The Two Covenants
Part 5 — both ditches are the same old covenant

vs. LGT & cheap grace

Here's what makes this topic special: Henry Marte himself names both extremes — and says they're the same mistake. "The essence of the Old Covenant amounts to legalism with cheap grace… either way you distort grace and you distort law." So legalism (and its extreme, LGT) and cheap grace aren't two different errors here — they're two faces of one Old Covenant heart.

⟵ CHEAP GRACE
"law is done away"
NEW COVENANT
a new heart, by God's promise
LEGALISM / LGT ⟶
"grace isn't enough"
Sam says This is the cleverest part of the whole sermon, friend. Most people think legalism and cheap grace are opposites. Marte shows they're siblings — both are the Old Covenant, both rest on the flesh, both miss the new heart. One distorts the law (cheap grace throws it out); the other distorts grace (legalism says it isn't enough). Same bondwoman, two children.

Marte's own words

From the sermon (on Galatians) "The essence of the Old Covenant amounts to legalism with cheap grace, and the reason why is because either way you fall, you distort grace and you distort law. You distort grace because you don't think that grace is sufficient to save you; you distort law because you're saying that the law is done away with. So you're in the same position." And earlier: "There are Christians today living under the Old Covenant… that includes people in cheap grace and legalism — don't start pointing fingers; anything contrary to the truth belongs to the Old Covenant."

The cheap-grace ditch

The cheap-gracer says "The law was nailed to the cross — it's done away with. Grace covers everything, so how I live doesn't really matter. 'New Covenant' just means freedom from rules."
The New Covenant answer That distorts the law — and Marte calls it "a horrendous reading of Scripture." The New Covenant doesn't abolish the law; it writes it on the heart: "a new heart will I give you… and cause you to walk in my statutes" (Ezekiel 36:26-27). The fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace — has the law fulfilled in it: "against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:23), "because that law is written in the heart." Cheap grace keeps the freedom and throws away the heart-change; the New Covenant gives both.

The legalism / LGT ditch

The legalist / LGT believer says "Grace gets you started, but you must achieve the obedience yourself — and a final generation must reach sinless perfection. Grace alone isn't sufficient; your performance has to complete it."
The New Covenant answer That distorts grace — "you don't think that grace is sufficient to save you." It's the Old Covenant in its purest form: man's promise to obey ("All that the LORD hath spoken we will do," Exodus 19:8) from a heart that can't deliver — "ropes of sand." The New Covenant is God's "I will… I will… I will" (Ezekiel 36:26): "it is all of God; it is God's work in us." We don't get life by keeping commandments — "God gives us life in order that we may keep them." LGT puts the cart (our obedience) before the horse (His new heart).

Why both are really one

Both ditches = Old Covenant
the flesh, two ways
  • Cheap grace: distorts the law (throws it out)
  • Legalism/LGT: distorts grace (says it's not enough)
  • Both rest on the flesh, not a new heart
  • Both are "another gospel" (Galatians 1:8)
  • Both are children of the bondwoman
The New Covenant
the heart, God's work
  • Keeps the law — written on a new heart
  • Keeps grace — sufficient, and all of God
  • Rests on God's promise, not human effort
  • The one true gospel of righteousness by faith
  • Children of the free woman

Who are the "LGT folks"?

Last Generation Theology is the furthest extreme of the legalism ditch — teaching that a final generation must achieve sinless perfection to vindicate God and allow Christ's return. In Marte's framing, it's a particularly intense form of the Old Covenant: man's promise to perfectly obey, mistaken for the gospel.

→ Meet them on the LGT topic pages

What LGT is, its history, the real proof-texts, the field manual for responding with grace, and the floating-grandpa game. If this ditch is new to you, start there.

Go to the LGT topic →
Sam says So here's the takeaway, friend: don't just ask "am I a legalist?" or "am I a cheap-gracer?" — ask the deeper question Marte asks: which covenant is my heart in? Because both ditches are the same bondwoman. The only way out of either one is the same: cast her out, and stand on God's promise of a new heart. "We are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free."

Go deeper: the LGT topic → The full field manual Back to Two Covenants Home