Be the Best You Can Be

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Chuck Swindoll, the beloved Christian author and pastor, is best known for his teaching on the evangelical doctrine of grace. The Grace Awakening, Dr. Swindoll’s magnum opus on the topic, is embraced worldwide. Many believers do not know, however, that Chuck Swindoll named this book after the famous worldwide revival known as “The Great Awakening.” On the second page of his introduction Dr. Swindoll wrote:

When the eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century revival spread across Great Britain and into America, preached fervently by John Wesley…and a handful of other risk-taking spokesmen for God, it was again grace that led the way… Interestingly, that sweeping movement came to be known as “The Great Awakening.” What I am sensing these days is yet another awakening in the genre of those history-making movements. Perhaps it is best defined as “The Grace Awakening,” a message whose time has come (The Grace Awakening, p. xiv, xv).

By claiming foundational similarities between The Grace Awakening and John Wesley’s message during The Great Awakening Dr. Swindoll surely fortifies the theme of his book. While some theologians might consider Swindoll’s comparison exaggerated such doctrinal harmony is significant if it is true, BUT is it true?

Though John Wesley has written volumes Chuck Swindoll offers not a single quote to substantiate his supposed harmony with Wesley. Why? Because John Wesley never taught the biblical themes of grace or freedom in Christ as Chuck Swindoll does.

Chuck Swindoll says that The Grace Awakening is a book emphasizing the “full extent of grace” (The Grace Awakening p. xv). According to Chuck Swindoll, however, “grace” means that no human “work” (good or bad) ever has any bearing on whether or not a professing Christian finally enters the eternal kingdom of God. The following are a mere fraction of what is readily available from Dr. Swindoll on grace and saving faith:

In other words, salvation is not by faith alone… [ellipsis in original] it requires works. 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 (The Grace Awakening).

There is no external proof of salvation or spirituality the reality of our faith is internal. It can be seen - and judged - only by God (The Grace Awakening Bible Study Guide).

Presenting John Wesley as Swindoll’s forerunner regarding biblical grace is not even close to the truth. Even so, Chuck Swindoll surely helps his book by linking it to Mr. Wesley and The Great Awakening. Though Swindoll is free to define “grace” any way he pleases to present it as if Wesley agreed is simply not true. Consider John Wesley on the inevitable union of works and saving faith:

If good works do not follow our faith, even all inward and outward holiness, it is plain our faith is worth nothing; we are yet in our sins (Sermon: The Law Established Through Faith).

They are not Christians. Christians are holy; these are unholy: Christians love God; these love the world. Consequently, they are no more Christians, than they are archangels. Yet they imagine themselves to be (Sermon: The Nature of Enthusiasm).

Chuck Swindoll teaches that it is heresy and a lie to teach that works or fruit must accompany sincere faith. Yet, John Wesley, a man Swindoll presents as agreeing with him on these foundational doctrines, boldly preaches this heresy and lie. Still, Chuck Swindoll aligns himself with Wesley leaving the uninformed reader with the mistaken idea that The Grace Awakening and The Great Awakening are synonymous. If Swindoll wants to teach that “grace” means that a Christian’s behavior has no bearing on his eternal home he should not do it in the good name of John Wesley or The Great Awakening.