“And why not say, ‘Let us do evil that good may come’?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.” – Romans 3:8
Paul, the apostle of grace, was often misrepresented—accused of promoting a reckless lawlessness masked by divine pardon. Some claimed he taught that once saved by Christ, sin no longer mattered. His response in Romans 6:1–2 is firm and clear: “Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” Paul’s teaching didn’t minimize sin—it magnified grace’s power to change lives. Grace isn’t a license to sin, but a lifeline to transformation. Like being rescued from drowning, we don’t dive back into the depths. Paul’s preview in Romans 6 defends not only his message but the core of the gospel itself.
Sadly, the same accusation is leveled against those who preach grace today. We’re told that to be a true Christian, you must show it by how you live. But that mindset, though well-meaning, centers the gospel on self-effort. As I heard recently, “There are too many ‘you’s’ in that statement.” Scripture tells a different story. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation…” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ doesn’t renovate the old self—He replaces it entirely. The life we now live, we live “by faith in the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20), not by trying harder. Grace births a new identity, and from that identity flows a new life.
Consider the thief on the cross. He had no time to clean up his act, join a church, or prove his conversion. Yet Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). He didn’t possess the securities we often cling to—baptism, behavior, or religious activity. His only security was Christ, and that was enough. At the edge of eternity, he discovered the fullness of grace—salvation that cannot be earned and need not be demonstrated to be real. His story confronts our hidden assumptions and invites us to rest on the only foundation that holds: Jesus.
True gospel preaching will always be misunderstood by some. If grace is preached clearly, it will sometimes sound like lawlessness. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones noted that such misunderstanding is a hallmark of true evangelical preaching. If no one ever accuses us of preaching a gospel “too free,” we may not be preaching it fully. Paul made it plain—salvation is not built on false security but on heart transformation (Romans 2:29). As the old hymn declares, “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” So let us preach grace—boldly, humbly, and without apology. It is not the absence of holiness, but the heartbeat of it.
“…if you are not misunderstood and slanderously reported from the standpoint of antinomianism, it is because you do not believe the gospel truly and you do not preach it truly.” – Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones
surrendered devotions 