No — grace is not license, and Christians are not free to sin without consequences.
Les Feldick consistently teaches that grace never gives believers freedom to do as they please. He says repeatedly, "Grace is not license." While a genuine believer cannot be cast out of God's family, grace does not permit permissive or loose living; it changes appetites and motives and calls us to live for the One who died for us.
Romans 6:14 — Paul explicitly connects grace with sin's loss of dominion, showing grace is not an excuse for sin.
The Bible directly answers this question in Romans 6:14: "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Far from giving permission to sin, grace is the very reason sin no longer has control over the believer. The same chapter also asks, "What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid" (Romans 6:15). Paul's answer is a strong refusal of the idea that grace licenses sin. Elsewhere, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 that because Christ died for us, believers should no longer live unto themselves but "unto him which died for them, and rose again." The grace that saves is the same grace that obligates a new way of living. Scripture therefore presents grace as the power that breaks sin's rule, not permission to sin freely.
Les Feldick directly confronts the accusation that grace gives believers a license to sin. He says, "Grace is not license," and explains that giving people freedom to do as they please is not what he or Paul ever taught. Grace changes our appetites and motives; it does not leave us free to commit adultery, steal, or live in loose living. In his teaching on Romans 6, Les points out that Paul himself faced the same slander: "I've been slanderously reported" — people accused Paul of teaching license because he preached forgiveness of past, present, and future sins. Les also stresses that while a genuine believer will never be cast out of God's family, sin is not acceptable or desirable. He uses David as an example of a believer who fell into grave sin and yet did not lose salvation, but David was deeply troubled by his sin and begged for forgiveness. Les teaches that believers should seek to keep the old Adam nature in subjection and feed the new nature, recognizing that sinless perfection is impossible but that grace never gives permission to sin.
Les Feldick directly addresses the objection that grace means Christians can do whatever they want. He says people may ask, "Then you're telling me you can do whatever you wanna do and God's grace will take care of it?" His answer is clear: "No, I've never taught that. Grace is not license." He also notes that if a person really teaches the gospel of grace as Paul did, he will occasionally be accused of teaching license to sin — Paul himself was "slanderously reported" for the same reason. But that is not what grace teaches.
Les Feldick teaches that grace does not give us the freedom to do as we please; instead, it changes our appetites and motives. He says that grace is God's attribute that saves a person who realizes he is nothing more than a fallen creature under sin and condemnation. That person is saved on the basis of believing the gospel plus nothing. But because of that grace, believers should live for the One who died for them. Grace, in Les's teaching, breaks sin's dominion — not by giving permission to sin but by changing what the believer desires.
Les Feldick acknowledges that believers can sin. He says it is not possible to live without sin because the old Adam nature is constantly working on us to sin, and it succeeds too often. The new nature is divine and cannot sin, but the old nature remains. He also points to David as a biblical example of a believer who fell into grave sin — adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah — yet David did not lose his salvation. However, David's sin deeply troubled him because he was a true child of God. So believers can sin, but that fact does not make sin acceptable.
Les Feldick teaches that genuine believers who fall into serious sin will experience God's discipling process. He says, "If God hasn't begun a disciplining process in their lives, I doubt ... if they've ever been a child of God." Just as a parent disciplines a child, God disciplines His children who waver. This is not the same as losing salvation, but it shows that sin has consequences. The believer's response, like David's, should be conviction and a plea for forgiveness — not careless acceptance of sin.
Romans 8:31-39 Explained — Why Nothing Can Separate You From God
this, seek after God. It's impossible. You and I can't seek God, it's not in us. No unbeliever is going to go running after God, it's not in him. If he suddenly has an appetite for the things of God, God put it there first. And the same way what Jesus is saying here, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Who made the first move? God did, even during His earthly ministry.
Grace Is Not License
Les directly refutes the idea that grace lets believers do whatever they want, saying he has never taught that and explaining that grace changes appetites and motives.
Grace Does Not Give the Right to Sin
Les repeats that grace does not give license to steal or commit adultery, and that no sin can kick a genuine believer out of the body of Christ, but that is not permission to sin.
Grace Changes the Believer
Les explains that grace takes a fallen, condemned person and saves him through faith plus nothing — a work of God that changes the believer's standing and relationship to sin.
Believers Cannot Live Sinlessly
Les teaches that while sinless perfection is impossible because of the old Adam nature, believers are still not supposed to sin, and he repeats 'grace is not license.'
Future Sins Are Forgiven But Not Licensed
Les explains that God forgives past, present, and future sins under grace, but that forgiveness does not give license — believers must still walk and live pleasing in God's sight.
Grace Calls Us to Live for Christ
Les says that being saved and kept by grace gives no room for permissive or loose living because believers are to live for the One who died for them.
God Disciplines His Children
Les teaches that if a person is a genuine child of God and begins to waver, God will discipline him — evidence that sin has consequences even though salvation is secure.
Romans 6:14: For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
This verse is central because Paul directly connects grace with freedom from sin's dominion, not freedom to sin.
Romans 6:15: What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Paul immediately answers the objection that grace licenses sin with a strong denial.
Romans 3:7: For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?
This verse reflects the slanderous accusation believers face when they preach grace — the same accusation Les Feldick addresses.
2 Corinthians 5:15: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
Paul shows that the purpose of Christ's death is not permissive living but a new life lived for Him.
John 6:37: All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
This verse underscores eternal security, which Les pairs with the truth that grace is not license.
1 Corinthians 15:31: I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
Paul's 'die daily' shows the believer's constant battle with sin, which Les uses to show sin is not taken lightly.
No. Les Feldick teaches that grace is not license. Grace changes the believer's appetites and motives, and it calls us to live for the One who died for us. It does not give us the right to steal, commit adultery, or live in loose living.
Les teaches that a genuine born-again child of God can never be cast out of God's family. However, sin is still serious and God will discipline His children who waver, just as an earthly father disciplines his children.
Les Feldick says that when you really teach the gospel of grace as Paul did, you will be accused from time to time of teaching that saved people have license to sin. Paul himself was slanderously reported for this, but Grace is not license.
Les teaches that it is not possible to live sinless because the old Adam nature constantly works to sin. The new nature is divine and cannot sin, but the old nature remains and succeeds too often. Yet believers are not supposed to sin.
Like David, a true child of God is troubled by sin and pours out his heart to God, begging for forgiveness. Security in Christ does not make sin acceptable or desirable.
Watch the Teaching: Romans 8:31-39 Explained — Why Nothing Can Separate You From God