Clarification of the Grace Life and the Exchanged Life

GRACE means it’s all God’s work, not of our works, before and after salvation

LIFE means the very Life of Christ - a Gift by grace (not earned) and received by simple faith

“Grace Life” is synonymous to “Christ Life” and “The Exchanged Life.”

The following is by John Best, President of Exchanged Life Ministries Texas:

The heart of our message at Exchanged Life Ministries is our union with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. This is often referred to as the “exchanged life.”

At the moment of our salvation, God took us out of spiritual death in Adam and transformingly put us into union with Christ. He exchanged our old identity as sinners in Adam for a radically new identity in Christ. We are now not just sinners saved by grace; our essential nature and identity is that of new creation saints in Christ. Our union with Christ is so real, so vital, so complete, so trans-historical that the old us (our spirit) in Adam died, and was buried. The new us (our spiritual identity) is now raised up in union with Him. We have been set free to live as ones who have been recreated in Christ's resurrection (Romans 6). This is God's doing. He traded our old identity in Adam for a new identity in Christ.

This is the FOUNDATION of the exchanged life:

God's uniting us with Christ, whose life is eternal.

This results in a shared life, a life of union with Christ.

However, the usual experience for us as Christians seems to be that we lose sight of our resources in Christ. The great tendency is for us to try to get our needs met our way and to depend upon our own human resources (the flesh) instead of upon Him. Even the Apostle Paul described his own personal struggle and defeat as he strived in his own strength to fulfill the will of God (Romans 7:14- 25).

We need to be brought to a place like Paul where we give up on our fleshly efforts and turn from all attitudes of independence, because by these we deny the fact of our union, our shared life in Christ (John 7:37-39; 15:1-11; Romans 15:18; 2 Corinthians 3:5-6; Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:20-21; 3:1-13).

To experience what God has provided us in the exchanged life, and to walk in victory over the power of indwelling sin (Romans 6:1-14) we must resolutely trust in what the Bible says about our union with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. As we continue to appropriate His life rather than relying on ourselves, Christ meets our inner needs and gives us His joy, peace, power and a deeper walk with Him in the midst of life's difficulties and problems. The focus of our attention is shifted from ourselves to Christ and those He has put into our lives for Him to love through us (John 15:9-17; 1 Corinthians 13; Galatians 5:13-18; 1 John 3:16-4:12).

By an ongoing trust in Christ as our life, we can trade our total insufficiency to live the life the New Testament describes for Christ’s total sufficiency to live it in and through us.

This is the RESULT of the exchanged life.

The exchanged life is the exchange (with Christ at the cross) of self-centered life lived out of the Christian’s own resources as if he were still in Adam, for a Christ-centered life lived out of Christ’s resources because he is in Christ.

The term “exchanged life” is taken from Isaiah 40:31:

But those who wait on the LORD

shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

they shall walk and not faint.

English translations refer to those who wait on or hope in the Lord as being able to “renew” their strength. Some commentaries and study Bibles that deal with this verse note that the literal translation of the Hebrew word for “renew” is “exchange.” Those who wait on the Lord will exchange their strength for His strength, as noted in Isaiah 40:29:

He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.

The term “exchanged life” is directly related to the believer’s discovery of a new identity in Christ. The believer is a new creation; one born of God. What was once true is no longer true.

The following clarification (from the Association of Exchanged Life GraceLife Conference book) is born out of our desire to bring understanding to those who hear the message of the “exchanged life.”

The Exchanged Life:

is not a new teaching.

is not sinless perfection.

is not a life of passivity.

is not a self-help teaching.

is not an improved “old man.”

is not an undisciplined life.

is not a second work of grace.

is not a counseling technique.

is not in any way deifying mankind.

is not an instant change in behavior.

is not a formula for self to imitate Christ.

is not peace through changed circumstances.

is not dying to self (wiping out our personality).

is not a guarantee that circumstances will improve.

is not a guarantee that emotions will line up consistently with truth.

is not overlooking or approving sinful behavior (promoting license).