Perversions of Grace: Cheap Grace and Legalism

God's written Word is clear about salvation: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast," says the Apostle Paul (Ephesians 2:8-9).  "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law" (Romans 3:28).

Salvation is by faith alone, through grace alone, in Jesus Christ alone.
There is nothing you or I can do to earn, merit or sustain our salvation.  It is God's gift to us.  He gets all of the credit; we contribute or add nothing.

This sounds simple enough, does it not? 

• Why, therefore, do some Christians believe that God's free grace is "cheap grace," giving us a "license" to sin so that grace might abound?

• Why do others acknowledge the truth of these words, but then in the next breath add requirements involving effort on our part, which negate this truth?

At one end of the spectrum: Cheap grace or lukewarm churches that place little (if any) emphasis on repentance and carrying a cross for Christ.  At the other is the legalistic church preoccupied with keeping strict rules. You may have personal firsthand experience with a legalistic or cheap grace church or know friends and/or family members that do.

• Some might ask, which is worse: Cheap grace or Legalism?

20th century theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer contends in “The Cost of Discipleship” that cheap grace is worse. Cheap grace makes it easier to sin more, not less, and do so without guilt or remorse. Cheap grace says you can be saved without becoming dead to sin; without having to carry a cross like Christ. It’s a feel-good theology all about ME and Jesus dying on the cross to save ME.

This message resonates well in our modern materialistic, consumer-driven and selfish culture. Some of the largest and fastest-growing churches in America today thrive by preaching this ME-centered Gospel that is all about a Jesus who demands nothing of us and whose purpose is to fulfill our wants and needs. With its emphasis on conforming the church to the culture, not Christ, cheap grace is a counterfeit Christianity. Cheap grace “often results in church-hopping, unrepentant divorce, and permanent spiritual immaturity,” writes Jim Reynolds in “The Lavish Hospitality of God.”

Richard Lovelace, in “Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal,” writes: “Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives. Many have so light an apprehension of God’s holiness and of the extent and guilt of their sin that consciously they see little need for justification, although below the surface of their lives they are deeply guilt-ridden and insecure….”

Then there is legalism, which some might see as a much-needed and welcome course correction to cheap grace or vice versa. Legalism, in short, replaces salvation by God’s grace with salvation by obedience to God’s laws and good works.You are loved by God and you are saved, but only if and as long as you measure up to his standards. Your salvation depends on your effort at attaining holiness form one day to the next. God’s standard is nothing less than holiness or perfection; complete righteousness. None of us can ever attain that, and so we all fall short.

“Legalism is a closed system of rule-keeping, always creating laws where none exist: ‘Do not use instrumental music in worship,’ for instance, and ‘Do not drink alcoholic beverages.’ Legalism considers obedience and worship as saving responses rather than the responses of the saved…. Legalistic obedience became a harsh, unbiblical means of earning salvation,” according to Reynolds.

“Liberation from legalism, according to the Apostle Paul, should free us from bondage but also allow us to walk into cross-carrying discipleship, the filling of the Spirit, mature obedience, and a rich communal and missional life in Christ,” says Reynolds, adding that “my journey out of legalistic bondage into a desert of cheap grace was not such a move toward freedom.”

If legalism gets us going on the path toward holiness and obedience to God’s laws, but ultimately leaves us frustrated because of our inability to attain God’s standard of righteous perfection, cheap grace leave us where we are.

Legalism misses the fundamental point, which is that obedience to God’s law and his will is not what saves us, but that obedience to his commandments and good deeds are the consequence of salvation by grace. Legalism is works-based salvation; that is, salvation by your effort.

Christians should be careful to avoid embracing one of these two extremes: Cheap Grace or Legalism.