Free grace theology
Serious error
The teaching that saving faith is simply believing Jesus' promise of eternal life, without any necessary turning from sin or submission to him as Lord.
Also called: Free grace, non-lordship salvation, no lordship requirement
What it means
Free grace theology arose in twentieth-century American evangelicalism, especially in some dispensational circles. It teaches that salvation depends only on believing that Jesus gives eternal life to all who trust him. Repentance, in this view, is not a condition of salvation, and discipleship is a separate, later step that a true believer may or may not take.
Its holders want to protect the freeness of the gospel. They fear that requiring repentance or a changed life turns faith into a work, and they want every believer to have assurance resting on Christ's promise alone.
The Westminster and 1689 confessions disagree sharply. They teach that faith alone justifies, but the faith that justifies is never alone: it is always accompanied by repentance and the other saving graces, and it works by love. The opposing view is often called lordship salvation.
What Scripture says
Faith without works is dead, and even demons believe and shudder.
Jesus sends his disciples to proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins in his name.
Paul preached repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.
Anyone who would come after Jesus must deny himself and take up his cross daily.
The grace that brings salvation trains us to renounce ungodliness.
What is wrong with it
Scripture does not separate trusting Christ as Savior from receiving him as Lord. The apostles preached repentance and faith together, and Jesus called people to follow him, not merely to agree to a promise. The faith that saves is a living trust that unites a person to Christ, and union with Christ always brings new life. James says plainly that a faith which produces no works is dead and cannot save.
Requiring repentance does not make salvation earned. Repentance, like faith, is a gift of God and a turning to him, not a payment to him.
How it undermines the truth
It undermines the nature of saving faith and the reality of regeneration, by allowing a person to be saved without being made new. It undermines sanctification, making holiness optional for the believer. And it weakens the Lordship of Christ, who is never offered to sinners in pieces.
How it can harm a church
The greatest harm is false assurance. People who once made a profession but show no love for Christ, no grief over sin, and no desire for holiness may be told that they are safe, when Scripture would urge them to examine themselves and turn to Christ. Churches shaped by this view can struggle to practice discipline or to call professing believers to repentance.
It can also leave sincere believers confused, as if obedience to Christ were an extra rather than the natural fruit of the faith they already have.
This page describes a teaching, not the faith of any person who holds it.
Where it comes up
Confessions: WCF 11.2; WCF 14.2; WCF 15.3; LBCF 1689 11.2; LBCF 1689 14.2
On this site: Sanctification
Related terms
Lordship salvationHistoric orthodoxy
The teaching that the faith which saves receives Jesus as both Savior and Lord, and necessarily brings repentance and a changed life.
Eternal security without perseveranceSerious error
The teaching that anyone who has once believed is saved forever, even if they later stop believing or live with no evidence of new life.
AntinomianismSerious error
The teaching that God's moral law has no binding claim on the lives of believers.
Justification by faith aloneHistoric orthodoxy
God declares sinners righteous in His sight not because of anything they do, but only because of Christ's righteousness, received through faith alone.
RegenerationHistoric orthodoxy
The work of the Holy Spirit by which a person dead in sin is made spiritually alive, given a new heart that turns to God in faith and repentance.