A Scandalous Freedom: The Radical Nature of the Gospel

by Steve Brown

Christians do not trust freedom. As author Steve Brown explains in this brave new book, they prefer the security of rules and self-imposed boundaries, which they tend to inflict on other Christians. Brown asserts that real freedom means the freedom to be wrong as well as right.

Christianity often calls us to live beyond the boundaries, bolstered by the assurance that we cannot fall beyond God's love. Freedom is dangerous, but the alternative is worse -- boxing ourselves up where we cannot celebrate our unique gifts and express our joy in Christ. Each of the book's eleven chapters explores a common pharisaic, freedom-stifling tendency, then opens the door to the fresh air of a remedial liberty.

A reader's delight, A Scandalous Freedom sometimes shocks with challenges to prevailing wisdom, but it follows up with compelling validations of our need to celebrate real, unstinted freedom in Christ.

Genres: Christian, Theology, Christian Living, Nonfiction, Faith, Religion, Devotional

257 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Steve Brown is a radio broadcaster, seminary professor and author. He previously served as a pastor for over twenty-five years and now devotes much of his time to the radio broadcast, Key Life.

With such varied experience and unique perspective on life, Steve is an original. He refuses to be a "guru," doesn't want to be anyone's mother and gives, in his teaching, the freedom to think. Overall, Steve has become known for his refreshing and practical Biblical applications.

Steve serves as Professor Emeritus of Preaching and Pastoral Ministry at Reformed Theological Seminary. He sits on the board of the National Religious Broadcasters and Harvest USA. Traveling extensively, Steve is a much-in-demand speaker.

Steve is the author of numerous books including A Scandalous Freedom, What Was I Thinking? and Approaching God. His articles appear in such magazines and journals as Leadership, Decision, Plain Truth and Today's Christian Woman.

Reviews

[Bryan Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow.

Some of my favorite points:

1. p68 - The only people who get better are people who know that, if they never get better, God will love them anyway. God will not only love you if you don’t get better; he will teach you that getting better isn’t the issue. His love is the issue.

2. p82 - Jesus invited us to a dance...and we’ve turned it into a march of soldiers, always checking to see if we’re doing it right and are in step and in line with the other soldiers. We know a dance would be more fun, but we believe we must go through hell to get to heaven, so we keep marching.

3. p84 - The greatest danger to the Christian faith is not our shallow theology, not living up to what we say we believe, or a lack of conviction. Our real danger isn’t racism, sexism, or a lack of compassion. The danger doesn’t lie in our disobedience or in our uncaring attitudes about the poor, the lost, or the oppressed. The danger with the church is not our political involvement or lack thereof. Those things are important issues, but when we define our problems in those terms we will never cure the real problem. All we’ll do, in effect, is to take Tums for stomach cancer.

4. p88 - People who understand the good news about Christ don’t always think about how they can be better and more pure. In fact, they seldom think about themselves at all.

5. p121 - Each time one of my christian heroes fell off the pedestal, I was devastated - until I realized that God wanted to teach me something important. He uses sinful and flawed human beings because those are the only kinds of human beings he has available to use.

6. p149 - I don’t have to agree with the homosexual lifestyle, with political or theological liberals, or with those who hate Christians. Still, I think I will, as Jesus said, “let the dead bury the dead” and just follow him. When I need to make a witness, I will, and when it needs to be strong, I will make it strong. But I don’t have to fix anything or anyone. That is God’s business. When I let him be God, I’m incredibly free to be....well, his servant.

7. p165 - Whenever religion becomes leverage, it ceases to be the religion of Jesus. The gospel of God’s grace takes away the leverage. Why? Because if I’m forgiven without condition, you can’t make me feel guilty. If God loves me, you can’t manipulate me by threatening to take away your love. If God knows my secrets and doesn’t condemn me, then you can’t use my secrets as blackmail. If you have power and threaten to use it against me and I don’t care, then your power ceases to be real power.

8. p180 - It is really foolish to expect others to agree with our truth or to not feel offended when we speak our truth. When something is true, however...well it’s true, and you can’t change it. Winston Churchill said, “Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it; ignorance may deride it; malice may distort it; but there it is.”

9. p207 - There is horrible bondage in pretending that the world is a nice place, that bad things really don’t happen to Christians, and that God will put a permanent hedge around you. That kind of denial makes you even more afraid, because truth has a way of haunting our darkness.

10. p211 - The freest people in the world are Christians who know the world is not a nice place where “God is in his heaven and is all right.” They know about the Fall, about pain, about sin, and about danger. In the knowing, they find wonderful freedom. It says, “I’m called to be here and to even suffer sometimes, but I’ll face the reality and dance anyway.”

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

It often happens to the born again Christian and it isn’t good. He comes to Christ, is filled with His grace and truth, and knows for the first time in his life the gift of true freedom. He no longer runs from God – only to Him in love. He no longer fears man, only God. He no longer condemns man – only his own sins to the death of Christ. This freedom is the most precious thing in his life. With it, he laughs and dances and sings in the presence of His God and Savior. But then something happens -- his freedom is stolen from him. And the result is that this Christian becomes gloomy and judgmental.

Steve Brown is mad about all this and you will be too as he convinces you of it. We shouldn’t accept this theft as part of a natural part of the Christian life. When did it become okay for us to take our eyes off Jesus and put them onto far lesser things? Once we thought mostly about Him and now we think about our doctrine or our vote or the imagined consequences of being real with people.

So, how does this happen? How does our freedom in Christ die? Well, there must be freedom killers out there who take our freedom… or we give it away.

Steve would have us be free from others, so he warns us to flee from those freedom killers that hide with their shackles in the shadows. Some ensnare you behind a mask where you will hide your true self; others hold before you the image of a hero to worship; some bind you together with others (of one ideology) in battle array against others (of a different ideology).

And Steve would have us free ourselves from self-confining tendencies. He calls us to break with courage and boldness the chains of excessive niceness; to stop avoiding pain at all cost; and to allow God’s blessing to redefine us -- as failures no longer.

In the Church, my role as pastor is to defend His sheep from freedom killers. Yes, I have the privilege of feeding His sheep and laboring in the Word and in prayer for them. But the thing this book brings to the fore is the fact that they are Christ’s sheep, no one else’s – not mine, not the denomination’s, not the religious right wing’s, not the congregation’s. My work is not as much imparting my knowledge or positions, as it is to support folks in the knowledge and persons that they already know and are (1 John 2:20-21). As Christ’s sheep, we must be protected against the manipulation of others and the self-imprisoning tendencies that we lock ourselves up into. Steve Brown has reached in and given the church a key. Lets take it and use it.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important read for those who do good so Jesus will love them more, or perhaps will give more grace if they behave. Even more important for the culture in our churches that say 'come as you are' but exude the feel of perfection (dress right, think right, trust authority, use my version of the Bible, sing my songs, don't don't don't).

[Brandon Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just okay. It had a lot of good points, but wasn't as "scandalous" or "shocking" as the title suggests.

[Murlene Leech · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was the first in my list of books to read in my recuperation and I absolutely loved it. Living your life free in Christ changes everything. So many great quotes but I really liked one at the end “Almost anything you do with God that comes from fear is probably wrong. So be afraid, but be free too, and then you won’t be so afraid. We teach an important principle in the born free seminar – you take the first step, God will take the second step, and by the time you get to the third step, you will know that it was God who took the first step.”

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Scandalous Freedom is a book worthy to be read, re-read, and studied. At first read it seems like a good book. On second read I discovered the radical nature of Brown's book.

Most Christians simply have thought through the scandalous implications of being saved by grace. We so desperately want to hang on to some form of good works. We want to bring something to the table. Brown cuts through all of that and forces us to think about what it really means that God loves and accepts you and will never again be angry with you.

But most of all this book shows us that being a Christian is not about being a good, nice person. Being a Christian is about being so caught up in Jesus that you dance and sing for joy.

[Katy Congdon · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you struggle understanding what freedom in Christ means, this is a great read.

It likely isn't what you've thought. And for some reason what I've been taught (or at least what I latched onto) doesn't jive either.

There is freedom in Christ. See God as an angry God? Feel guilty a lot? Almost feel bound instead of free?

Try this book. Let it give you a different perspective that might be just what you needed.

[Elijah Beltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this presentation on the freedom the Gospel gives us. He is quite provocative at the beginning of the book, but the last chapter provides balance. I appreciate that Steve addresses the Law’s use in a Christian’s life (Something important in a book about freedom, and something important for a guy who teaches at a Reformed seminary to keep his Reformed cred). My question for the book, however, is do we only ignore Christians who point out our sin, and make us less free, or do we welcome their interaction for our sanctification? It seems Steve would only do the former. Of course, you can only address so much in a book.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this book at least three times and refer to it often in various studies and small groups. I think I've purchased somewhere around 20 copies that I've given to other people. This book is fantastic. Steve Brown's writing style keeps the reader's interest and drives home the point he is trying to make. That point is that we are all saved by grace and should probably take God more seriously, and ourselves a little less seriously.

I highly recommend!

[James Monast · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reminders of grace I need all day, every day.

The author’s vulnerability is refreshing and so is his subject. Like being in an oxygen tent, I was reminded that God’s grace is full-strength stuff, not diluted or polluted by my poor and forgetful understanding of it. Written simply enough that even an over-complicator like me can grasp it! Bravo!

[Mark Vann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very different kind of Christian book, in that many readers will consider the contents heresy, but then I guess that is the purpose of this book. In is the strongest book I have ever read that makes fun of and attacks legalism in the faith. Truly refreshing to read and embrace the true freedom in faith offered in Christ. If you have been shamed by legalists, this book is for you.

[James Morovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good reminder for folks like me who battle legalistic tendencies in their faith.

Jesus didn't save us to be slaves to fear of messing up. He saved us to be fearless to love Him and our neighbors by sharing the Gospel in both verbal and non verbal manners!

[Heidi Austel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great and powerful book explaining how the grace of God can set you free. More than that, God desires that you experience this incredible freedom, but unbelief keeps us from embracing the freedom God died to give us. Read this!

[Jeff Voth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm recommending this book to several of my friends/family members.

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the book, and the podcast he did on it.

[Linda O'Dell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reminder that freedom in Christ means FREEDOM IN CHRIST

[Jennifer Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book. A totally different perspective than I was raised and I am pleased I read it.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars for telling me something I didn’t already know and reminding me of some things I have forgotten.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent. Inspiring and convicting.

[Joseph McBee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended to me by a friend. I loved it. Brown enjoys rattling cages, and he writes with an openness and vulnerability that makes the reader drop their guard. I loved Jesus more when I finished this book and ANY book that does that is one that I love.

[Steve Lee Sr · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was profoundly disturbing to me. Not because of the subject matter. Steve Brown often speaks and writes about Christian freedom. But never before have I heard him admit to being a stinking Republican. Okay to be honest, I added the "stinking" adjective.

I have read several of Brown's previous books and consider them to be outstanding resources for living the life God wants me to live. This book is no exception. I have to ask however, was it really necessary to make such a confession? How can I recover from such disconcerting news?

Brown recounts for us in this book, the moment when he admitted to his fellow seminary students that he was a conservative. His decription is so vivid that I can actually imagine their horror.

One of many valid points that Brown makes is that we do harm to ourselves and a great disservice when we marginalize, catagorize and avoid those whose views differ from our own. He encorages us to participate in open, honest dialogue with these... people. This is easier said than done owing to the passion with which we hold these views.

He does more than simply offer platitudes about how we should live. He actually practices what he preaches. He counts among his friends, Tony Campolo and Ann Lamott, two wonderful Democrats. If I someday get to meet Brown, I hope he will count me among his friends as well. I consider him to be a man of God and an excellent teacher. I mean, you gotta love the guy. Something must just happen to his mind when he walks into a voting booth.

I give this book 5 stars because it speaks to a truth that is often ignored and seldom taught. Christ has made us free, but we usually don't live like it.

I have really covered just a small part of the book. Brown writes very little about politics, but I was so stunned, that I was distracted from writing about anything else.

With his admission of conservative tendencies, Brown has helped me avoid one of the pitfalls he cites in chapter six, Hero Worship. (I was going to buy him a "star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but this book has changed my mind about that!)

This is another great book from Steve Brown. I believe you will benefit from reading and applying the truths taught in this book. It has been a real blessing to me.

[Richard Klueg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to be creative in rating this book. It is really not 3 stars, it is 4 stars (a pretty good book that I recommend others to read) and 2 stars (a book with serious flaws). Let me explain what I mean. If you look at a few reviews by "liberal" reviewers you will read something like this: "I thought he was one of us, but it ends up he is just another Bible-believing Fundamentalist type guy." My experience was the opposite. I at first thought he was liberal and unbiblical, but realized upon further reading that he really is soundly biblical.

The "problem" is that the author exaggerates and self-contradicts on purpose to make his points. Take such expressions at face value, and the book is a 2. He often recounts instances of Christians who criticize him for things he says, and I can see why that happens. For instance, he says in a number of times in different ways that we should not try to be better. Of course, taken literally, that is absurd. He is writing a book to help us be better, and the Bible constantly challenges us to make every effort in the pursuit of godliness.

As you read on it becomes clearer that he is directing that advice at those who are self-condemning and frustrated, without the security of trusting God's grace. There are Christians who need to hear what he is saying, and for them the book is a 4. It is also a 4 for those Christians that are overly judgmental and condemning of their fellow believers.

For what it is worth, I cannot help but like the guy, and think that he would be a good man to know in person. But again, I can see why some take offense at isolated statements he makes.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christians need to realize that we are no longer condemned, whatsoever, for our sins. Brown emphasizes in this book that believers in Christ have a freedom to live the way they want, because Christ has set them free. He says that the best way to "get better" is by not obsessing over "getting better" and simply obsessing over Christ, allowing Him to perform heart surgery and make you better from the inside out.

while I found this book containing lots of practical truth, I'm a little concerned about Brown's lack of attention to the immediate, fleshly consequences of sin. Yes, christians are ETERNALLY pardoned for our sins, but our actions still carry direct, serious consequences here in our earthly lives. Brown seems to ignore these completely, focusing more on "freedom in Christ" than Christ Himself. It's still a great read and I'd recommend it to any mature believer.

[Joelendil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christians of a theologically conservative persuasion have a tendency to become Pharisaical if they are not careful. This book provides an excellent reminder of the freedom that we have in Jesus Christ.

I did have one major issue with the book. The author does a good job of reminding us that God does not love us any less when we sin and waits for us with open arms when we turn back to him, but I felt that in many places he treated the topic sin in the life of a believer too flippantly given passages like Hebrews 10:26-31, Hebrews 12:3-11, I Corinthians 11:28-32, etc.

I had a couple other minor theological quibbles (and got tired of him using the word "neurotic" way too often), but overall, this was an encouraging book.

[Tiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steve Brown describes the truth of the Gospel so beautifully in this book. A great reminder that because of Jesus, we truly are free. His main premise is that we don't have to be good. Living a good life is not a bad thing, but if that's our main purpose in Christianity, then we've completely missed the point. The point is to know Jesus and be in relationship with Him. He says repeatedly that through knowing Jesus we may or may not get better - either way God is ALREADY pleased with us. LOVE it!

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had a great balance of being folksy and easy-to-read on the one hand, and thought provoking on the other. I think it would appeal widely to almost any Christian as it covers universal topics well. I started this a few days before Steve came to speak at our church, and the second half was enhanced by being able to imagine him saying it. His voice and delivery was really entertaining, and the book is written in the same sort of style. So, listen to a few of his talks, curl up and enjoy.

[Larisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steve Brown tries not to give you a list of things to do. He doesn't want to create a "12-Step Program for Christians Who Aren't Getting Much Better." Yet, you will come away with some practical ideas about letting God be God. Then you won't have to keep struggling to take his job - you will know that you are free to be you.

The "Gospel" sets us free!

Most Christians do not have an intimate relationship with Christ, so they will never trust the love of God enough to even begin to understand the "freedom" He has given to us.

[Jessica Oppert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A most excellent read. If you have ever struggled with a harsh, staunch, and judgement-driven attitude I would encourage this read. Beware, it can be a difficult read; not in regards to reading level, but it regards to the way it can challenge your view of what freedom truly means. I believe this is an important book to stick with once you start. It is easy to misinterpret what the author is saying when you don't read his work as a whole.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshing, funny, thought-provoking. This book had me highlighting a lot of passages as well as realizing I'm probably more legalistic than I thought. For the past several years I've been slowly peeling layers of subtle legalism off and gaining a deeper more faith-filled approach to my spiritual life. My pastor referenced this book several times in his sermon series on Grace and it is been a big help in exploring the topic further.

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved reading this one. I need to put it on my "to-read again" list. Just raw honesty that trumps legalistic judgmentalism (I might have just invented a word) that masquerades itself as Christianity. Steve urges us to embrace our freedom in Christ and all that it entails, for it is precious and liberating.