ARTICLE GUIDE
At a Glance
Prepared for a collegial discussion between Christians, this study compares Free Grace theology and covenantal allegiance. It examines faith, assurance, discipleship, warning passages, and final glorification while distinguishing Christ’s saving work from the believer’s relational response.
How do grace, assurance, and ongoing allegiance relate in these competing accounts of salvation?
This guide introduces the argument developed in the complete article and its main lines of investigation.
Key Claims
- The essay frames the disagreement as a discussion among Christians seeking mutual understanding.
- It contrasts faith understood primarily as persuasion with faith understood as embodied allegiance.
- The study distinguishes the meritorious ground of redemption in Christ from what it argues is the necessary posture of covenant union.
- Warning passages and judgment texts test the competing approaches to assurance and perseverance.
- The author locates discipleship and bodily glorification within the canon’s movement toward renewed creation.
Primary Textual Anchors
- Genesis 15:6; James 2:14–26
- Hebrews 6:4–6; 10:26–31; 2 Timothy 2:12
- 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 15:42–44
Scripture Connections
Genesis 15:6; James 2:14–26; Hebrews 6:4–6; 10:26–31; 2 Timothy 2:12; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 15:42–44
Selected Scholarship
- Hodges, Z. C. (1989). Absolutely free! A biblical reply to Lordship Salvation. Zondervan.
- Bates, M. W. (2017). Salvation by allegiance alone. Baker Academic.
- Kaiser, W. C., Jr. (2008). The promise-plan of God. Zondervan.
Related Guides
- Defining Christian Freedom: Law, Gospel, and the Teleological Recovery of Human Liberty
- The Organic Architecture of Divine Instruction: Promise-Plan Theology, the Unity of the Law, and the Canonical Coherence of Scripture
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