Free Grace Theology vs. Lordship Salvation

[Humble_Disciple]

I'm reading the Book of Deuteronomy. It seems God takes apostasy very seriously:

Deuteronomy 29
16 You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. 17 You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold. 18 Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.
19 When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,” they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. 20 The Lord will never be willing to forgive them; his wrath and zeal will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven.

When it says that God will never be able to forgive the sin of apostasy, is that just referring to the Old Covenant? Also, is this referring to eternal damnation or just temporal judgment?

 

[ViaCrucis]

I am somewhat familiar with what Luther taught about the three uses of the law. When preaching to people who are not yet Christians, people who are in need of salvation, wouldn't he primarily be speaking about the second use of the law?

As far as the Law is concerned, it doesn't make a difference if one is a Christian or not: The Law, as a mirror, condemns everyone in their sin.

The condemnation of the Law no longer destroys us who are being saved, because we have the promises in Jesus Christ. Therefore "there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus". But the Old Man is to be continually drowned in repentance, remembering our Baptism by which we were born again and made new in Christ (John 3:5, Romans 6:3-4).

The Law mortifies the flesh of the Old Man.
The Law, for the New Man, is to live in new obedience, as the guide for our conduct in our service to Christ in good works for our neighbor.

The Law, therefore, cannot justify sinners. Because the Law says to sinners that they are dead in their sins and condemned.

Our only righteousness before God is the Passive Righteousness Coram Deo--that passive righteousness which we receive from God as pure gift which is our only righteousness before God.

But in our Active Righteousness Coram Mundo--the doing of good works before the world, our fellow man and all of God's creatures, is that righteousness of conduct into which we live as a people called to be holy even as God is holy. Such holiness is not to our benefit before God, but rather for the benefit and good of our neighbor.

Thus the Law does commend us to good works wrought in faith, not to our own righteousness or holiness before God, but to living righteously toward our fellow man and all creation.

Luther writes that one who renders a work to God should understand that he does no good work in doing so; for there is no work which we can do which can benefit God whatsoever. God is lacking for nothing, and therefore no work of man for God's sake is of any value. A work is only a good work when it is done for our neighbor. It is our neighbor, not God, who needs good works.

What the power of God's grace in the Gospel affords us is the certainty of God's promise, and thus invites us to walk and live in Christ toward our neighbor in love.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Humble_Disciple]

I agree with "free grace" theology that we shouldn't front load the Gospel, by raising the entrance requirement for the reception of saving faith. However, I also believe that "free grace" teachers go further in rejecting Lordship salvation than Calvin, Luther, and the other Reformers did.

The Reformers would have said that, while we are indeed saved by grace alone through faith alone, if your life doesn't show any evidence of regeneration, then believers have grounds to doubt the sincerity of their faith.

This doesn't mean that true believers will never sin, but instead that the trajectory of our lives will show an increase in obedience from the day we convert to the day we leave this planet. This increase in obedience is entirely the gift of God's grace, so believers have nothing to boast about.