There's a dangerous kind of gospel being lived out in churches that know their Bible well enough to weaponize it against themselves. It speaks the truth in part, polishes to a shine, and then uses it as a shield against the very transformation that the whole truth demands.

It is the dance of "positional" without "practical," a minuet of make-believe. A choreography that comforts the conscience while keeping daily life largely unchanged.

Below are the most common steps in that dance. Each begins with the Positional Poeticized version—how a well-meaning believer might frame it, coupled with their favorite verses—and ends with the Rip-Away, where the rest of Scripture refuses to let the mask stay on.

1. "We are clothed in Christ's righteousness, not our own."

Positional Poeticized:
"When God looks at me, He doesn't see my sin. He sees the pure white robe of His Son's righteousness. I'm hidden in Christ. Even when I stumble, His grace covers me from head to toe. My position is secure, because my salvation is all of Him and none of me."

Verses Cited:

The Rip-Away:
That robe isn't a costume to hide the fact that filthy rags remain underneath. If those filthy rags have not been traded in for a robe of righteousness, then it's nothing more than cosmic cosplay. Being "clothed" with righteousness in Scripture isn't about a legal fiction—it's about an actual transformation (Ephesians 4:22-24). If you are in Christ, the same grace that justifies you also trains you to deny ungodliness in this present world (Titus 2:11-12).

2. "We're saints who still sin."

Positional Poeticized:
"Yes, I fail every day. But my identity is 'saint,' not 'sinner.' I'm forgiven—past, present, and future. My status as God's child doesn't change when I stumble, any more than my earthly son ceases to be mine when he disobeys."

Verses Cited:

The Rip-Away:
Your "identity" is not an immunity card. Paul never used "saint" to comfort the unrepentant—it was always paired with a call to holiness (1 Corinthians 1:2).

3. "Grace means I don't work for my salvation."

Positional Poeticized:
"If salvation depended on my performance, I'd be doomed. Praise God it's not by works, but by grace through faith. My failures can't undo His free gift, because I didn't earn it to begin with."

Verses Cited:

The Rip-Away:
Yes, grace saves apart from works—but the same grace produces them (Ephesians 2:10). The "free gift" comes with a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26-27) that cannot make peace with sin.

4. "We overcome sin positionally, even if we fail daily."

Positional Poeticized:
"Christ has already given me the victory over sin. My failures are just battles lost in a war that's already won. God sees me as an overcomer because I'm in Christ, not because I'm perfect."

Verses Cited:

The Rip-Away:
Biblical "overcoming" is never theoretical—it's lived out.

5. "No one can pluck me out of His hand."

Positional Poeticized:
"Once saved, always saved. Jesus promised that none can snatch me from His hand. My eternal security rests in His grip, not mine."

Verses Cited:

The Rip-Away:
Yes—no one can snatch you from His hand. But His sheep hear His voice and follow Him (John 10:27). If you aren't following, you aren't His sheep.

The Staggering Inconsistency

Here's the staggering irony:
The same lips that confess Christ's grace can do the impossible—raise the dead heart, grant eternal life—will in the next breath insist that this grace is too weak to make them cease from sin now.

It's the sleight of hand that keeps the ticket to heaven untouched while ensuring life on earth stays unexamined. Or so we are led to think. Grace is omnipotent for the courtroom verdict, but somehow impotent for the daily transformation that would hold us accountable, unsettle our complacency, and break our agreement with the world's ways.

Yet Titus 2:11-12 doesn't say grace should teach us, or might teach—it says grace does teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. If your grace only works in eternity and not "in this present world," it's not the grace Paul preached—it's a decoy that keeps us comfy enough to stay the course on our way to hell.

The Counterfeit Fruit of General Change

A changed life is not necessarily a transformed life. Alcoholics Anonymous has been helping people change for decades — from addiction to sobriety, from chaos to stability — and millions testify to its success. To a Christian, it can sound almost like a gospel stripped of its scandal: there is a higher power, there is hope, there is a purpose. It works. Lives improve.

But here's the danger: you can have a radically improved life without ever having eternal life.
AA's principles can reform habits, reshape priorities, and produce discipline — but none of that equals the obedience of faith that Scripture describes. It's possible to leave behind the drugs, the alcohol, the fornication, the vulgar speech… and still walk every day in the pride, bitterness, lust, and self-rule that mark the unconverted heart.

Some preachers will condemn the "positional without the practical" and point to their own life changes as proof — the vices left behind, the habits broken — yet never notice they have omitted the very fruits Scripture points to as the evidence of the new birth. The change they display is a general moral renovation, not the specific Spirit-wrought obedience the Word describes.

Even a "love for the brethren" can be misused as a shield. We claim it because we love our friends at church — while harboring bitterness toward our own family, excusing anger toward other believers, or freezing out those who have crossed us.

And yes — even with a "changed life," you may still:

Paul doesn't mince words about such things:

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

"Now the works of the flesh are evident… adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you… that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:19-21)

You can say you're saved all day long — but if these works of the flesh are active in your life, Paul says you will not inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus says the same in Matthew 7:21-23 — there will be many who call Him "Lord" while preaching, healing, and doing wonderful works, and then Jesus calls them out as workers of iniquity, saying, "Depart from me."

This is the dissonance: "I have life" — while still doing the works of death. "I am saved" — while still in bondage to sin. Paul says such a person will not inherit the kingdom. It's the Pharisee's tomb, whitewashed on the outside, full of rot within (Matthew 23:27-28).

The test is not "Have I changed?" The test is "Does my life match the transformation Scripture defines?" It is not about a life reformed, but a heart transformed into the likeness of Christ, as only grace can do. Without the living faith that walks in obedience to Christ's commands, your changed life is just a polished version of the old one — and Scripture warns that it is possible to have "escaped the pollutions of the world" while still on the road to destruction (2 Peter 2:20-22).

The Unapologetic Conclusion

The positional truths are real:

1 John cuts the excuse-making to the bone:
"He that saith, I know Him,
and keepeth not His commandments,
is a liar." (1 John 2:4).

You cannot have:

The Baptist pulpit can paint positional truths as comfort, but unless those truths explode into a transformed life, they are the lullabies of hell. Jesus warned there will be many who call Him "Lord" yet hear the unthinkable: "I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity" (Matthew 7:23).

If your faith cannot be seen in the life you live, the only place it exists is in your imagination—and imaginary salvation is only that.