I just learned of this organization today. I like Grace in the name of an organization! However, what different organizations mean by grace varies greatly.
You can read more about them at their website. See here. On their home page they say:
We are a cross-denominational collaboration of various Evangelical Christian pastors, theologians, scholars, church leaders, and believers from all theological stripes who affirm and teach that God has provided the means of salvation for all people through the life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God. So that all who trust in Jesus Christ are saved by grace through faith.
We believe that the Gospel (εὐαγγέλιον) is asserting that God actually loves the entire world and that God sincerely desires every person to gain eternal life through Jesus Christ. God offers the free gift of salvation to all sinners and invites all humanity to respond in believing faith. The saving grace of God is sincerely offered to every person, not decreed to a preselected few.
We subscribe to the theological affirmations of the Apostles’ Creed, the Lausanne Covenant, and the World Evangelical Alliance.
Here are some positives we can take from that statement:
- They do not believe in the Calvinist view of election to everlasting life.
- They believe that God loves everyone and wants everyone to have everlasting life.
- They exalt salvation as a free gift.
- They believe that Christ died for everyone.
I strongly agree with them on those points. However, there are some concerns as well:
- They qualify faith as believing faith. What is that? Why not just say that God “invites all humanity to respond in faith”?
- They do not say anything about eternal security.
- If people “from all theological stripes” can join their group, then they clearly do not require members to believe that assurance is of the essence of saving faith (or that eternal security is true).
- According to their own website, the “Chief Architect” of the Lausanne Covenant—which the Grace for All Coalition indicates it agrees with—was famed Lordship Salvation theologian John Stott. See here. Under “The Nature of Evangelism,” the covenant says, “Jesus Christ…now offers the forgiveness of sins and the liberating gifts of the Spirit to all who repent and believe.” Everlasting life is not mentioned there. And the condition is not faith alone. The statement under “The Nature of Evangelism” ends with this Lordship Salvation manifesto:
In issuing the gospel invitation we have no liberty to conceal the cost of discipleship. Jesus still calls all who would follow him to deny themselves, take up their cross, and identify themselves with his new community. The results of evangelism include obedience to Christ, incorporation into his Church and responsible service in the world” (see here).
- The statement of faith of the World Evangelical Alliance—to which the Grace for All Coalition also subscribes—is extremely short, generic, and unrevealing. This is their statement on salvation: “The Salvation of lost and sinful man [is] through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith apart from works, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit” (see here). Nothing is said of the promise of everlasting life, assurance, or what faith is or is not.
Whether you call your Grace group a coalition, union, partnership, affiliation, caucus, association, federation, or even society, it is only a Free Grace coalition if it promotes believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for everlasting life that cannot be lost. The Grace for All Coalition does not do that.
While there may be some Free Grace people who are part of the Grace for All Coalition, I suspect that most people in that group hold to some form of Lordship Salvation.
Keep grace in focus and you will be able to discern truth from error.
