What is Hyper-Grace?
Is hypergrace Biblical?
Here’s something you may not know about grace: Jesus never defined it. As far as we know, the Lord of grace who came from the throne of grace full of his Father’s grace, and from whom we have received grace upon grace, never uttered the word grace.
But he sure showed it.
Actions speak louder than words. Jesus did not come to preach grace but to be grace and He did this by loving unconditionally and forgiving indiscriminately.
Jesus hung out with crooks and conmen and hookers and tax-collectors.
He ate with sinners and Pharisees and reached out to filthy foreigners.
He told stories of radical grace, defended the guilty, and forgave the unrepentant.
And in the greatest demonstration of love the world has ever seen, he gave up His life so that through Him we might truly live.
If grace is Jesus, what is hyper-grace?
Some say it’s a meaningless phrase, like wet water or sunny sunshine. Others say hyper-grace is greasy grace, which is bad. Still others say it’s abundant grace, which is good.
What is hypergrace?
Hyper-grace is extreme grace. It’s over-the-top grace. It’s grace on steroids. In the words of John it’s grace upon grace:
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. (John 1:16)
God isn’t cheap when it comes to lavishing his grace upon us. He gives abundantly out of His fullness. God does not give grace in proportion to our needs, but in accordance with His riches (Eph. 1:7). The thirsty man gets to drink from Niagara Falls.
When describing the generosity of God, Jesus used the phrase how much more. “If you who are evil give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him!” (Matt. 7:11).
When dispensing grace God gives much more than what you would give to your own children. You may be the most generous parent in the world, but your heavenly Father is more generous still.
In the competition for Best Dad Ever, God comes first and daylight second.
Is hyper-grace Biblical?
Hypergrace, according to some, is a dangerous and unbiblical teaching. By proclaiming the unconditional love of God and forgiveness for all, hypergrace preachers have taken grace too far. We have made grace unbalanced and radical.
Is hypergrace Biblical? This claim is easy to test. All you need is a Bible.
But where sin increased and abounded, grace (God’s unmerited favor) has surpassed it and increased the more and superabounded. (Romans 5:20b, AMP)
The word Paul uses for describing grace—superabounding—is made up of two Greek words: (1) huper, from which we get the English prefix hyper, meaning “over, beyond, and above,” and (2) perisseuo, which means “superabundant (in quantity) or superior (in quality).”
So to say that God’s grace is superabundant only takes you halfway to Paul’s meaning. “It’s more than that,” says the apostle of grace. “It’s over, beyond, and above superabundant. It’s super-superabundant. It’s hyper-hyper-grace.” That’s not me putting a spin on Paul’s words. That’s what he actually says.
Some might say, “Don’t get carried away. You can have too much of a good thing.” Since grace is Jesus, that’s like saying you can have too much of Jesus. That’s not possible. While you may have too little of the Lord in your life, you cannot have too much.
The proof of hyper-grace
Let me prove this with a question: How much does God love you? Can you quantify his love for you? You cannot. On a scale of one to the biggest number you can think of, God’s love for you is greater still.
The love of God is Buzz Lightyear love. It reaches to infinity and beyond.
In the Bible we are challenged to plumb the depths and ascend the heights of Christ’s limitless love for us. Paul prayed that we might have the power to
grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge … (Eph. 3:18–19)
This is an astonishing request. “May you grasp the ungraspable, comprehend the incomprehensible, and know the unknowable.” This is a prayer that can never be fully answered. Try and locate the boundary of Christ’s love for you and you will never succeed. His love for you is greater than you can know or imagine.
Again, that’s not me spinning Paul’s words. That’s what he actually says. The love of Christ surpasses knowledge.
Trying to wrap your head around His love is like using a thimble to measure the oceans.
Extracted and adapted from The Hyper-Grace Gospel
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Who would not want hyper grace if it all of Jesus? 🙂
Paul, I appreciate you going in much detail on this what People call Hyber-Grace. I’ve been in Church much of my life and received little nuggets of Grace mixed in with a lot of law. Wondering the whole time how much did God love me. Before I saw Grace in it’s fullness I thought the message of Grace was a doctrine from the devil. Then it happened, My wife and I prayed that God would show us his light. The light was turned on. We saw Jesus like never before. The bible started to make sense. Not everything in the red letter edition was talking about me. Much of it was talking to a group of people. People who followed the law and not following him. Thank you for bringing this truth to the top so all can see. keep stirring it up, It will all eventually come to top.
Going too far with Jesus? Guilty as charged! Thanks, Paul.
To infinity and beyond may we rest!
Praise God for His super-superabundant, over and above, beyond what we can see and know…Thank you, Jesus!
I love this! Grace Grace and Grace is the gospel that needs to be preached from the rooftops, pulpits and everywhere!
Your blog is a tremendous blessing, I want to own all your books.
Grace to you!
Wow! Thank you
Aime
When I was in the anti-hyper-grace camp, I think my impression was… I only need hyper-grace if I have hyper-sin. As if I was a good boy who didn’t need that much grace. I think it’s key to realize everyone needs hyper-grace. All it means is admitting – I need more Jesus. It’s a yielding of my efforts. Which if I’m honest with myself, are not producing true holiness. I surrender all. How can I possibly get better by trying less? You’re not just trying less, you’re trusting more. You’re letting Jesus be your Savior.
Love the Buzz Lightyear reference! Hey, I embrace the label “hyper-grace”. It was meant as something derogatory, but really, it only scratches the surface of understanding God’s Grace. I mean, is there really any other kind of Grace but hyper? What kind of Grace do these other people (and they know who they are!) think comes from God – mediocre Grace? Come on, God doesn’t do anything halfway or mediocre! So, yeah – bring it on! Hyper-Grace all the way!
I used to be a big fan of Michael Brown’s but even before I heard the true Grace message, I questioned a lot of his posts on Facebook and article in Charisma. Something didnt set right. I never enjoyed the “you’re not doing enough” Gospel. The call to be so radical and if you fall short, well you’re just not living up to your full potential. I just wonder, Paul, reading some of you guys’ discourse back and forth, it seems as though he doesn’t really get what the Grace message is actually doing to help the body of Christ. He says he isnt trying to attack the Grace message but expose the dangers of some of the results, then he attacks it. If his message does not consist of earning something from God then what exactly does his message contain? Theologically he has never addressed the main concern of the whole issue, how much Grace is too much? When will we get a real answer from him about this, besides him just railing against the “grace camp” for the “bad fruit” that has been produced?
Hey Paul, I know this post isn’t about Michael Brown, but is definitely still a hot topic. Reading the back and forth comments between you two, I find that he never really addresses the Grace that we in the “grace camp” know and love. He just lambasts the movement as a whole and never really talks about the real issue. Will we ever get a real response out of him, or just continue to see him talk over the issue? it’s like he’s a politician, lol.
Hi Paul, is your new book available from you in NZ or christian superstore as i live in christchuch nz
PS like your other 2 books !!
Hi Paul 🙂 Where in Scripture did Jesus forgive the unrepentant? I thought in order to receive forgiveness we have to have a repentant heart. How can a person who does not humble themselves before God be forgiven? Just trying to understand, not debate.
On several occasions, most notably when he was dying on the cross.
So does a person not need to repent to escape the 2nd death? Does a person not need to become aware of their fallen sinful state and that they are in need of a savior to be saved? There is so much I still do not understand about the grace of God. I think I understand that it is free, there is nothing we can do in the natural to obtain it other than humbly accept it, but if a person does not accept it then where does that leave them? How can they be forgiven if they don’t ask to be forgiven or acknowledge that they need to be forgiven, if they don’t agree with God’s Word that without Him they can do nothing and that without Him they are lost and turn their heart toward Him and humbly receive His grace, mercy and love? How can a person have grace if they refuse to receive it, or even voice that they even believe in the God of creation or His Son? There has to be a starting point right? If I don’t get this, how am I ever going to be an effective witness for Christ? Why would a lost person want to listen to anything I have to say if I can’t even explain to them how to be forgiven or get them to see that they need to be forgiven in simple terms? Why does this seem so complicated to me?
We need to distinguish what God does (gives grace) and what we do in response (receive or reject his grace). God has given grace. He has forgiven every last one of us. Does that mean all are saved? Not at all. It means God is no longer counting men’s sins against them (2 Cor 5:19).
Christ does not need to ask your permission to forgive you. But in a manner of speaking, he does need your permission to wed you. He will not force himself on the unwilling. He knocks on doors; he doesn’t kick them in.
Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life, we easily accept him as the way and the truth, but accepting him as your new life is a bridge we all have to cross, you were dead , at the cross you died and were ressurected by Gods law, you shed innocent blood not the blood of worldly lambs but Gods Son, to take the blood is to take the life.But these words Father forgive them for they know not what they do,gave you new life .A spiritual birth by innocent blood.Adoption, spiritual birth is a very real event and we all experience it differently.Jesus,s words to Paul, I am Jesus who you persecute, Paul’s belief in this was his new birth.
You have already escaped the second death , If you believe in him you will live and never die.
Just as I read your comment Humbleheart72 I had this picture of someone coming on his knees to a distant and reluctant God with “please forgive me” (that was my idea of forgiveness) and there always be a doubt in his mind “yeah, but that sin… and this one… and my future sins…?” So different than the awareness, the knowing that who we are, past present and future has been fully embraced, unconditionally loved and reconciled in Christ, as true sons. Though “he does need your permission to wed you”.
How blessed is the man who can walk with the consciousness that there’s nothing wrong with him anymore in God, what freedom!
There are also these two beauties of scriptures that have freed me so many times while wallowing in my sin-consciousness:
[Jhn 15:3 KJV] Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
[1Jo 3:3 KJV] And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Pure Grace, we can’t have it better!
The Holy Spirit convicts the world of Sin. Realizing Jesus died on the Cross for the sins of the world. This is God’s Grace. A way out of sin. The blood of Jesus. Without excepting the sacrifice for our sins we still live in them. Without the shedding of blood there in no remission for sin.
According to Gods law you had to have your hand on this sacrifice for it to be acceptable. Jesus fulfilled the law.
Sin is measuring Gods goodness, when we have lost the measure sin is overcome, the knowledge of good and evil is the measure. When we believe Gods goodness is lower than the best good we could imagine we live in the land of idols, seeing his limitless goodness is the only passport out.
I’m reading all your comments and I’m listening 🙂 Thank you ❤
Great Book!!
Good day Paul, thank you sincerely for the extremely encouraging messages I receive from you. I enjoy them thoroughly and am deeply impacted in my spirit by each message. I’d like to know where in South Africa can I purchase your books. I purchase my books mainly from Loot in Cape Town which has access to a million and a half books, Christian and secular. The bad news however is that they do not have access to your books at this stage yet.
Please advise.
Kind regards, and keep up the good work.
Christie Ryker
Christie, are you sure? I found this.
I’ve read and enjoyed pretty much all the books written by “grace camp” authors and I have to say that I think this new book by Paul is my favorite. After reading Dr. Brown’s book I felt like I agreed with about half of what he was saying. After reading Paul’s book I now see how I got caught up in misguided thinking on the some of Dr. Brown’s points. A lot of Dr. Brown’s criticisms go along these lines: Sister So-And-So when to a hyper-grace conference and now she lives backslidden and lazy. Therefore the hyper-grace message is false and dangerous. Well, perhaps sister So-And-So either misheard what was being presented or, more likely, jumped to an unwarranted conclusion about what was being taught. Hyper Grace Gospel is so excellent at clearing up confusion and misunderstanding about the radical grace message. It has been my experience that I never enjoyed abundant life or “victory” as a Christian until I understood how very much God loves me. Before that I lived a very Yo-yo Christian life. The life Christ has for us is more about relationship than rules. And what I find now is that I have compassion for people in spite of their behavior. God was patient and forbearing with me and now I find that same trait in me. You can’t give away what you yourself don’t have. The most important revelation to me is that if you live out of the newborn spirit man identity placed inside us at regeneration your conduct and behavior will take care or itself. See yourself as a sinner and you will act like it. See yourself as a saint and you will act like a saint. I applaud Paul on standing firm on making a distinction on a person’s “who” and their “do”. The worst dancers are the ones who are constantly looking down at their feet (obsessing on their performance). I just want to rave about how the book is so easy to read and clear in it’s presentation. Thanks Paul!
Almost all hyper grace Christian has been a graceless Christian before. The graceless preacher or saint is living in a weird little world of trying and working hard to be more righteous or accepted by the Father. In this little world you are considered as being diligent or hard core Christian, because you are always engaged with “something” that makes you feel you getting good scores to satisfy God. The beautiful thing about the true gospel is not a life of “I need to become but a life of “I am”. Knowing who you are through rest may seem like laziness or passiveness but in reality there is nothing engaging with divinity than resting in what Jesus has already accomplished. Those who have already left their little world of emptiness and hypocrisy appreciates the super abundance of the grace of Christ. Thanks for sharing, Paul.
*There is nothing as engaging with the supernatural in Christianity than the life of engaging divinity through rest. You call that laziness and unproductive?
Have a graceful week!!
McDaniels Gyamfi
I read Paul’s latest book and was overwhelmed. I hoped Dr .brown will go and search and find the truth about his identity. Then I looked in his blog and found out that he has already read Paul’s book and now he has come out with more questions. Disappointed to know that he doesn’t seem to get it. Everyone who are opposed to hyper grace haven’t come to the end of themselves. Only then will they truly appreciate the hugeness of His grace. Till then we can only wish them “all the best” with their wild goose chase Christianity. I believe hyper grace is for stupids. Stupids like me who don’t think but just abandon myself in the arms of God believing everything God says about me is true.
The message of the cross (hyper grace) is foolishness to thinkers. Fools don’t think so Thinkers are not fools. Only fools can do great exploits for The Lord. Every act of faith in the bible is nothing but foolishness in the eyes of the educated.
We hyper grace campers seem to use the word “rest” a lot. So I believe that the opponents think that we HG campers are sipping coolades and watching vulgarity and indulging in the flesh.
Rest is not sitting in the sofa and doing nothing.
Rest is actively resisting the devil and not fighting with God.
Rest is standing on the promises of god and declaring our healing when our senses says the opposite. Resting is saying ” I am strong ” when weakness hits us,
resting is pronouncing the goodness of Jesus to people around us.
Resting is co-labouring with.
When you rest in His word, soon you will see the enemy come at you. The truth is we have already overcome the enemy and so rest is just laughing at him.
Hi Paul, This is my first exposure to “hyper-grace” so please forgive my uncertainty.
If what you say above is true: “It means God is no longer counting men’s sins against them (2 Cor 5:19). Christ does not need to ask your permission to forgive you.” then what is the job of the Holy Spirit? In particular regarding John 16 where Jesus is informing of the disciples of what the Helper will do when He arrives, specifically John 16:8 which reads “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” and Romans 8:13 ” for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”? I read here that the Holy Spirit convicts of of the deeds of the body in our lives and then works in us to put them to death.
If these are no longer counted against me then what is the Holy Spirit’s work in this area or pertaining to these verses?
Thank you!
Thanks for your comment, TT. Those who attack the hyper-grace gospel often make the accusation that we are soft on sin or that we are implicitly giving license to sin. Nothing could be further from the truth. You ask a good question: what does the Holy Spirit do if he’s not recording and convicting us of sin? Short answer: he is constantly pointing us to Jesus. In John 16:10 Jesus said he would convict us of our righteousness (in Christ). Three verses later he adds that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all Truth (another reference to Jesus). The Spirit of Christ within us helps reveal Christ in us. To walk after the Spirit is to walk by faith in the Son of God who loves me. The opposite is to walk after the flesh which is the path of independence, distrust, and sin. I talk more about the Holy Spirit’s role here and here and how he deals with us when we sin here.
I’m blessed with reading of hyper-grace and with all the comments.Of course understanding of this all, through the help of the holy spirit. God blessed us…
Am so thankful for all this May God continue to use you encourage Many soul that are depleted by legalism. Hallelujah
My friend Bob Warren introduced me to this message of life and grace many years ago, before it was even called hyper grace. I am so glad to see that so many others are walking in these truths. Living by the very life of another. Walk on!
It’s just a term used by those who have an issue with grace. The real dangers are: Hyper condemnation, hyper suffering, hyper zero knowledge of God’s will, hyper educated preachers who consider themselves teachers of this age with a chip on their shoulder against faith, grace, love, peace, joy, prosperity, healing, wisdom, free righteousness…
Dear Pastor Paul,
is there any way that your books can be put on audio format? I am a quadriplegic and unable to read books for more the 5 to 10 minutes in one sitting. Ever sense I have been reading E2R online my sin-conscience is for the most part gone. I really enjoy your articles and the feedback from all who pose their comments on this site.
Peace and gratitude to all,
Randall Harmon
Hi Randall. We are currently in the process of setting up for this, but it takes a wee while. Thanks for your comment.
Good to hear from you, Randall. Blessings to you.
Dear Pastor Paul,
just a quick question… Are there any other Scriptures or versions besides the amplified Bible where hyper grace is mentioned or inferred? Thanks
Randall Harmon
There are many. I have written about some of them here and here.
I apologize for the last post was over 250 words long. I also know a my heart that I’m not trying to earn my salvation and that I’m not mixing law and grace. Just existing.
Thankyou Paul Ellis, I love your work.
Jesus is Grace, Grace is Jesus. The goodness of God is Grace, There is no Seperation. Jesus has overflowing Grace (grace apon grace) Abundantly above what you can ask or think, pressed down shaken together and running over, He can’t help it, its his very nature. The Spirit of Gods word is Truth and its His goodness that leads me to change my mind. All I have to “Do” to have His peace and joy, is to continue to abide in Him and let His word abide in me. This is the Rest we enter.
If Jesus is Lord, then we should continue confessing and believing what God said and it will manifest. It all points to Jesus and His loving kindness towards us. “Its Grace that teachs me to deny ungodliness” not myself teaching myself. The Promise in Jeremiah was Not conditional – “He will write it on my heart and my mind, I will be their God and they shall be my people.
Jesus is Lord, the Alpha and Omega, the Teacher. Jesus promises to never leave us or forsake us. Even when I am weak, broken and faithless, Jesus remains faithful because He cant deny Himself. Perfect Grace. Jesus prayed to the Father “that we might be one as They are one. The Bible records “in Him” over 100x and “in Christ” over 200x. We cant escape Him or Grace but we can learn to enjoy Him – True Worship.
Still we cannot hear it in our churches.I got born-again in 2000 oct.Some say that “You need to be in church and change it from inside”well i am not agree with it…because major change comes allways from the top(leadership)and if they refuse gospel of Grace then whole thing is stuck.Myself i am not church goer anymore allmost 8years…getting all from internet because in my small country everything spiritual is dead.Appreciate that this site exists because it brings LIFE!