any honest person with moral integrity would be repulsed by such an idea. Skeptics would (rightly) say, “Christians go to heaven regardless of life and conduct, but non-Christians go to hell forever, even if they live better and contribute more to society.” Even flawed humans reserve life sentences for only the most heinous crimes.
So we can conclude that “salvation by grace alone” is a cliché: It clearly reveals a lack of thought.
“Salvation by grace alone” protects the option to live as a partial Christian—to take advantage of religious goods and services, the assurance of heaven, the immediate and unconditional availability of forgiveness. You can come and go as you please, live a selfish life, be critical of the church and its leadership but not help solve the problem—and still get Communion.
- Bill Hull & Brandon Cook,
The Cost of Cheap Grace: Reclaiming the Value of Discipleship, 2020.
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