How should we respond to the hyper-grace movement?

If we’re talking about “hyper-grace” in terms of grace covering everything, there are those in that movement who are basically antinomian. That is, they believe that once we experience grace, we’re no longer under the law in any sense, even in the instructive sense.

A person is saved by grace, not by law, and we understand that. Nevertheless, there is the old question that Paul writes, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” And his answer is, “God forbid!” (Rom. 6:1–2).

Some people want to make it sound like once you have experienced grace, then basically you can live however you want—“Free from the law, blessed condition, I can sin all I want and still have remission.”

This is one of the greatest threats to the contemporary evangelical community right now, this resurgence of the radical character of antinomianism and libertinism. Part of it is related to that seriously deficient doctrine of the “carnal” Christian that has been so widespread, which says that a person can actually be a Christian and still not have had their constitutive nature changed by the Holy Spirit. They’re still in a state of total carnality. That’s just an impossibility.

This transcript is from an Ask R.C. Live event with R.C. Sproul and has been lightly edited for readability. To ask Ligonier a biblical or theological question, email ask@ligonier.org or message us on Facebook or Twitter.