The Uncomfortable Trinity: Confronting Modern Distortions of Grace, Love, and Judgment

Grace Without Transformation (The Error of Antinomianism)

The Greek word most often translated as “grace” in the New Testament is charis. In standard secular Greek, this could refer to a favor done by a friend. But in the New Testament, specifically in the writings of Paul, it explodes with soteriological significance.

The Textual Evidence: Consider Titus 2:11-12.

• ESV: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions…”

• KJV: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts…”

The KJV uses “Teaching,” while the ESV uses “Training.” The underlying Greek verb is paideuousa, derived from paideuo, which implies child-training, discipline, and correction.

The Distortion: The modern distortion treats grace as a “Get Out of Jail Free” card—a static legal transaction that forgives sin but leaves the sinner unchanged. This is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously termed “cheap grace.” It is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

The Orthodox Correction: Systematic theologian Wayne Grudem reminds us that grace is God’s goodness toward those who deserve only punishment. However, biblical grace is efficacious. It is a power that breaks the dominion of sin. As Charles Spurgeon thundered from the Metropolitan Tabernacle, “Free grace can go hand in hand with deep views of the evil of sin.”

If your concept of grace allows you to remain comfortable in your sin, you have not encountered the charis of Scripture. You have encountered aselgeia (licentiousness), which Jude 4 warns is the hallmark of those who “pervert the grace of our God.” True grace does not merely excuse the debtor; it transforms the debtor into a son who bears the Father’s likeness.

Love Without Holiness (The Error of Sentimentalism)

Perhaps no word has been more hijacked in our era than “love.” We are told that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and this is gloriously true. But the modern world reads this backwards, assuming that “Love is God.” They define love by human sentiment—affirmation, tolerance, and the absence of friction—and then demand God conform to it.

The Textual Evidence: The Greek word agape is often distinguished from phileo (brotherly affection) or eros (romantic desire). Agape is not mere sentiment; it is volitional, self-sacrificial love. But we must also look at the Hebrew concept of Hesed (steadfast love).

In Hebrews 12:6 (quoting Proverbs 3:12), we read:

• ESV: “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves…”

• KJV: “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth…”

The Distortion: We have created a “Grandfather God”—a deity whose primary attribute is a benign tolerance. This god wants you to be “happy” as the world defines happiness. This god never confronts, never rebukes, and certainly never excludes.

The Orthodox Correction: Matthew Henry, in his commentary on Hebrews 12, rightly notes that “Afflictions are not a sign of God’s anger, but of his love.” Why? Because God loves His people too much to leave them in the rot of their iniquity. God’s love is a holy love. It is a consuming fire.

If God loved you with modern sentimental love, He would let you play with the viper of sin because it makes you happy for a season. But because He loves you with biblical agape, He kills the viper, even if it breaks your heart to lose it. We must stop pitting God’s love against His holiness. As the Westminster Confession implies, all God’s attributes work in perfect harmony. He does not stop being holy when He loves; He loves holily.

Judgment Without Wrath (The Error of Universalism)

This is the most offensive doctrine to the modern mind. We are told that the concept of divine wrath is primitive, a relic of an angry tribal deity.

The Textual Evidence: We must grapple with the word propitiation (hilasterion in Greek).

• Romans 3:25 (ESV): “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood…”

• Romans 3:25 (KJV): “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood…”

The Distortion: Many modern translations or teachers prefer “expiation” (the wiping away of sin) over “propitiation” (the satisfying of wrath). They want a cross where Jesus dies to show us how much He loves us, or to defeat abstract powers of evil, but they recoil at the idea that Jesus died to save us from the just wrath of God.

The Orthodox Correction: If there is no judgment, the Cross is intelligible. If God is not wrathful toward sin, then the death of Christ was a tragic accident or a dramatic gesture, not a saving necessity. Grudem notes that “God’s wrath is not like human anger… it is his settled opposition to all that is evil.”

We cannot appreciate the rescue if we deny the danger. The “bad news” of judgment is the dark velvet backdrop against which the diamond of the Gospel shines. To remove judgment is to remove the glory of the Savior. Jesus Christ did not die merely to boost our self-esteem; He died to absorb the krisis (judgment) of God that was rightfully ours.

The Synthesis: The Cross of Christ

We must return to the “old paths” (Jeremiah 6:16). We do not have the liberty to edit the character of God.

True Grace is costly; it cost God His Son, and it costs us our lives (Luke 9:23).

True Love is holy; it seeks our sanctification more than our comfort.

True Judgment is real; but for the believer, it has been exhausted on Calvary.

When we hold these three together, we do not get a soft, modern religion. We get the robust, terrifying, and beautiful faith of the Apostles. We get a God who is just enough to punish sin and loving enough to pay the penalty Himself.

Let us not offer the world a distorted caricature of God. Let us offer them Christ—full of grace and truth.