For those who have received some exposure to the basis of God’s salvation there is a need to be continually reminded about the difference between law and grace. When we take into account the scriptural record we find that many in the First Century failed to understand the difference. A good proportion of the epistles in the New Testament were written because of this failure.
The epistles explain law and grace and their relationship to salvation. For some — incorrectly — law was the basis of salvation or was an added requirement to belief in Christ; to others — incorrectly — grace was a freedom to reduce commitment and to slacken moral responsibility to God and man. Evidence of this is seen in the following extracts:
Law
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage (Galatians 5:1).
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4).
For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (Phillipians 3:3).
In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ (Collosians 2:1).
Grace
Should we sin that grace may abound (Romans 6:1).
For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another (Galatians 5:13).
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 4).
We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain … giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed (II Corinthians 6:1 & 3).
These scriptures show that a very real problem existed in the First Century. Many brethren were mistaken as to the true significance of law and of grace. Sadly, many of these brethren will only become aware of their error at the judgment seat.
What then was the purpose of the Law:
- It was a schoolmaster to lead people to Christ, “that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24).
- It was to guide their conduct individually and nationally (Deuteronomy 7:9-11).
- It gave a knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20).
- It emphasised man’s sinfulness (Romans 7:7-12).
- It declared the innate propensities of our nature as evidenced by the physical laws of uncleanness and their removal by physical laws of cleanness, which could not purge the conscience (cp the Law of Leprosy and Heb 10:2-4).
- It established a basis for Israel to remain in the land (Deuteronomy 28).
- It testified of the true way of life (i.e. faith in God’s grace, and therefore in the provision of Christ and the consequent forgiveness of sins) (cp Passover Lamb).
The limitations of the Law are clear once we tabulate as above some of the elements concerning the Law. In all the statements listed above we see that the Law is holy, just and good (Romans 7:12). There is guidance and valuable instruction in how to worship God in spirit and truth and how to love ones neighbour flowing from statements in the Law and surrounding the Law. To take advantage of his instruction required an understanding of the moral implications of the rituals and ceremonies of the Law. What then was the problem?
The problem was that men took the Law and gave it a power with which God had not endowed it; the power of granting eternal life. This power was not its intention’. No where in the Law is such a promise made. Paul indicates this clearly in Romans and Galatians.
There is a tendency to state that law is irrelevant today. A little reflection will show this to be both impractical and wrong. We submit to the laws of the land where they do not conflict with the laws of God. The laws of the road, the house, manners and civil codes — no one would dispute the value of these laws. No one would be a wilful disobeyer of such laws. Yet who would claim that the carrying out of any of these laws indebts the state, or the parents, to the person who abides by these laws? Rather, all are indebted to these laws for harmony and cohesion within a community. Who has not broken one of these laws regardless of how scrupulously we may have sought to conform?
The laws of the land have a value today and we should willingly submit to them. The laws of God still have a value today — not to eternal life — but for family and ecclesial harmony, for direction as to the real basis of justification, to provide understanding of God’s moral requirements, and as a reminder of our sin prone nature.
But we need to note that a spirit of willing submission is of more concern to God than submission under duress.
The Law is still holy, just and good today and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. The Law, however, was not and is not the basis of justification. The Law was not related to eternal things.
A simple example of how the Jew justified himself by law as opposed to a recognition of God’s grace might now be useful. We are commanded to tell the truth. When we tell the truth is God indebted to us or are we indebted to Him? Here is the issue. The Jew (or similarly minded person today) would say God is indebted to him, but where there is self-congratulation, or seeking of some form of recognition, one has taken the glory to oneself.
In fact we have nothing to boast about or glory in for without God’s instruction we would not know what truth was, nor would we be capable of speaking truth. We owe the truth of our words to God. We owe our salvation to God’s provision of Christ.
But do we speak the truth because God commands it or because we could do nothing else when we contemplate what the truth means to God and His beloved son? If we love our brother how could we deceive, mislead or in view of its effect on others. If we are constantly reminding ourselves of the price paid for our redemption and the magnitude of our debt to God we must delight in the abundance of truth. The grace of God should bring a voluntary surrender to His will out of gratitude for the salvation made available, and a realisation of our indebtedness to Him for the truth we speak. But it is not natural to human nature to think this way.
The grace of God should produce the following in a believer:
- Faith out of gratitude for providing salvation that was otherwise out of the question.
- A marvelling, thankful and willing spirit.
- Liberty from self-seeking, attention getting from others, and justification by law, ceremony or ritual.
Paul in Ephesians Chapter 2 says we are saved by grace through faith: “it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). That is, salvation is God’s gift — He is not indebted to give it to any of us. The grace of God is seen in that He provided by means of begettal by the Holy Spirit His only begotten son, who overcame sin whereas every other man had failed. This overcoming by God’s son provided the means by which God could forgive sinners on the basis of their belief in this grace. The only way God could justify sinners was to do so through one who could overcome sin. As this was an impossibility by human generation God begot through the Holy Spirit a son who was full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
As sinners we all know that salvation is independent of ourselves. Our faith does not indebt us to God, but without it He cannot forgive us our sins. Faith produces works of faith. The grace of God is paramount in this, for out of regard for God’s grace we submit to His will and justify God in our lives. Even our submission is a debt that we owe Him, “for we are His workmanship” (Ephesians 2:10). In other words, our spirituality is because our conscience has been moulded by the absorption of the meaning of His word by our intellect and its subsequent effect upon our emotions. Without God and His word there would be not light within us. How then can flesh glory in His presence (I Corinthians 1:29)?
Perhaps we might restate the points made in the preceding paragraph. Works of faith are produced when we submit to God’s will out of acknowledgement that we need his salvation and acknowledgement of what it required of Jesus Christ to bring it about. God’s salvation in Christ Jesus represents the grace of God — something (a favour) we do not deserve. This faith cannot indebt God to us but it is impossible to receive forgiveness without it.
What Is Salvation By Law?
‘Law salvation’ is a set of rules or enactments whereby a person merits some recognition and indebts God in some way.
Law brings a recognition of self.
What Is Salvation By Grace?
‘Grace salvation’ is a blessing from God that a person does not earn or deserve; nor is God in any sense indebted to man.
Grace brings a recognition of God and of His son.
Let us conclude by recapitulating a little. The difference between law and grace is clear — as means of salvation they are mutually exclusive. The Law of Moses was holy, just and good. It had an added advantage over other laws in that it pointed forward to the real basis of justification, that is to Christ. Law is still of value today in that it provides a basis for communal harmony (plus the other reasons previously stated), but is limited to such.
“Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound . But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:20-21).
By law was the knowledge of sin. But a man who had received God’s grace in Christ, knowing the awesome price of his redemption, could not follow sin, could not follow unholiness, could not please himself.
“Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid” (Romans 6:14-15).
The grace of God should bring forth a way of life that in debts us to God, produces works of faith, produces holiness, and frees us from the desire to promote ourselves to our God or fellow men. We may consider justification by faith, grace and the blood of Christ on a future occasion, God willing.
The Solution