Grace Alone or No Gospel
Author of a bestseller about grace needs a double dose now
That line hit the internet this month – is it “news” or grief.
Philip Yancey… the man who wrote What’s So Amazing About Grace… has confessed to an eight‑year affair. At seventy‑six… after more than fifty‑five years of marriage… after decades of ministry… he says he has nothing to stand on except God’s mercy and grace. Nothing to stand on except grace.
His wife Janet… speaking from what she called trauma and devastation… says she believes God through Jesus has paid for and forgiven the sins of the world, including Philip’s… and she is asking God for grace to forgive.
So here is the question... Will Christians extend to Philip Yancey the same grace he spent his life writing about.
And here is the closer question. What does your heart do when you hear this. For some of us something rises fast… How could he… after all he taught, all he wrote. And quietly… At least I have not done that.
We want grace when we fall… but when someone else falls, we reach for the plus. Jesus… plus my record… so I can feel safe.
That instinct… grace for me, scorecard for you… is exactly what Acts 15 puts on trial. Either we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone… or we have slipped into something else.
Open your Bible with me to Acts 15… where the early church had to decide… is it really Christ alone, or Christ plus a little bit of us.(You can also watch the full sermon here: https://youtu.be/rXt1BQ9DkBo)
Acts 15 Drew Blood
Acts 15 is the church fighting for the gospel’s heart. How is a person made right with God. What carries the weight.
Some men came from Judea teaching, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved.”(Acts 15:1) They did not deny Jesus. They said Jesus is good, Jesus is necessary… but Jesus is not enough. Grace was offered… but fenced in.
That is always the move. Believe in Christ… and become like us. False teaching does not swing a wrecking ball. It brings a toolkit. It uses gospel words to rebuild old walls.
Here is the stake in the ground. If Christ’s work needs your finishing touches, then He is not a Savior. If grace needs a badge, then grace is not grace. If salvation is “Jesus started it” and your obedience completes it… you are back on yourself again, with Bible verses taped over the same old foundation.
Grace and works do not mix. You cannot be partially saved by Christ and partially saved by your control. You are either leaning fully on Christ alone or standing on yourself.
Our “Jesus Plus” Now
We do not demand circumcision now. But grace‑plus never dies. It just changes clothes.
It sounds like, “Yes, Jesus… but I need to prove I am serious.” “Yes, Jesus… but I need a clean record, a respectable story.” It can even sound like church culture: “We are not like those flashy churches.” Fine. Just do not build your confidence there.
Because the moment your heart says, “God is more pleased with us because we are not like them,” you have left grace. That is not Jesus alone. That is Jesus plus the fact that you are not them.
Every heart drifts from grace plus nothing… to grace plus me. And the “me” usually feels responsible. Mature. Serious about holiness. Until it produces what it always produces. Anxiety. Comparison. Quiet resentment. A heavy yoke.
Peter’s Anchor Line
Peter finally stands and points to what God already did. God gave Gentiles the Holy Spirit just as He did to the Jews, making no distinction, cleansing their hearts by faith. No performance. No extra step. When God says clean, the church cannot say almost.
Then Peter drops the sentence that levels the room. "We believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are." (Acts 15:11) Not "they can be saved like we are." Even we... with all our religion... are saved like them.
And Peter names grace-plus for what it is. Testing God. Putting a yoke on people that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear. (Acts 15:10) That is what happens when Christ becomes a booster shot instead of a Savior. Jesus started you... now you must keep God pleased.
Big Brother Religion
Luke 15:11-32 is not a sweet story about second chances. It is Jesus exposing two ways to be lost under the same roof. One runs far from the Father. The other stays close... and still misses Him.
The younger son is obvious. Public sin. Public collapse. The Father runs. Embrace. Robe. Ring. Party.
But Jesus pans the camera to the yard. The older brother hears the music… and refuses to go in. The Father comes out and pleads. The older brother does not answer with relationship. He answers with a résumé.
“Look, I have been slaving many years for you… I have never disobeyed… you never gave me…”
That is not son language. That is employee language. You can live at the edge of the Father’s house and still build your identity on leverage. Your confidence is not the Father… your confidence is your goodness.
The older brother’s problem is not that he was bad. It is that his goodness became his confidence.
Where You Add the “Plus”
Most people do not wake up saying, “Today I will reject grace alone.” They just assume they are fine because they prayed a prayer, made a decision, walked an aisle, got baptized, joined a church. Those things matter. They can also become the first brick in a new foundation that is not Christ.
It sounds like, “Yes, I needed Jesus… to get in. But staying in is on me.” That is grace‑plus. Quiet. Respectable. Older‑brother religion.
Some common “pluses”:
You bank on a conversion moment, but you have never learned to rest. Your assurance lives in a memory, not in trusting Christ today.
You are comforted by “I am not like those people.” Less messy. Less obvious. “Not like them” becomes your safety.
You serve, you give, you show up… and when suffering hits, you feel offended at God because deep down you thought your faithfulness bought protection.
You have doctrine and convictions and the “right” tribe… and you feel contempt before compassion.
If any of that stings, it is not condemnation. It is diagnosis. You can truly believe in Jesus and still walk around like the older brother with a scorecard in your pocket.
How to Spot Your “Plus”
Ask this: If God took that “plus” away… the thing you quietly lean on… would you feel less saved, less secure with Him?
If losing it would rattle you, it is not just a gift. It has become a foundation.
Obedience From Love
Grace alone does not make obedience optional. It makes obedience honest. When obedience is how you stay accepted, you never really obey as a son. You obey as a slave.
But when you are already accepted, obedience changes flavor. You are not paying rent. You are at home. You are not trying to become a child. You are learning how to live like one.
“We believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are.” That is the line in the concrete. Not saved through your follow‑through. Not saved through your record. Saved through grace.
So obedience is not currency. It is fruit. It grows when you finally stop auditioning.
Bringing It Back To Us
Some of us are the younger brother and we know it. Dirt on our face. Shame in our chest. Mercy or nothing.
Some of us are the older brother. That is harder to admit. It feels like confessing we wasted years.
But the Father comes out to older brothers too. He leaves the party to plead. This is not a story about a bad son and a good son. It is a story about a gracious Father and two sons who cannot stop trying to save themselves… one by rebellion, one by righteousness.
Where are you adding the plus.
And if you want one small practice to start rewiring it: tomorrow morning, before your phone and before your feet hit the floor, say it out loud.
“Father, thank You… I am fully accepted in Christ today… before I do anything.”