Free Grace Theology on Trial

Book excerpt: The trial is on! The prosecution has made its charges and the defense has countered. You are the judge. The question to be decided: Is eternal life God's gift to anyone who simply believes in Jesus Christ for it (according to God's promise-as in John 3:16), or is receiving eternal life as a gift conditioned on one's performance? Does God give everlasting life to a person because of what he does or promises to do, or does He extend it as an absolutely free offer without regard for what we do, but only in Whom we believe? Are we saved through faith in Christ or by our works? ---Those of the Reformed, Lordship Salvation, or "historical Protestant" sect constantly accuse Free Grace advocates of depreciating the gospel by failing to condition the validity of one's born-again experience on repentance and subsequent good works. They say that the Bible teaches that we become justified in God's sight by faith alone, but then they add the contradictory idea that the faith that brings justification is never alone in that works and repentance must always accompany faith in some way. ---This book presents a careful, point-for-point defense against the five charges ofWayne Grudem in his book ("Free Grace" Theology: 5 Ways it Diminishes the Gospel) and D.A. Carson's three allegations of fallacious hermeneutics leveled against the Free Grace method of interpretation in his book (Exegetical Fallacies). ---Dr. Badger responds by not only pointing out the logical and exegetical fallacies of these two Reformed Theology opponents, but he also demonstrates their blatant imposition of Puritan theology or "Lordship Salvation" upon the meaning of the biblical text. The shallow, one-dimensional understanding of eternal salvation by Calvinistic Reformed theology is thus revealed, refuted, and put to bed.