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The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)
For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. (Rom. 6:14)
Central to our understanding of the Word of God and his eternal purpose, are the concepts of "law and grace." An understanding of these issues profoundly affects our relationship with God and our spiritual growth.
Law is primarily an Old Testament issue and the Israelites were said to be "under law." The concept of grace was not fully introduced until Jesus Christ came into the world and those who have entered a relationship with God through Christ are said to be "under grace."
The Law sets out God's standard for human behaviour. As there is no inherent ability within man to live up to God's standards, the Law ultimately served to demonstrate the utter sinfulness of human nature.
Grace is God's empowerment for mankind to fulfil his greatest aspirations for human life. It is God imparting his life and nature to the human spirit, that is "writing his laws on their hearts" (Heb. 8:10).
A problem arises because of the natural tendency of we who are under grace to fall back under law. Effectively, we set up a framework of rules and regulations and find some measure of satisfaction, however inadequate, in measuring up to this standard. By doing this we place ourselves outside the realm of the grace of God which is the only real source of life and peace that we will ever find on this earth.
In Old Testament times, the Israelites were bound by a comprehensive and complex series of laws and regulations which governed every aspect of their lives. In the main, these laws were set out in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, where Moses laid down the social and religious framework of the newly emerging nation of Israel.
These laws were of three different types, namely:
The symbolic and practical significance of these laws was immense in their scope and depth of meaning. Suffice to say that the social law set out here forms the basis of much of what are now the various legal systems of Western civilisation.
By keeping these laws, the Israelites were brought into a right relationship with God, being "justified" or declared "righteous." The breaching of these laws resulted in their relationship with God being fractured and those breaking the law being declared "unrighteous" or "sinners." Such a ruptured relationship could only be restored by the offering of the prescribed sacrifice which, of course, involved the shedding of blood.
All of this was great in theory but there was something terribly wrong when it was put into practice.
...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,...(Rom. 3:23)
We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law,... (Gal. 2:15-16)
The Bible clearly teaches that despite the fact that the law was in force for over nineteen hundred years, not one single person, with the exception of the man Christ Jesus, was justified or declared righteous through their observance of this law. Surely, we would think, there must be some exceptions? What about Abraham, that man who was called a "friend of God"?
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about - but not before God. What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." (Rom. 4:1-3)
There are no other exceptions. Even Abraham, who obeyed God's commandments, who became the one through whom God first instituted the Old Covenant and who was willing to offer his only son as a sacrifice, was not declared righteous because of any of his actions, but only because of his faith.
Is this because there was something wrong with the law? Not at all! The Scripture teaches us that the fault lies within the human heart.
What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. (Rom. 7:7)
So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. (Rom. 7:12)
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. (Rom. 7:21-23)
So why then did God introduce the law in the first place, since he must have been fully aware that no-one would measure up to the mark? The answer to this is simply that the law was brought in to highlight to mankind the extreme depravity and sinfulness of its own human nature.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. (Eph. 2:1-3)
But not only was the law introduced to bring the sinfulness of human nature into sharp relief, but even more importantly, its objective was to direct our attention to God's provision of new life in Jesus Christ.
Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. (Gal. 3:23-24)
The law here, is spoken of as a servant who was put in charge of a child to provide some measure of discipline and training, until it was old and mature enough to take a responsible place in the household. Thus the law, by highlighting the failure of our sinful nature, was intended also to highlight our absolute need of the grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
The word "grace," as it is used in the English language, has many shades of meaning and usage, the Oxford dictionary giving at least fourteen different definitions. In the Bible, however, the meaning is much more clearly defined, having, for the most part, just one of those definitions, namely:
"Unmerited favour of God, divine regenerating, inspiring and strengthening influence, condition of being influenced, divinely given talent".
In other words, what we receive by the grace of God, we receive not because we have earned it or deserve it in any way, but because God wishes to bestow it upon us. Thus we are saved not as a reward for obeying all the commandments of the law but by receiving the gift of God simply by faith.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. (Eph. 2:8-9)
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 6:23)
We receive the gift of eternal life and are made partakers of the divine nature not as a result of our righteousness but rather in spite of our state of unrighteousness before God and before the law. "There is no one righteous, not even one."
Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring - not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. (Rom. 4:16)
Those under the law were justified by faith just as we are. Theirs, however, was a faith in something yet to come which they, for the most part, would have understood only dimly. Ours is a faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross and in his resurrection.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. (Heb. 11:13)
Now we may well be tempted to ask that if we are declared righteous and receive the gift of eternal life despite our state of spiritual corruption, why don't we just keep on in that sinful state and receive more and more of his grace? This is, of course, not the idea at all, as the apostle Paul went to great lengths to point out.
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Rom. 6:1-2)
It is important to understand that the grace of God comes to us on two distinct levels.
If, indeed, the grace of God were only to extend to the first of these, then all we would be able to do is to keep on sinning and depend on God's grace and forgiveness to continually draw us out of the spiritual mire. To say that this is unsatisfactory would be a gross understatement.
But God has provided for us everything we need to live a godly life.
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Pet. 1:4)
Paul puts it another way when he argues that we have died to sin and have been raised in the resurrection life of Christ.
Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Rom. 6:3-4)
He is referring here to the death of the old nature and our receiving of the new nature. This is our liberation from the power of sin.
This is not to suggest of course that we come into a state of instant perfection. There remains ahead of us a life-long process of spiritual development and growth as the Holy Spirit works more and more of God's infinite provision of life into our everyday experience.
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18)
The Christians of the Galatian churches provide us with a classic example of those who commence their Christian life by faith but then try to continue by coming back under law. In other words, having been justified by the grace of God through their faith in Christ, they seek to justify themselves by their works.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all. (Gal. 1:6-7)
In the case of the Galatians they were, soon after their initial conversion, infiltrated by a number of Jewish Christians who taught that it was necessary for Christians to continue to observe some of the Old Testament law and ritual, particularly circumcision and the separation of the Jews from the Gentiles. This, to Paul's great dismay, they started to do.
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? (Gal. 3:1-3)
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God - or rather are known by God - how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you. (Gal. 4:8-11)
Strong words indeed! But Paul was teaching most forcefully that living under the grace of God produces spiritual freedom. To come back under law is to come under spiritual bondage and servitude. This was no trivial matter or an argument over some theological point. It was, to Paul, a matter of life and death.
My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you! (Gal. 4:19-20)
Paul was so impassioned and distressed about this situation because the Galatians, by reverting to the law, were striking a mortal blow at the fulfilment of the eternal purpose of God in their lives. Being under law meant that they had excluded themselves from the grace of God which meant that the nature and character of Christ would not be formed in them.
You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. (Gal. 5:4)
The situation in the Galatian churches is a not so subtle example of how human nature desperately seeks to justify itself by the observance of a set of rules and regulations. Any set of rules will do and, in this case, the ones most readily to hand, particularly to those Jews involved, were the Old Covenant laws.
There are those Christians today, and even sections of the church, who feel that their observance of Old Testament law, particularly that of the Sabbath, somehow sets them apart from the rest of the church. In a way it does, because it puts them under spiritual bondage and servitude.
However our human nature can be much more subtle and deceitful than this. Within many Christian communities there is often a tendency to establish what amounts to a set of rules to govern Christian behaviour. These rules may be unspoken but are binding and powerful nevertheless. They are frequently meant to control not only what we do but, even more importantly, what we are. Those who do not measure up invariably find themselves on the outer.
But then, you may well argue, there are standards of being and behaviour which should rightly be expected of those who would call themselves followers of Jesus Christ. This would be absolutely correct.
What is of overwhelming importance, however, is not so much the detail of the code of behaviour, but its source. That which is the outworking of the indwelling life of Christ can never be wrong. That which is the product of our own striving can never be right no matter how good it is.
Law is that which is set up in the realm of our mind and reason in order to impose external constraints upon our behaviour.
What we receive by the grace of God is received into our heart or spirit and then flows outwards from our innermost being. By this we express the Christ who lives in us. We can now dispense with all pretence and self-effort, for we just are what God has made us. As it was once expressed so eloquently, "I am different and I don't have to try to be."
"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." (John 7:38)
Law, in any form, is thus a prison house because its sets up an ethical code of behaviour purely at the level of our intellect. This acts as an external constraint which is invariably in conflict with our inner being, as Paul describes so graphically in Romans 7.
When living under grace all conflict disappears because we are merely expressing outwardly what we are, by the grace of God, within. Paul stated this so eloquently when he said:
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. (Gal. 2:20)
But let us not direct all of the blame to the environment in which we live, for buried deep within the most earnest and faithful amongst us, is the urge to set up, sometimes quite subconsciously, our own sets of standards and rules by which we strive to live. We can develop very strong mental images of what a Christian should be and how a Christian should behave and direct our best efforts to live in this way.
By exaggerating our successes and playing down our failures we can create a sense of self-satisfaction about the state of our relationship with God that bears little resemblance to reality. This is simply a state of self-righteousness which can be very hard to shift.
It is these stances and attitudes of our sub-conscious mind that the Holy Spirit works to break down. This can, at times, produce considerable pain, as to uproot these things means exposing to our own view the reality of our own failures and inadequacies. Again, this is something we must leave to the Holy Spirit to bring about, as only he has the necessary wisdom and understanding to bring us through in one piece. We are simply called to trust him and to co-operate fully with him as he carries out this enormously delicate task.
We can trust him completely to bring us to the place where our striving has ceased, we have stopped trying to gain the favour of God by what we are or what we do, but have entered into his rest whereby we freely enjoy the fullness of the grace of God.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (Rom. 8:1-2)
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Gal. 5:1)
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