Apostate Grace

One of the irrefutable facts of the New Testament is that the apostles predicted a great apostasy!

Acts 20:28-30; 1 Tim. 4:1-5; 2 Tim. 4:1-4; 2 Thess. 2:1-4; 2 Tim. 3:1-3; 1 Jn. 2:18; 1 Jn. 2:22; 1 Jn. 4:3; 2 Jn 7-9

Acts 20:28–30 NKJV

28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.

1 Timothy 4:1–5 NKJV

1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

2 Timothy 4:1–4 NKJV

1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

2 Thessalonians 2:1–4 NKJV

1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

2 Timothy 3:1–3 NKJV

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,

1 John 2:18 NKJV

18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.

1 John 2:22 NKJV

22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.

1 John 4:3 NKJV

3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

2 John 7–9 NKJV

7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. 9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.

So, we shouldn’t be surprised that the majority of denominational references to grace are apostate.

Augustine Vs. Pelagius

The nature of the disputants:

For the first four centuries of the church, most of the public debate and contention had to do with things like the Godhead and Deity of Christ.

Many have the idea that the foretold apostasy was overcome because the truth of God’s person and nature was successfully defended.

But what about all the other departures from the faith?

Infant Baptism, Organization of the church, Original Sin, etc.

The apostasy was indeed going into full blown apostasy!

So, when we come to the first public dispute over the grace of God between Augustine and Pelagius we must remember that they were apostate.

They were not debating from a purely biblical viewpoint, or even a remotely biblical viewpoint.

Pelagius (AD ?-420) seems to be the one closer to the truth but had some pretty serious errors in his views.

Pelagius based his view of grace primarily in the free will of man.

While he made sound arguments on the free will of man and man’s ability to choose obedience to God, he went too far in saying - or, at the least, implying - that man could live free from sin through the exercise of his own free will (cf. Rom. 3:23; 1 John 1:9-10).

While he correctly taught that we are born just as innocent as Adam was when he was created, he wrongly pushed it too far in saying that Adam only injured himself by his sin (cf. Rom. 5:12).

Pelagius’ emphasis was on obedience and had what we might call an overreaction to the “we can’t help it” mentality of the time (which prevails to our time!) (cf. Rom. 6:1-2).

Pelagius believed that the grace of God is a natural endowment from birth which enables man to turn from sin, follow Christ’s perfect example, and keep God’s holy law.

Augustine (AD 354-430) “refuted” Pelagius as an Heretic but also taught biblical heresy.

Augustine taught the unbiblical doctrine of original sin - i.e. we are born bearing Adam’s sin.

So, according to Augustine, the human race lost the ability to be righteous because Adam sinned.

Man is born with a “sinful nature,” according to this view - which apostate view prevails to this very day.

This is what Calvin would later develop as the doctrine of Total Depravity.

Much of Calvin’s teachings had there origin with Augustine, as he also said that God’s grace was “infused” and “irresistible” to those that God had predestined to be saved.

Augustine taught that grace is infused into the soul of man, thereby making him intrinsically righteous and capable of producing good works of his own.

Catholic Apostasy on Grace

The Roman Catholic Church accepted in general Augustine’s doctrine of grace but eliminated predestination as a necessary element.

Thomas Aquinas (1224 - 1274), the great Catholic philosopher, said: “In order that God may dwell in man, the metaphysical center of the soul must be purified by an infusion of the supernatural ‘habitus’ of grace (or love); thus man is rendered capable of performing good works and of earning merits.”

It is by means of the sacramental system that “all human works originating in the grace of God become merits in the sight of God. Man, subsequent to the infusion of Grace, possesses a worthy and righteous character and by means of good works merits for himself eternal life and an increase of grace. When an abundance of grace is available in the life of a saint, his merits may be applied to another person to whom he desires to render assistance.”

Titus 3:5

Martin Luther’s Break With Catholicism

Luther (1483-1546) rightly rejected the Catholic doctrine of enabling grace but then replaced it with the equally erroneous doctrine of salvation by grace only - i.e. justifying grace.

According to Luther, grace is God Himself working in us.

“Man is passive in his relation to God; God alone has a free will. Man is… like a steed. He wills what God or the devil wills, just in so far as he is guided by God or the devil. But why God converts some and leaves others to destruction we do not know. That is a matter of his secret will, in regard to which we dare ask no questions.”

Calvin, Father or Reformation Theology

John Calvin (1509-1564) agreed with Luther on the doctrine of predestination, on the nature and consequences of original sin, the wholly extrinsic work of grace, and on faith only salvation.

“[Man] has not the free power of choosing between good and evil - which is called free will.”

“Since we are all sinners and have several residues of sins, it is always necessary that we be justified by something outside ourselves… And this, without any consideration at all of our acts, which are not of such value as to stand before the judgment of God.”

“For we are said to be justified through faith, not in the sense, however, that we receive within us any righteousness, but because the righteousness of Christ is credited to us, entirely as if it were really ours, while our iniquity is not charged to us, so that one can truly cal this righteousness simply the remission of sins.”

Calvin’s views on Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, and Irresistible Grace, naturally lead to the doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints (one-saved-always-saved).

Conclusion:

Sadly, most peoples’ understanding of grace is based in this apostate development of the doctrine.

The New Testament is simple, not hard to understand!

The grace of God is the availability He has provided for our salvation.