Free Grace Theology Muestra

Clarity with categories in Scripture

Free Grace Theology Provides Better Understanding Through Categories

If all my sins were forgiven at the cross, why do I have to ask for forgiveness when I sin? How can a person be justified and still be sinful? They can’t both be true, can they?

Well, they can. The answers to these questions come when we learn to recognize different categories of truth.

The Bible presents the believer as part of a family. We have a spiritual Father, and we are His children. That is an eternal relationship. Once a child is born physically, it’s a done deal—it’s only going to happen once. Before they are born, we know that our children are going to sin. 

So, what is our plan for them when they sin? Kick them out of the family? No. They have future forgiveness for their sins before they are born. Why? Because of our parent-child relationship. This relationship is eternal.

However, if my child steals a hundred dollars from my wallet, we have a problem. There is a personal offense. We are not going to enjoy our eternal relationship because our fellowship has been broken. The relationship is intact, but not the fellowship. My son needs to come to me and ask for forgiveness to restore our fellowship, and I would extend it to him based on our eternal relationship: father/child.

The Scriptures speak of “relationship forgiveness” and “fellowship forgiveness.” We find the first in Ephesians 1:7, where Paul enumerates all the spiritual blessings we have—in Christ—in heavenly places. Paul is describing our position in Christ. 

As such, all our sins are forgiven: “In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” That is relationship forgiveness.

Believers have an eternal “relationship” with God, but to maintain “fellowship” with Him, they need to walk in the light (1 John 1:9). If they do that, the blood of Jesus Christ will keep on cleansing them of the unknown sin in their life. 

Cleansing for what? Fellowship. God is faithful and just to forgive. On a relationship level, His children already have advanced forgiveness of all their sins. But the issue now is fellowship, which can only be restored by asking for forgiveness.

Understanding these different categories of truth can be very helpful in answering why many passages in Scripture that might appear to be contradictory are not contradictory at all.