letusreason.org/Doct31.htm LAW AND GRACE, WORKS AND CHRIST What is the relationship of law to grace and how do we reconcile the commands in the Old Testament law with grace. So many say grace is there to keep the law, but the bible states in the New Testament that if you fail to keep one of the laws you have broken them all. This is the very reason we are under grace. In the Old Testament there was grace under the surface of the law in the New Testament grace rules over the law. If you failed in one of the commands the way it was dealt with was by sacrifice. With New Testament we are not under grace to keep the law of the Old Testament because the scripture makes it clear no one can. It is Jesus who kept the law where we could not and he kept it absolutely perfectly. Every requirement small or large was kept in the absolute way God required it of man. So Christ lived a perfect righteous life even to the point of his death on the cross. We are under grace because of his righteousness that is imputed or given to our account. So many people misunderstand which covenant they are living under and because of this there is so much confusion that they get condemned because they have not lived up to the perfect standard the law requires. Not realizing the purpose of the law is to make one guilty, so we are to go to the ultimate sacrifice found not in animals without blemish but in Christ Jesus the lamb. So many do good works because they think it is demanded of them, instead of it flowing out of natural lifestyle of faith. The old covenant was for the Jews only. For one to be under the Old covenant they need to convert to Judaism. In the new covenant, it is for both Jews and gentiles. In Eph.2 when we believe in Christ we become part of the body of Christ, not Judaism. God made a whole new entity called the church, the body of Christ, and filled it with his spirit to operate in his ways. Hebrews 8:6, “But now hath He (Jesus) obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the mediator of a “Better Covenant, which was established upon “Better Promises”. The new covenant is not a covenant of works: but rest in his work. By it all the Body of Christ is not under of the condemning ministry of the law (2 Cor. 3:9; Rom. 8:1-2 there is no condemnation), since believers are not under the law they are beyond its grasp to condemn (Rom. 3:19). Paul states in Rom. 6:14...” for you are not under law but under grace.” He also makes it clear in Gal. 5:18 “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” The previous verses state “so that you do not do the things that you wish.” The Law is not given to the Christian as the standard to live by, but to show the unbeliever how below the standard we do live, as Paul states in 1 Tim.1:9 The Law is for the unrighteous. Paul states the LAW is Not of Faith. The ministry of the law working in a Christian cannot please God, for it is not of faith yet the law is not of faith, but “The man who does them shall live by them.” Gal. 3:12 In the dispensation of grace, “the law is not of faith.” Today faith and law are mutually exclusive. In Israels dispensation of law, faith and law were equally beneficial, one needed both (Rom. 10:5-6, 10). Without faith the requirements of the law would not be acceptable. This is why The Lord said that he rejected their sacrifices because it was not mixed with faith. Under law, faith is necessary. Under grace, the OT law is prohibited. So today, “the law is not of faith.” And Paul states without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). So if the Law is not of faith what do we live by? For a member of the Body sins by putting himself under the requirements of the law. Remember Paul said in Rom. 14:23 “whatever is not of faith is sin.” (he used the example of food to represent this concept). The righteousness we need cannot come from the Law. For the law demands perfect obedience. God’s standard is perfection, something we cannot fathom since we never see it or experience it. It is impossible to please God by following the law, because the law is not of faith. Righteousness pleases God, but today righteousness cannot come from doing the works of the law, but from faith alone. A faith which shows that it is alive and active! Rom. 4:5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Paul further makes it clear in Gal. 3:21 “For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.” In the past, with Israel under the law, righteousness and the law went together (Rom, 10: 5-6, 10), but now Paul writes, the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed... Rom. 3:21 We know that today, Christ is “the end of the law for righteousness.” Any requirement, any command, all that God asked, Christ fulfilled. So there must have been a time in the past, when Christ was not “the end of the law for righteousness.” Gal 3:23-25 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 (teacher for the immature).” This time was Israels, as a whole nation under the law. But when God moved from law to grace, Israel resisted that move, preferring the old program of rules and regulations from Moses, illustrating the danger of law. The law looks appealing today, but it separates those who embrace it from the Spirit of grace. For [Israel] being ignorant of Gods righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Rom. 10:3-4 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law ... but the righteousness of faith speaks in this way... with the heart one believes to righteousness. Rom. 10:5-6, 1.0 Charles Spurgeon “There is no point upon which men make greater mistakes than upon the relation which exists between the law and the gospel. Some men put the law instead of the gospel: others put the gospel instead of the law; some modify the law and the gospel, and preach neither law nor gospel: and others entirely abrogate the law, by bringing in the gospel. Many there are who think that the law is the gospel, and who teach that men by good works of benevolence, honesty, righteousness, and sobriety, may be saved. Such men do err. On the other hand, many teach that the gospel is a law; that it has certain commands in it, by obedience to which, men are meritoriously saved, such men err from the truth, and understand it not. A certain class maintain that the law and the gospel are mixed, and that partly by observance of the law, and partly by God’s grace, men are saved. These men understand not the truth, and are false teachers. … The coming of the law is explained in regard to its objects: “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.” Then comes the mission of the gospel: “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” The law came through Moses, grace came by Jesus Christ. The law is synonymous of Moses, grace is synonymous to Christ. Our relation to Christ is by his death and resurrection in the new covenant. The law is of the old creation from another dispensation. We are made into new creatures, prepared for a new heavens and earth. No law or act of obedience can help us to prepare, it has to be grace. We obey him because we love him and we dont like to hurt the ones we love. The times that we are disobedient are summed up by loving something else instead of him. God let Moses see the promise land from the Mt. top, we can see the promises by faith in his word. The law killed Moses because of his disobedience, only once did Moses misrepresent God to the people, by striking the rock twice in anger. (Num.20:7-12). The whole generation of Israel that came out of Egypt except 2 entered the promised land. Only 2 who had a different spirit entered. The old creation could not enter the promised land, only the new. They could not enter the land under the law (being disobedient) so everyone had to die. But they entered it under faith. If one continues to look to the law for their guidance, then true successful Christian living cannot really occur. Practicing this runs the risk of consciously or unconsciously thinking they have obtained or are keeping salvation by the works of the law. But it is actually what separates them from Christ, as Paul said, falling from the grace of God (Galatians 5:4).
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 10:03:29 +0000
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