I want to deal with something I’ve heard a lot in Christian circles.  It’s the term, “Greasy Grace”.

Now, if you’re not familiar with this term, it is often used after the message of Grace is presented.  Another pastor or preacher will come in and warn against, “Greasy Grace”, with the implication often being, “If you’re not careful, this Grace message will lead you into a life of sin.”  They say, “I’ve heard of people who have been confronted about sin in their lives, and their response is, ‘I’m under Grace, you can’t judge me.’”

That fear of Grace leading you to sin is totally unfounded.  In fact, the Bible teaches us the exact opposite.  Grace teaches us not to sin!  Grace leads us away from that life.

Most people, while well meaning, will point you back to the law.  They bring up the Ten Commandments as a “Thou Shall Not” checklist, when in reality nothing could be farther from the truth!  The Law wasn’t given to show you how to live right, the Law was given to show you that no matter what you did, no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t meet God’s standards in your own efforts.  It was to show man his need for a Savior.

The Bible also calls the Law the “ministry of death and condemnation” (2 Corinthians 3:7, 9), and points out that the reason the law was given was to strengthen sin. (1 Corinthians 15:56)

You see, the law was so spiritual that carnal man couldn’t keep it.  Man could never do enough to fulfill it, because under the Law there was a faithfulness problem.  When a person wasn’t faithful under the Old Covenant they cut themselves off from God.

God needed a new way to reach man.  An agreement that we couldn’t mess up!

Enter Jesus.

Jesus came, and upon His death, burial, and resurrection formed a new agreement with God.  This agreement wasn’t like the agreement God made with the Israelites.  Man was not in the center of this new agreement, Jesus was, and Jesus’ place in the center allowed man to be the beneficiary!  It no longer was, “If you do, God will do,” or, “God is good to you because you’re good,” but, “God is good because He is good, and He loves me, so He’s going to take care of me.” (Hebrews 8:7-13)

God promised in the New Covenant that it no longer be based on man’s righteousness or his faithfulness, but on Jesus’!  He says in Hebrews that:

“I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more.”  Hebrews 8:12

Did you catch that?  It isn’t based on you, it’s all based on Jesus’ faithfulness! He is faithful even if we are faithless.

If we are faithless, He remains faithful.  He cannot deny Himself. 2 Timothy 2:13

This means that no matter what you do, you cannot mess up the agreement between you and God because it was never based on you to begin with!  Isn’t that good news?

This is usually where the accusations of “Greasy Grace” come in.  People say things like, “You’re just giving people a license to sin.”  Well, the first thing is that people have been sinning without a license anyways.  It’s been happening for years, and I don’t think the writings of a 26 year old man will change that.

The second thing is, if you’re walking in sin, you don’t understand Grace and it’s fullness.  You see, in Romans, Paul tells us that sin shall not rule over us, because we’re under Grace, and not the law. (Romans 6:14)

Did you catch that?  Paul is saying that sin can’t have dominion over someone who is living in grace!  Why is that?  Back up a few verses to Romans 6:1-2

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Paul is answering the question of, “Should we continue in sin so that we can continue to receive grace?” His answer in the original language boils down to this, “Sin?  After grace?  How?  How can sin be something that you continue in once grace has been received?”

He acts like he doesn’t even understand the question.  How can a Believer continue in sin after they’ve received Grace?”

Listen to how The Mirror Bible puts those two verses:

It is not possible to interpret grace as a cheap excuse to continue in sin.  It sounds to some that we are saying, “Let’s carry on sinning then so that grace may abound.”  How ridiculous is that!  How can we be dead and alive to sin at the same time? Romans 6:1-2

Did you catch that?  It isn’t possible to interpret grace as a cheap excuse to continue in sin!  That isn’t what’s being preached!  Most preachers I know who preach grace aren’t saying that at all, and Paul says that it’s not possible to interpret it that way!  So, the only reason people are calling it “Greasy Grace” is they don’t actually understand what’s being taught.

I was actually the same way for a while.  I thought the message of Grace, the way it was being presented by Joseph Prince and others, was simply giving people an excuse to live how they wanted.  I would hear out of context quotes from people saying things like, “Sin won’t cut off your relationship with God,” and I would take that and be adamantly against the grace message.

What I didn’t hear was the surrounding words.  The part of the message where the preacher would say, “Sin won’t take away your righteousness.  You never did anything to be righteous, and now you can’t do anything to be unrighteous.  However, sin will destroy your life.  It has consequences here in the world.”

Do you see how taking a line out of context can change the whole message?  Suddenly, free, extravagant grace becomes, “Greasy Grace”.

We have two commandments in the New Covenant:

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
2. Love one another as Christ has loved us.

That’s it.  They aren’t part of the Law.  They are instructions for living that can only be fulfilled through trusting in the grace of Jesus.

So why would I focus on the Ten Commandments when two would do a better job?

If I love my wife, I’m not going to commit adultery.  If I love God, how could I have any idols before Him?  If I love people, why would I steal from them?

Do you see?  All the commandments that were given to curb sin are fulfilled in two, and these two flow out of love and Grace.  Walk in love, walk in grace.  You’ll be just like Jesus.

Only grace can communicate truth in complete context.  John 1:14 (The Mirror Bible)