Easy money and cheap grace are counterfeit.

One dollar may look to be as good as another, and even be issued by the same Authority, but it is slightly worth less.

Paul warned about counterfeit believers who “have a form of godliness but no power.”

One of the definitions of counterfeit is “something likely to be mistaken for something of higher value.”

Simply put, the work was not done to give it any of the power or value it claims to contain and represent.

Why is counterfeiting money illegal? The answer seems obvious. But why can’t we just create money on our own instead of having to work for it? Sure would make life easier, right?

However, when you realize that money represents your time and energy (your life), you quickly realize the problem with creating money without work. Suppose you spend 5 hours working hard to provide value for someone for which they pay you $200. Now imagine someone else running a counterfeiting operation, walking around with $200 in their hand. They did not do any of the labor or value-providing service for anyone.

$200 is $200 in theory, but not in reality. In one case, value is being generated and exchanged, while in the other it is a fraudulent representation of value.

Because it is not backed by work, it makes the existing money worth less. It does not contain the same strength. The fraudster cannot point to the good or service they provided to a customer for which they made the exchange. This is akin to dilution.

Years ago I was helping a guy paint his house. We worked late into the evening painting the inside. While we still had a good way to go, he suddenly realized we were not going to have enough paint. It was too late to run to Home Depot, so he decided to add water to it.

With a clever look on his face he said he learned this trick from a former boss while they were painting expensive homes in California.

That is dilution. Unethical and lower quality (worth less).

While Person A strives to honor Christ by telling the truth and not be misleading, Person B occasionally lies to shield himself from a negative consequence.

Both call themselves Christians, and both appear to be honest (the lie has not been discovered yet). Person A did the hard work of telling the truth and dealing with the consequences of whatever happened, thus proving the virtue (value) of honesty. This validates his faith.

Person B appeared to tell the truth (like the first person), but their word is fraudulent. They did not provide the same moral value as Person A. While B’s confession of faith appears to be equal to that of A’s, it is not.

When the lie is found out, if it is excused via grace, and the full and necessary consequences are not taken against it, the value of faith takes a hit. People’s confidence in the durability and utility of faith is weakened.

This is counterfeit grace. It is a contaminant. It is corruption.

This produces people who are increasingly short-term oriented, and less concerned about the welfare of their neighbors and only with themselves. It also creates people who have lower moral standards and are willing to lie and cheat in order to preserve themselves and their desires. It creates people who behave more like animals than like Christ.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting to-day for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks’ wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?¹

Easy grace dilutes the power and value of genuine Christian living. It allows for substandard behavior and results, thus lowering expectations and releasing a corrupting influence against everyone’s faith.

It weakens the value of being known as a Christian because the reputation of Christianity suffers because of Person B’s hypocrisy. It also discourages Person A. He may become tempted to adopt Person B’s behavior instead of working hard and sacrificing to live virtuously.

That is no hypothetical theory. It almost happened to this famous man.

Good stewardship is also not merely managing something, but managing that which belongs to someone else. When done faithfully, your decisions cannot be driven by selfish or self-centered incentives.

You must be aware that this is not just bigger than you, but that you also must be serving the interest of others. Thus good stewardship is respecting the dignity and property of others.

With money, the others are everyone who uses that money, and everywhere that money is used. Is your relationship and management of money serving them well, or harming them (even indirectly)?

Morality and ethics run on trust and justice. Every human being in the world operates inside this economy. As MLK Jr wrote, “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” First century philosopher and theologian, Paul, said the same thing here.

Diluted money and counterfeit grace both circulate. Both can operate for years without immediate collapse. But they cannot produce what they claim to represent. Eventually, the gap between appearance and substance widens, and the fraud is exposed.

Systems built on dilution must expand endlessly to survive — and that is precisely what makes them unstable. What looks generous and merciful on the surface may, in fact, be hollow at the core.

Counterfeit systems do not just distort markets or theology — they reshape the people who live inside them. And people shaped by illusion cannot build anything lasting.