Satan has focused a lot of his deception on the word “grace.” Grace is an abused word. It’s possible another word carries more theological baggage, but I can’t think of what that word would be.
Theology is an attempt to make the simplicity of God’s Word, something the faith of a child can grasp, and make it confusing so you feel like you need the Initiated Few.
You know when you’re walking into Confusing Theology Land when biblical words start getting adjectives stuck in front of them.
“Will” is an example. “Will” simply means a desire. God’s will is what God desires. It’s quite simple.
It remained simple until theologians became a thing. Now it’s not just “God’s will,” now it’s God’s
Decretive Will
Permissive Will
Sovereign Will
Desiderative Will
Directive Will
Perceptive Will
There could be more, it depends who you ask. Also some of the above may be the same wills, I don’t know. I’m not a theologian.
All of this is just silliness. But the silliness doesn’t stop there. The silliness is extended to God’s grace as well. There’s not just “God’s grace” anymore, now it’s God’s
Irresistible Grace
Prevenient Grace
Common Grace
Sanctifying Grace
Salvific Grace
And on it goes.
Here’s the interesting thing, none of these adjectives before will or grace are found in the Bible.
If you look up grace in your New Testament (KJV anyway) and look for adjectives before “grace,” here’s what you’ll find.
Acts 4:33—great grace
2 Corinthians 4:15—abundant grace
2 Corinthians 9:14—exceeding grace
James 4:6—more grace
1 Peter 4:10—manifold grace
All of these adjectives tell you one basic thing: God’s grace is massively huge! When God describes His grace; He makes grace big.
When theologians describe grace, they make it smaller. They whittle away at the concept. They make it fit their particular theological point of the time.
This is where problems start. After a while, we’re not even talking about God’s grace anymore; we’re talking about some theologian’s ax he likes to grind.
Which is why there’s one more adjective used before “grace” in the Bible:
1 Peter 5:12—true grace
Watch out for adjectives before biblical words. Theologians use them to limit a subject, mostly because the Bible doesn’t speak the way they do about a particular word.
Don’t let theologians confuse you about grace. Keep God’s grace big. That’s how He describes it.
Reblogged this on Onesimus Files and commented:
Another excellent and perceptive post on Jeff Weddle’s blog.
Please follow the link and read the WHOLE article on the anti itch meditation site.
Hi Jeff,
I wrote the following on this same topic a few years ago.
* full article here, including a statement on why “total depravity” is also a manmade theological term that distorts what scripture reveals: https://onesimusfiles.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/description-or-definition-terminologys-effect-on-theology/
Great minds think alike!
And clearly so do ours. :)
Theology: the art of turning logs into toothpicks.