BIBLE GRACE IS HYPER-GRACE

Hypergrace, according to some in the church world, is a dangerous and unbiblical teaching.   They say that preachers that preach God’s grace as “hyper” have taken grace too far.  This accusation that hyper or extreme grace is unbiblical – is easy to test.  All you need is a Bible.

Romans 5:20 (NKJV) ²⁰  Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,

Romans 5:20 (AMP) ²⁰  But then Law came in, [only] to expand and increase the trespass [making it more apparent and exciting opposition]. But where sin increased and abounded, grace (God’s unmerited favor) has surpassed it and increased the more and superabounded,

Paul’s use of the words “abounded much more” and “super-abounds” is where the term “hyper-grace” originates.  Although, most of the time when you here the term hypergrace it is usually used in a negative way.  Like, “be careful of those hypergrace preachers”.  What we need to fear is those “hypo-grace” preachers, those who diminish God’s grace by mixing it with law.  Paul says, where sin abounded (pleonazo) grace did much more abound (huper-perisseuo).  The prefix huper or hyper is like the Latin “super”.   So, where sin could be measured or counted, grace could never be measured or counted.  Our text might well read: “Where sin was finite, grace was infinite.”

To suggest that God’s grace is anything less than hyper is unbiblical and blasphemous.  It’s like saying God is good but He’s not that good, He’s holy but not that holy.  When you diminish grace, you diminish God.  I don’t hear anybody complaining about hyper-love or hyper-forgiveness?  Some preachers are afraid of grace because they think it encourages sin.  If Jesus paid it all and it is finished, if the judgment against us has been fully paid by Jesus Christ on the cross, aren’t we opening the door to sin?   This is exactly what the Judiaziers were afraid of: they didn’t like Gospel of hypergrace because they thought people would get out of control.  If God is not mad at me and if he will never love me more than he does right now, then why can’t I sin like crazy?  The point is that you can if you want to, but the reality is that once you’ve met grace, you won’t desire to sin.

Although the term grace is often spoken in the church, there is much confusion of what grace actually is.  In more than two decades of attending church, I never heard one message about the Grace of God.  When I did hear grace mentioned, it was usually negative, terms like greasy grace and cheap grace were used to warn us of the dangers of hypergrace.  I admit that some think grace is there “get out of jail free card”.  They don’t know what grace is, they have a concept, but they don’t have grace.  Grace is a Person living his life through you.  Grace has eyes (Genesis 6:8).  Grace is not a theology.  It is not another subject in the Bible, grace is the subject of the Bible.  It is not a doctrine.  It is a person, and his name is Jesus.  That’s the reason the Lord wants you to receive the abundance of grace, because to have the abundance of grace is to have the abundance of Jesus.

I find it confusing, that those who believe in the forgiveness of sins past, present and future (by the way, Billy Graham believes this), are disparagingly labelled as being HYPER-GRACE.  I suppose they mean to somehow differentiate between just regular standard GRACE and HYPER-GRACE?

Well, can’t grace be abused?  Yes, but love can be abused, forgiveness can be abused.  Isn’t this the point though?  If it can’t be abused, then it’s not really grace at all!  Does this mean that you can go out and sin without fear of judgement because you are in Christ?  Yes, you can, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t consequences to continuing to sin.  For Example: if I foolishly decide to rob a bank, I will soon find myself in jail!  That doesn’t mean that God is paying me back or judging me for my sin of stealing.  Of course, even in our stupidity, God’s grace abounds and grace will teach you, even in a jail cell, that continuing to sin is a dumb idea!  By the way, what’s the real difference?  If every sin you commit today must be individually confessed and repented of in order to be forgiven, then you can still go out and sin, repent, confess and get God’s forgiveness anyway – because you know the outcome; you know God’s heart is to forgive!

While attacks on morality will always come from outside the church, attacks on grace will always come from inside the church.  If you want to make people mad, preach the Law; if you want to really make people mad, preach Grace.  Grace is scandalous.  It’s hard to accept, hard to believe, and hard to receive.  Why?  Because grace shocks us in what it offers.  It’s too good to be true, yet it is, that’s why it’s grace.  You don’t deserve it.  It is truly not of this world.  It frightens us with what it does for sinners. Grace shows us that God does for others what we would never do for them.  We would save the “not-so-bad”, but God gives grace to prostitutes and forgives those who don’t even ask for forgiveness.  Grace is a gift that costs everything to the giver and nothing to the receiver.  It is given to those who don’t deserve it, don’t ask for it, barely recognize it, and don’t appreciate it.  That’s why God alone gets the glory in your salvation.  You are saved by grace through faith in God’s Son and His goodness.   Jesus did all the work when he died on the cross”.

The law added transgressions, showing even more clearly the hyper-grace of God.  Grace did not set aside the law, but rather completely satisfied it.  As deep as sin goes, God’s grace goes deeper.  When sin abounded, grace super-abounded.  God’s grace is greater than all our sin.  Why is it so easy for people to believe that they were condemned and made sinners because of Adam’s sin, but they find it so hard to believe that they have been made righteous by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross?

This is the reason the devil hates the message of grace and fights it so hard, because God’s Grace is the only antidote for sin, it is the only solution to man’s problem, the only cure for man’s disease.  Grace is so wonderful, because like medicine it stops the infection, it breaks into the sin/confess/sin cycle: (The sin/confess cycle is exactly what Roman Catholics practice in the confession booth and Protestants do privately and every Sunday).   However, none of this religious performance results in deliverance or righteousness, just frustration, sometimes desperation and many just give up, give in, and continue to sin.  The law offends us because it tells us what to do–and we hate anyone telling us what to do.  But, grace offends us even more because it tells us that there’s nothing we can do, that everything has already been done.  And if there’s something we hate more than being told what to do, it’s being told that we can’t do anything, that we can’t earn anything–that we’re helpless, weak, and needy.

Grace is not “fair”.  We can’t understand how a prodigal son can return home after blowing all his inheritance on wine, women and song and receive grace.  It’s looks to us like he’s rewarded for his bad behavior.  He is not punished or rebuked by his father.  In fact, just the opposite, he is given the best clothes, a ring, shoes and thrown a party.  Now that’s “hyper-grace”!  Grace is counter-intuitive. It turns everything that makes sense to us upside-down.  It’s not rational.  It offends our deepest sense of justice and rightness.

It doesn’t surprise me at all when I hear people react negatively to grace.  It doesn’t surprise me that the religious warn us of “hyper-grace”.  That’s just religion that loves rules.  By nature, people are addicted to a legalistic method of salvation.  Even after you become a Christian by believing the Gospel, your heart is still addicted to salvation by works…You find it hard to believe that you should get any blessing before you work for it.  The religious flesh is always resistant to “It is finished”.

The negative use of the term hyper-grace is ridiculous.  I thank God for His hyper, amazing, super, and abounding grace.  God’s grace has appeared to all men, the only restriction is that it must be accepted; it has to be received by faith.  The only way you can miss the grace of God is if you reject it!