Grace Evangelical Society (GES) is an evangelical Christian advocacy organization based in Denton,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, whose purpose is to promote

Free Grace Theology Free grace is a Christian soteriological view that rejects the necessity of good works in salvation, Free Grace advocates believe that good works are not the condition to merit (as with Catholics), maintain (as with Arminians), or to prove (as wit ...

. Founded in 1986, GES is a non-profit, evangelical publisher specializing in books that deal with

soteriology Soteriology (; el, σωτηρία ' "salvation" from σωτήρ ' "savior, preserver" and λόγος ' "study" or "word") is the study of religious doctrines of salvation. Salvation theory occupies a place of special significance in many religion ...

from a free grace perspective. GES also holds an annual conference at Southwestern Baptist School of Theology's Riley Center in Ft. Worth, Texas. The executive director, Robert N. (Bob) Wilkin, speaks across the country at churches and regional conferences and has written several books. The ministry critiques certain ideas in evangelism and

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, especially strains of Covenant theology,

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

ism and

Lordship salvation The lordship salvation controversy (also called lordship controversy) is a theological dispute regarding a soteriological question within Christianity on the relationship between faith and works. This debate has been notably present among some no ...

History

GES was founded in June 1986 when

dispensationalist Dispensationalism is a system that was formalized in its entirety by John Nelson Darby. Dispensationalism maintains that history is divided into multiple ages or "dispensations" in which God acts with humanity in different ways. Dispensationali ...

Bob Wilkin sent out newsletters to likeminded associates regarding

within conservative American churches. Wilkin had obtained a BS at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

at Irvine in 1973, a ThM from

Dallas Theological Seminary Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) is an evangelical theological seminary in Dallas, Texas. It is known for popularizing the theological system dispensationalism. DTS has campuses in Dallas, Houston, and Washington, D.C., as well as extension ca ...

in 1982, and a PhD at Dallas Theological Seminary in 1985. In 1988, the ''Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society'' (JOTGES) was founded; Arthur L. Farstad became its first editor. That same year,

Zondervan Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). They are a part of HarperCollins Christian Publ ...

published ''The Gospel According to Jesus'' by John MacArthur Jr., a work which would crystallize the influence of

Lordship Salvation The lordship salvation controversy (also called lordship controversy) is a theological dispute regarding a soteriological question within Christianity on the relationship between faith and works. This debate has been notably present among some no ...

Theology in Dispensational circles. In 1994, the GES published ''The Epistle of James, Proven Character Through Testing'' by Zane C. Hodges, the first title in a project conceived as single book-length commentary for each NT book. As the representative of the GES in public debates, Dr. Wilkin has engaged Progressive Dispensationalist and former president of the

Evangelical Theological Society The Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) is a professional society of Biblical scholars, educators, pastors, and students "devoted to the inerrancy and inspiration of the Scriptures and the gospel of Jesus Christ" and "dedicated to the oral exch ...

Darrell Bock Darrell L. Bock (born December 12, 1953) is an American evangelical Christian New Testament scholar. He is Executive Director of Cultural Engagement aThe Hendricks Centerand Senior Research Professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological S ...

, and the Calvinist apologist and writer James White.

Projects

''The Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society'' (JOTGES) was first published in 1988, and is published semi-annually. GES has two commentary projects. The first is a long-term effort in publishing verse-by-verse commentaries of each book in the NT (''The Epistle of James: Proven Character Through Testing'', Hodges, 1994. ''The Epistles of John: Walking in the Light of God's Love'', Hodges, 1999).GES Online Bookstore
/ref> The other is the two-volume ''Grace New Testament Commentary'' published in March 2010, a 1300-page hardcover commentary on the entire New Testament containing work by thirteen contributing authors, including J. Paul Tanner, Gary Derickson, Dwight Hunt, Hal Haller, Rene Lopez, Al Valdes, Zane Hodges, and Bob Wilkin.

References

External links

The Grace Evangelical Society Website

Debate with James White on Perseverance

{{Authority control Evangelical parachurch organizations Evangelicalism in Texas Evangelical Christian publishing companies Christian organizations established in 1986 1986 establishments in Texas