Grace and Sin
One time I had a guy say to me, “You preach too much grace and need to teach more truth.” By truth, he meant commands. Commands that tell people not to sin. To some people, grace and truth are on opposite ends of a spectrum.
Grace is what gets people into heaven, and truth is what teaches people how to live (by not sinning). So, if you don’t preach truth (don’t do this, don’t do that), then people are just going to live a life of sin. This guy was afraid that Christians were going be misled into thinking that sinful behavior is okay because I was teaching too much about grace.
But is that true? Does grace lead to sinning?
The apostle Paul sure didn’t think so. He said this in Titus 2:11-14
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It (GRACE) teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes that it is grace that teaches us to not sin. It would seem then that preaching too much grace is not the problem. It’s not grace that is leading Christians to sin.
THE PROBLEM IS FALSE BELIEFS
People who think that too much grace leads to sin, believe that Christians want to sin. Christians are just poor, old sinners who are saved by grace. And sinners want to sin, so preachers must focus on sin management.
But do Christians want to sin?
In the Titus 2 passage, in verse 14 Paul says that Jesus gave himself (past tense) to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify himself a people that are eager to do what is good.
Evidently, the truth is Christians don’t want to sin.
The real problem then is that people don’t know the truth about who they are. The truth about what’s been done to them through the cross and the sending of the Spirit.
They think they are a sinner, and guess what sinners do? Yeah, they sin.
But Paul says we #1, have been redeemed from wickedness; #2, already been purified; and #3, are eager to do what is good.
REDEEMED FROM WICKEDNESS
Redeemed means purchased, to pay a ransom price. You were in bondage to sin and wickedness. You were enslaved to the power of sin (Romans 3:9), and there was nothing you could do about it.
But Jesus paid the price (death) to set you free. To break you out from the prison of sin and death. And when you put your faith in Him for salvation, that is exactly what happened to you.
This is what Paul says in Romans 6:6-7…
6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.
We were crucified with Christ. Sin has lost its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. We have been set free from the power of sin.
By God’s grace, this is what has happened to you. You have been redeemed from wickedness.
PURIFIED
Jesus also purified us, Paul said in Titus 2:14. To purify means to make clean, to cleanse from all impurities.
In Christ, you are pure. You are righteous. You are holy.
Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 1:30…
30 God has united you with Christ Jesus…Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
By God’s grace, you have been redeemed from wickedness and been purified. It’s what is true about you.
EAGER TO DO WHAT IS GOOD
Most Christians believe that they are eager to do what is wrong. That they want to sin. This is the problem, they either don’t know the truth or don’t believe it.
The truth Paul said in Titus 2:14 is that Jesus redeemed us from wickedness and purified us in order to make us eager to do what is good.
You have a new heart. The prophet Ezekiel was even inspired by the Spirit to write about this being a part of what God would do under the New Covenant. In Ezekiel 36:26, it says…
26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
Your old heart wanted to sin, but your new heart wants to do what is right, what is good.
You may not always feel like this in your flesh. You may be tempted to think or feel differently by Satan from time to time, but your feelings don’t determine truth. God does. And He says that by His grace, He has given you a new heart that is eager to do what is good.
GRACE AND SIN CONCLUSION
So, the problem is not teaching too much grace. The problem is that people are often not taught enough grace.
They are taught only about grace being what gets them to heaven. Salvation is grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Accept his forgiveness, and you go to heaven. But in the here and now, there is still something wrong with you. You are a sinner. You want to sin. I command you to not sin any longer!
But grace is not just what gets us to heaven. Paul says it teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. (Titus 2:12)
By God’s grace we have been redeemed from wickedness, purified, and given hearts that are eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:14)
Grace does not lead us to sin. Grace teaches us what has been done to us by Christ. What we have received in Him. What we have been made into by Him.
Grace teaching says, “You are a saint. You want to do what is good in Christ.”
Grace is what leads us to live godly lives in this present age because through His grace we’ve been made godly in Christ.
Too much grace will lead to sin? No, not enough grace will lead to sin. Grace is what allows us to live in victory over sin.