In his magnum opus, The Grace Awakening, Charles R. (Chuck) Swindoll presents himself as taking up "the torch of freedom" as brandished by protestant Reformers such as Martin Luther. In this he leads his readers to believe that by following him and his teaching in The Grace Awakening that they are being true to historical Reformation teaching on the doctrines of grace and faith alone. Consider:
"Human achievement must accompany sincere faith before you can be certain of your salvation. We continue to hear that "different gospel" to this day and it is a lie. It is heresy. It is antithetical to the true message that lit the spark to the Reformation: Sola Fide - faith alone" (The Grace Awakening, p.86).
"When the sixteenth-century Reformers wielded the torch of freedom ...grace was the battle cry: salvation by grace alone a walk of faith without fear of eternal damnation" (The Grace Awakening, p. xiv).
Dr. Swindoll is right, the "spark that lit the reformation," was Sola Fide or faith alone. The Reformers, however, did not explain their terms as does Dr. Swindoll. You see, his understanding of grace insists, that "regardless of how you choose to live, you can't live so bad that God says to you, 'you're no longer mine'" (Shedding Light On Our Dark Side, tape sld 1A). Swindoll's preconception regarding the ultimate salvation of even the most profligate obligates him to eliminate the Reformation (and biblical) marriage of works to genuine faith.
In essence, Dr. Swindoll aligns himself with the Reformers and leaves the uninformed reader with the idea that his views on grace and faith are the same as those of the Reformers, which they are not. Contrary to Swindoll, Luther taught that works or "human achievement," as Swindoll says, go hand in hand with genuine, saving faith. Consider Luther's teaching:
"Faith must of course be sincere. It must be a faith that performs good works through love. If faith lacks love it is not true faith. Thus the Apostle bars the way of hypocrites to the kingdom of Christ on all sides...Idle faith is not justifying faith. In this terse manner Paul presents the whole life of a Christian. Inwardly it consists in faith towards God, outwardly in love towards our fellow-men" (Luther, Commentary On Galatians).
In his book Faith Alone Dr. R.C. Sproul wrote: "The Reformers saw saving faith as necessarily, inevitably, and immediately yielding the fruit of works. Martin Luther insisted that the faith that justifies is a fides viva, a vital and living faith that yields the fruit of works." In opposition to this Dr. Swindoll insists it is heresy and a different gospel to believe that works must accompany saving faith. And this he does as if he were representing the Reformation!
Plainly, Chuck Swindoll leads the uninformed reader to view The Grace Awakening as book recovering the lost truths of the Reformation from the devious hands of present-day legalists who have corrupted them. When the truth is that Luther himself aggressively argued against the conception of grace and faith extolled in Swindoll's book.
Like those who invent history to buttress to their agenda, Chuck Swindoll has revised Reformation history. Does Swindoll believe that "the faith that justifies is a living faith that always yields the fruit of works" as did Luther? Does Swindoll insist that "whoever doesn't do good works is without faith," as did the Reformers? Rather, Chuck Swindoll teaches the opposite: that it is heresy to maintain that works must accompany faith. And he does this as if he accurately represents the Reformation! Is this not dishonest? How can this be anything other than revising history?
Daniel LaLond Jr.'s book, The Lying Promise, has 400 pages, over 800 footnotes, 3 appendixes and 3 indexes. In the book, LaLond examines the teaching of Chuck Swindoll in detail. For further analyses of more controversial doctrines such as eternal security, the carnal Christian and imputed righteousness please visit Defending the Gospel.org.
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