Exposing the Straw Man: What Free Grace Theologians Are Missing From Grudem's "Free Grace" Book?

I wrote the following thoughts in my article titled “Charles Ryrie on Repentance and Faith, Part 2” (FGFS, June 25, 2023), but I want to bring particular attention to it here because this is significant. Notice how Wayne Grudem misrepresents Free Grace theology in his book on the subject titled “Free Grace” Theology: 5 Ways It Diminishes the Gospel. If you look in the General Index of Grudem’s book (pp. 152-156), Charles Ryrie’s name isn’t even listed. For those who may be unaware, Charles Ryrie is probably one of the foremost Free Grace theologians of all time. But strangely, Grudem doesn’t mention him anywhere in his book on the subject! The same can be said in regards to Lewis Sperry Chafer, arguably one of the most influential voices in the Free Grace movement. You won’t find Chafer’s name in Grudem’s book either, not even in a footnote! How can anyone honestly write a book about “Free Grace” theology and never once mention two of its most well-known proponents? If the “shoe were on the other foot,” this would be like writing a book about Calvinism and never once mentioning John Calvin or Theodore Beza! Or it would be like writing a book purporting to critique “Calvinism” but only discussing the off-shoot view of Amyraldism. This is the logical fallacy called “The straw man argument”: misrepresenting someone’s argument to make it easier to attack. There are actually more references to Zane Hodges in the General Index of Grudem’s book than there are references to Jesus Christ and John MacArthur combined! Grudem strangely has a myopic fixation on Zane Hodges, to the exclusion of other (more prominent) Free Grace voices. And worse, Grudem seems bent on giving the (false) impression that the views of Zane Hodges characterize the Free Grace movement. That is to say, his book appears to be built on the premise that the views of Zane Hodges are representative of Free Grace theology in general. But this is hardly the case, as even a novice would know from reading just one Wikipedia article on the subject. Thus, Grudem’s entire book is built on a completely false premise and is a misrepresentation of Free Grace theology.[1]

 

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[1] Jonathan Perreault, “Charles Ryrie on Repentance and Faith, Part 2” (FGFS, June 25, 2023), see endnote 10.