Extreme Grace

2008 February 20

by Tyler

A Christian buzz word I’ve heard a lot of is “extreme grace.” Yeah ok, it is 2 words. I know that. But the phrase is used all the time.

Whenever someone who was in jail, is a prostitute, or was addicted to drugs, accepts Jesus, people call this extreme grace. Whenever a 12 year old, a virgin, or an abstainer accepts Jesus, we call this grace. Let me be forthright with my opinion on this; the phrase “extreme grace” is derogatory. It really is. It means that those who received “extreme grace” needed more forgiveness than the others who simply received grace.

I do not deny that I worship a God of grace, but he provides the same amount of grace to the 12 year old as the prostitute. We are all in need of the same amount of grace. Grace is a miracle no matter who receives it, and it just saddens me that we cheapen God’s ability to provide grace to those who we would say barely deserve it. We say “our God is so loving he would even provide grace to that person.” I think we should be saying that our God is so loving that he provides a way to grace for everyone.

Thank you Jesus that your sacrifice covers a multitude of sins as much as it covers one sin. You have blessed us all with grace that we only need accept to receive.

Filed under: the rest... Tags: Christianity, Jesus

haldog

Amen! I agree. Except I’d like to call it extreme grace for the 12 year old. Instead of just calling it grace for the prostitute. The fact it’s a free gift and all you have to do is repent (turn from or change your mind) and believe and you have the free ticket to enter into the kingdom and ALL your sins (past present and future) are forgiven. Man that is extreme! Nothing more required on our part.

God doesn’t rate sin, man does and that’s too bad because the virgin or 12 year old would go to Hell with out that grace just as fast as a prostitute. God’s grace is extreme!

Your sister in Christ
Dee
http://www.vinthomas.com/blog Vin Thomas

I agree with you that we all need grace. But I think the term “extreme grace” can still be legit.

“Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” – Romans 5:20

We all need God’s grace, but there are those people (like the prostitute) that have more in their life that requires God’s forgiveness.

But I agree with the above post, we all need Extreme Grace!
Miranda

There’s a difference between increased grace and extreme grace. If someone continues to stumble and the Lord forgives them, their grace is again bestowed upon them. But to say the grace is extreme implies that it was a stretch to forgive their sins, which is hurtful and not true. In God’s eyes, the kind of sin committed is trivial; sin is sin, and the fact that we don’t have to suffer for them is remarkable… but only by his grace…

Jesus dying for our sins was extreme… but his grace is just simply undeserved, no matter what the sin or the frequency.
http://manofdepravity.com Tyler

I see what you are saying Miranda. I do think we suffer for our sins, they just aren’t eternal consequences. I still suffer from bad decisions made years ago. I just see grace being equal for all. Jesus didn’t have to get more whippings because someone had sinned more. Grace covers all and equally because one sin is all it takes.

Vin- Good point, my point was more that we have all fallen short by sinning, and that each of us needs grace just as much.
Miranda

*suffer eternal consequences… that’s what i meant
http://evanrummel.blogspot.com Evan Rummel

i prefer the term amazing grace rather than extreme grace. extreme makes it sound like there is a stretch involved, like Miranda said. but amazing implies the gift that God bestows upon us that we do not deserve, hence why it is grace.

i think what we as humans do is rate grace to add meaning to it. because we cannot comprehend what grace truly is, this is the only way we are able to partially understand it.

our pastor said, if Judas can receive grace, so can we. i think what he is getting at is that everyone is able to receive grace (even people like Bin Laden and Hitler) NOT the idea that Judas receives more than us because of what he did. i think that is an important distinction.
http://www.martusmoi.com Pierre Grigor

If extreme grace implies that NOTHING is needed BUT… then it is not grace at all. It is a contradictio in terminus. Church people always say we need nothing BUT to believe. By saying that we are contradicting ourselves because nothing is not nothing anymore. By saying we must believe, nothing becomes something. What about all those who did not hear the gospel and could not believe and could not repent? Didn’t Jesus die for their sins as well? If we say that they must first believe and repent (even if they haven’t heard) then grace is not grace, because grace is unconditional!! And if we say that those people are the ecception to the rule, then the rule is no more!! Grace is unconditional!!!! and grace is grace!!!
Wouter

I agree with Pierre and would even say that forgiveness was an event not a process. I can not see how God would sacrifice his son and yet again set a condition if it clearly failed with the 1st Adam.
http://awakenedtogrow.com Debbye Graafsma

Hi Tyler –
I appreciate your post so much — it is too easy for people to make God’s Grace something that has to be doled out in doses, based on the comparison of our sin…. the truth is that we are all in need of a Savior, because of Adam’s choices; I can never appreciate the Grace of Jesus fully unless I embrace and admit the depth of my lostness without Him. Can one person be more lost than another? The ground is level at the Cross… thank you for your wisdom. Blessings, Debbye Graafsma debgraafsma.wordpress.com