A Review of "Free Grace Doctrine Throughout History, Third Edition"

This is a brief review of Valtteri Lahti's "Free Grace Doctrine Throughout History, Third Edition" (2026). To read my review of the 2024 edition for comparison, click here.

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Lahti's Introduction is helpful, but one statement in particular needs correcting or at least clarifying. Namely, Lahti says it was "the 1980s, when the Lordship salvation controversy began." But this is technically incorrect as written. Maybe Lahti means to say that the modern Lordship salvation controversy began in the 1980s. Because Everett F. Harrison was debating John R. Stott on this very topic back in the 1950s! (See the article in the September 1959 issue of Eternity magazine titled "Must Christ Be Lord To Be Savior?") In 1969, Charles Ryrie also wrote about the Lordship controversy in his book Balancing the Christian Life (see Chapter 17: "Must Christ Be Lord to Be Savior?"). While I hesitate to open a review on a critical note, this is truly the singular point of disagreement in an otherwise exceptionally strong work. Beyond this historical oversight, the substance of his thesis is remarkably sound.

Chapter 2 in Lahti's book is titled "Free Grace in the Bible." To that I say a hearty "Amen!" (As an aside, I've often thought about how the term "Free Grace" is actually just a synonym for "Biblical"! I usually prefer the term "Free Grace" because it is probably the more specific designation.) In Chapter 2 of Lahti's work, various Scriptures and Scripture passages are analyzed from a Free Grace perspective. The Scriptures discussed include: 2 Timothy 2:13, 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, Ezekiel 44:10-16, Hebrews 6:4-8, 10:26-39, and Revelation 22:17. I was pleasantly surprised to see Lahti discuss Ezekiel 44:10-16, a passage rarely addressed in connection with Free Grace theology. I previously discussed it in my article "The Reign of the Priest Kings" years ago, so it was encouraging to see renewed attention given to the passage. Lahti also includes brief, insightful discussions on "Repentance" and "Regeneration" in the same chapter.

Chapter 3 is titled "Early Christianity," but unfortunately the chapter divisions are not always clearly marked. This however would be an easy fix, and it is really just a layout and formatting issue more than anything else. The substance of Lahti's work is solid. In Chapter 3, Lahti gives specific quotes from Ante-Nicene and Post-Nicene church history showing that Free Grace views have been held by Christians throughout the centuries. Often, Free Grace views were denounced by more influential theologians (such as Augustine, for example) rather than affirmed. Lahti's point is that this nonetheless highlights the existence of such views, even if they have not always been popular or accepted. In regard to this, the Apostle Paul reminds us: 

"But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence" (1 Cor. 1:27-29).

To provide an overview of the book's scope, the eleven chapters are structured as follows:

1) Introduction

2) Free Grace in the Bible

3) Early Christianity

4) Baptismal Regeneration?

5) Dispensationalism

6) The papacy

7) Repentance in early Christianity

8) Medieval age (9th to 15th centuries)

9) The Reformation period (16th-17th centuries)

10) Post-Reformation era (18th to 20th centuries)

11) Citations

Overall, Lahti's work is academically rigorous. I appreciated that his writing style is marked by restraint. His presentation is fair and balanced, without overstatement or exaggeration. The result is that Lahti makes a compelling historical case for Free Grace doctrine by providing specific quotations demonstrating Free Grace beliefs dating back to the first few centuries of the Christian era. In this regard, I would go so far as to say that Lahti's work is the most detailed history of Free Grace Theology that I have yet read. 

With a few minor structural edits, Lahti's book could well become the definitive compact resource on the history of Free Grace theology for years to come. I highly recommend it, and I hope the author continues to refine it and publish updated editions. Lahti's work reminds me of the popular Halley's Bible Handbook (see particularly Halley's "Foreword" and "Sources"), but specialized for Free Grace history. Perhaps someday we will see a book titled Lahti's Bible Handbook. One can always hope. 

Overall rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars. With a few minor changes, I would gladly give it a full 5 stars!