There seems to be a great deal of confusion amongst the Christian community with regard to the biblical subjects of law and grace. It has remained a bone of contention between the various denominations and even among members of the same congregation. I, myself, have labored many years to arrive at a greater understanding of such a complex issue. My research has led me to search both the Old and New Testaments for clarity and to discard teachings I may have previously inherited from well-meaning, yet deceived teachers. I pray that I can explain in a concise, organized way the relationship between law and grace, as outlined in the scriptures.
A good starting point is with our Creator. I think we can agree that our Father is a holy God and wants His children to emulate Him. 1 PETER 1:16 Because it is written, BE YE HOLY; for I am holy. How do we learn what holy is? God has revealed his ways and purposes in an instruction book, the Holy Bible.
2 TIMOTHY 3:16 All scripture is GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
He also reveals the nature of mankind and our proclivity to gravitate toward evil and disobedience.
JEREMIAH 17:9 THE HEART IS DECEITFUL above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
ROMANS 8:7 Because the carnal mind is ENMITY AGAINST GOD: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
The bible reveals that our Creator exacts a penalty for disobedience, of which we are all guilty.
ROMANS 3:23 FOR ALL HAVE SINNED, and come short of the glory of God.
ROMANS 6:23 For the WAGES OF SIN is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
From the dawn of time, God has revealed to mankind His power, His purpose and His laws for righteous living. He called out a people for His name, a people that would become a great nation upon the earth. He taught them His laws and granted them the opportunity to be an example before all nations and teach them the awesome benefits and blessings bestowed upon any that would worship their great creator. The Old Testament is the story of their calling. We see their triumphs and their defeats, the agony and the ecstacy. We also see a universal reality. For all that God did for them, all the blessings they received, all the power displayed on their behalf, they did not have the heart to obey their maker.It didn't take God by surprise. He was well aware of their weakness, and that of all mankind, and had already prepared the remedy for it.
DEUTERONOMY 5:29 O that there were such an HEART IN THEM, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!
JEREMIAH 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it IN THEIR HEARTS; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Notice that God's law is still valid. Mankind's disobedience does not do away with the law, but it's our hearts that need changing. How can this be accomplished? As we saw earlier, man is not capable of obedience on his own. His heart is, by nature, deceitful and wicked. Man needs to be saved from himself. Many have become confused because of the ways God dealt with ancient Israel. He burdened them with a great number of physical commandments, statutes and judgments, as well as sacrificial laws that regulated every aspect of their lives. However, even then, the Lord never said that these things would save them.
1 CORINTHIANS 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ENSAMPLES: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Galatians 3:16 NOW TO ABRAHAM and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. 18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. 19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
Galatians 3:21 IS THE LAW THEN AGAINST THE PROMISES OF GOD? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. 22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
This is where many have gone off the track. What "LAW" was the schoolmaster spoken of in the verses above? Paul goes to great lengths in his letters to the Gentiles to confirm that man is saved by faith. The Jews thought they were saved by the law. They tried to force circumcision upon the newly converted Gentiles, telling them they could not be saved apart from that covenant. Ephesians 2:15 tells us that Christ abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments CONTAINED IN ORDINANCES; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. It's the commandments contained in ordinaces, the sacrificial laws that served as a schoolmaster over Israel until Christ appeared. The Gentiles were never instructed to keep any of these ordinances and, in fact, Paul forbid them to submit themselves to circumcision or forfeit their salvation.
GALATIANS 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the WORKS OF THE LAW, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the WORKS OF THE LAW: for by the WORKS OF THE LAW shall no flesh be justified.
The Ten Commandments are not the WORKS OF THE LAW! Paul never told his followers that the ten commandments had been done away with.
Romans 6:
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? SHALL WE SIN, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
1 JOHN 3 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for SIN IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW.
Hebrews 9:10 tells us that the old tabernacle and form of worship "stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and CARNAL ORDINANCES, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
Hebrews 9:9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience.
The Ten Commandments, however, remain. They represent God's ways. They are spiritual laws, those that God said He would write upon our hearts. They are the foundation of righteous living, and although mankind can not obey them perfectly, they are the standard whereby we confirm our love for God. Jesus kept his Father's commandments perfectly, therefore becoming the perfect sacrifice for our law-breaking, redeeming us from the PENALTY of our disobedience. However, after we have accepted his sacrifice for our sins, we must follow him in obedience to the Father as best we can. He has given us the Spirit to help us in our weaknesses and equip us to become more and more like our Saviour in newness of life. From Genesis to Revelation we see a Father seeking his children, desiring to commune with them, to share his love with them, to have them love him with all their hearts, to desire to become like Him. He sent His only Son into the world to show us the way, to be our example and to open the way for us to dwell with them forever in a righteous kingdom, where we will be free of sin for all eternity. There are more scriptures than I can possibly quote, so numerous it would take a book to contain them all, that uphold God's righteous law and His desire for our obedience. I will share only a sampling from the New Testament, as so many have been told that the Old Testament has been done away. They say we live under a "new covenant". Remember the verse I quoted from Jeremiah 31:33 earlier. What is the "new covenant"? It is reiterated in the New Testament. HEBREWS 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them IN THEIR HEARTS: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. Has God changed his mind? Do we discard His commandments because we are saved by His grace.
MATTHEW 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least COMMANDMENTS, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
MATTHEW 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the COMMANDMENTS.
MARK 10:19 Thou knowest the COMMANDMENTS, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
JOHN 14:15 If ye love me, keep my COMMANDMENTS.
JOHN 14:21 He that hath my COMMANDMENTS, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest my
self to him.
JOHN 15:10 If ye keep my COMMANDMENTS, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's COMMANDMENTS, and abide in his love.
1 CORINTHIANS 7:19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the COMMANDMENTS of God.
1 JOHN 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his COMMANDMENTS.
1 JOHN 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his COMMANDMENTS, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1 JOHN 3:22 and whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his COMMANDMENTS, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
JOHN 3:24 And he that keepeth his COMMANDMENTS dwelleth in him, and he in him. And
hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
! JOHN 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his COMMANDMENTS.
1 JOHN 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his COMMANDMENTS: and his C1 OMMANDMENTS are not grievous.
2 JOHN 1:6 And this is love, that we walk after his COMMANDMENTS. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
REVELATION 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the COMMANDMENTS of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
REVELATION 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the COMMANDMENTS of God, and the faith of Jesus.
REVELATION 22:14 Blessed are they that do his COMMANDMENTS, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
I don't believe that Christians think they can live the sinful lives they once did prior to their acceptance of Jesus as their Savior. However many will bristle when told that the ten commandments are still valid for Christian living. We can't have it both ways. We can't whine when our lawmakers forbid the public display of the commandments in our schools and federal buildings, when public prayer is not allowed, when our peace and safety is at risk because of rampant violence and crime, and at the same time disregard God's laws in our own lives and those of our children. Jesus showed us that the law was spiritual. God's law is to be in our hearts and minds to give us guidance in our daily walk with Him. The first four commandments teach us how to love and worship our Creator. The last six teach us how to love each other. One came to Jesus and asked him the following.
MATTHEW 22
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 ON THESE TWO commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
How do we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind? It is when we obey the first four commandments to have no other gods before Him, to abstain from making unto ourselves graven images or bowing down to them, to refrain from taking His name in vain and by keeping holy His Sabbath day.
How do we love our neighbor as ourself? We obey the last six commandments against murder, stealing, commiting adultery, bearing false witness and coveting. We will honor Him by honoring and obeying our parents.
Will we be perfect? Absolutely not. But we can always go to our Savior, repent and ask his forgiveness. I JOHN 1:9 IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
However, if we make light of His commandments or say that they have been done away with, we deceive ourselves. If God has placed His Holy Spirit within our hearts, we will desire to be more like him and make every effort to conform to His image. HEBREWS 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 IF THEY SHALL FALL AWAY, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
Yes, we are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation can come only from His sacrifice. However, after we have accepted Him as our Savior, our desire should be to leave our old, sinful flesh behind and allow Him to change us. II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW CREATURE: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
