Dear
friends:
Probably the most important but least understood subject
in the entire Bible is the matter of Law vs. grace.
You surely
know about grace. Most churches give at least lip service to it.
But most preach a “mixture” of Law and grace. They say, yes, we are
saved by grace through faith, but we also must keep the Law, or at least the
Ten Commandments, which are only a small part of the Law of Moses.
Scholars count about 613 basic laws in the Old Testament. At least one
entire Christian denomination is fixated on the Old Covenant.
But like oil and water, Law and grace do not mix. If any
Law is involved, then it is not grace. Grace is defined as “unmerited
favor.” If you can earn even .0001 % of your salvation by law keeping,
it is not grace. There is a great danger here. The Bible says,
“You who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace”
(Galatians 5:4, NKJV). Trusting in the law to save you can cost you your
soul. Be careful.
A while back, a popular Christian
magazine had a feature article on the grace revolution currently sweeping the
world. They called it “hyper-grace.” But there is no such thing as
hyper-grace. By its very nature, all grace is hyper. This grace
revolution is nothing less than God revealing His love in a special way in
these end-times and bringing millions of souls into the Kingdom. How can
true grace be anything but hyper?
So, because of “mixture,” God’s
people are deprived of the total blessing and marvel of God’s amazing
grace.
Of those 613 basic laws in the Old Covenant, the
Bible says that if you break one, you break them all. Therefore, a
person living under the Old Covenant is constantly under condemnation.
Yet for the New Covenant believer, “There is therefore no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
The key to
understanding Law vs. grace is understanding the Old Covenant and the New
Covenant. The Old Covenant was in effect until the crucifixion, or some
say the Day of Pentecost, when the Spirit was given. I believe the
former. Jesus lived under the Old Covenant and many of His teachings
reflected the Old Covenant, and were in fact even tougher, such as hating
someone being equal to murder, and lust being equal to adultery. He was
showing the impossibility of keeping the Law and our need for grace.
The apostle Paul was selected by God to expound on grace and the
New Covenant. He said, “I am an apostle to the Gentiles” (Romans
11:13).
The writer of the book of Hebrews said, “In that
He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete” (Hebrews
8:13.) God Himself declared that the Old Covenant is obsolete.
That is bad news for the legalists, but it was God’s idea.
Why
was the Law given? “The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just
and good” (Romans 7:12). Then what is the problem? God says, “The
Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus
Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were
kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be
revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we
might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under
a tutor” (Galatians 3: 22-25).
“Well then,” Paul wrote,
“should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and
forgiveness? Of course not” he says. “Since we have died to sin,
how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we
became Christians and were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died
with him? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just
as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we
also may live new lives.” (Romans 6:1-4).
More thoughts on
the Law:
“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law
but under grace. (Romans
6:14).
“The
letter (law) kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians
3:6).
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not
of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should
boast.” (Ephesians
2:8-9).
Some may say that emphasis on grace is a license to sin.
Wrong, for two reasons. First, we don’t need a license to
sin! It just comes
naturally. Second, grace helps us to overcome sin. Only by grace
can we overcome.
The
law condemns the best of us, and grace saves the worst of
us.
The
law demands. Grace
supplies.
The Law depends on man and glorifies man. Grace depends on God
and glorifies
God.
The Old Covenant = Jesus concealed. The New Covenant = Jesus
revealed.
The Old Covenant = the New Covenant concealed. The New Covenant
= the Old Covenant
revealed.
The Ten Commandments: “If the ministry of death, written and
engraved on stones, was glorious” (2 Corinthians 3:7),
then….
The New Covenant, “the ministry of the Spirit… (is) more glorious” (2
Corinthians 3:8).
It seems God always does things
"legally."
Paul wrote, "Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to
those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he
lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her
husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the
law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she
marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband
dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has
married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to
the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another— to Him
who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God"
(Romans7:1-4)..
We have become dead to the law though the body of
Christ, and we are married to another -- Jesus! Halleluyah!
“The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen” (Romans
16:20).
Jim