Over the past several decades pollsters have noted and pastors lamented a crisis in Evangelical Christianity. The source of the’ crisis’ has been identified in everything from the corrupting influence of culture to our pursuit of political power to our fixation with fame to our preoccupation with prosperity. Though, these are mere symptoms. The bitter fruit of a tree rooted in pernicious soil. 

Here, I believe that much of modern Evangelicalism is rooted in a defunct ‘gospel of grace,’ a view of grace with no strings attached. This has cultivated a cultural “form of godliness” void of spiritual potency, fostering a level of cognitive dissonance among the faithful while mainstreaming abuses of power and blatant hypocrisy on open display throughout the Church (2 Timothy 3:5).

The free gift of “eternal life” offered in so many of our gospel presentations implicitly negates any demand or expectation for one to participate in the Kingdom, any real ‘need’ for the professing Christian to follow and become more like Jesus. After all, any substantial notion of ethical ‘need’ and ‘expectation’ would violate the sacred boundary we presume between “faith and works.” We pastorally seek to compel people toward authentic discipleship but the truncated view of grace we preach paves the way toward nominalism, a pseudo-spirituality of the lowest common denominator.

At that point, participation and transformation in Christ become marginal features of what is good for us and others and/or the ‘proof’ that we are true followers of Jesus. Nevertheless, we are assured that God will accomplish his work in us irrespective of how we live or what we do because, once again, our actions are inconsequential for eternal things. With mere profession our destination is set, how we live has no relevance or significance in this vision of salvation.

This is a truncated gospel that reduces salvation to the assurance of an eternal destination, with the biblical emphasis on our participation with God becoming an incidental footnote to our theology of salvation.

Conversely ….

“Grace,” in the fullest sense, is a free gift of God’s love, forgiveness, and relational presence. But the biblical concept is filled with both expectation and empowerment. Grace is the gift of God’s indwelling presence, issuing in commission, command, capacity, and an anticipation of the confluence of our lives with his (Romans 5-8).

Grace is the free gift of “life” not merely in avoiding punishment and damnation in exchange for heavenly bliss but in offering us ‘life to its fullest,’ the kind of life that is found in Christ alone. It is God’s breathing life into Adam and choosing Israel as his people, not from obligation or merit but out of the good pleasure of his being (John 10:10; Romans 5:17).

Grace is free in that it is not by imposition but an invitation. It is an invitation to experience life as it was intended to be, in an intimate and interactive relationship with God (John 17:3; Matthew 7:21-23; John 3:5-8; cf. Genesis 2:7-15; Jeremiah 31.31-34; Ezekiel 36.24-38; 37:1-14). Our ‘salvation’ is objectively grounded in the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus but it is realized only through our participation in the way of life he holds out before us (John 15:1-17).

Part of the confusion has been in casting “eternal life” as a destination rather than a way of being. It is viewed as a far off hope rather than a present reality, a way of living in relationship with God and others (Matthew 5-7), culminating at the moment when we stand face-to-face with “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11-14; John 6:25-59; cf. John 15:1-8).

As it was for Adam and Israel, so it is for us. The choice between the way of “life or death, blessing and cursing” is held out before us in the gospel (Genesis 2:8-17; Deuteronomy 30:19-20; Matthew 16:24-28). The difference Jesus makes is that we have one who is perfect in his humanity and priesthood who “ever lives to make intercession for us” (Hebrews 7:23-25; 1 John 1:5-2:2). Christ alone provides the way into relationship (“life”) with God, and Christ alone sustains it. Furthermore, he imbues us with his Holy Spirit who empowers us to walk in the way of Jesus (Galatians 5: 13-25).

The way of life in Christ is not a demand for moral perfection but demands a posture of humility and pursuit of holiness in participating in our ongoing transformation toward Christ-likeness. It is here that grace postures our hearts toward God, compelling our confession, comforts in our cleansing, and enlivens our souls  (Philippians 2:1-8; 3:10-12; 1 Peter 1:15-16; Ephesians 4:17-25ff.; Hebrews 10:9-39).

Israel of old was bound to the ritual system of priesthood and sacrifice as a symbol of what is required for God’s gracious presence to dwell among them. Because of Jesus, there is never a moment where our moral failure separates us from the presence of our Father in heaven. God is present “with us” through the indwelling of his Holy Spirit. It is here that we must realize that grace is for salvation but salvation is not the mere escape of God’s punishment but the experience of his ‘life’, true and abundant life, the kind of life that begins now and continues on into eternity.

The primary aim of grace is not to let us off the hook when we’ve done wrong (that’s mercy!). Grace empowers our increasing movement toward humility, healing, holiness, and wholeness (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Grace is gifting for the edification and expansion of the Kingdom (Matthew 4:23; Romans 15:13; 1 Corinthians 2:4; 4:20; Ephesians 4:7-16; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11ff.). Grace is empowerment for transformation into Christlikeness (2 Corinthians 3:18). Salvation, in the fullest sense, is the restoration of an intimate and interactive relationship with God, so that we can participate with him in the work of his Kingdom as we become more like the one whose image we bear, which is the substance of grace-filled eternal life (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:7-15; Luke 20:20-26; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Revelation 22:1-5).