Not under Law but under Grace

Part Ten

by G. A. N. James

This is the tenth part of the series of messages on the subject of Law and Grace, entitled “Not under Law but under Grace.” We have already established the limitation of the Law of Moses in fulfilling God’s aim to deliver humanity after the Fall from the bondage of death and sin into Life and righteousness. We have also dealt with the purpose of the Law in God’s unfolding plan of salvation to foreshadow and point to the true Life and righteousness which Christ would bring to humanity. We examined the fulfilment of the Law in Christ who came to reveal the true substance or body of Life and righteousness, which the Law foreshadowed. We examined the truth that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one who believes and accepts Him. We then examined the truth that the righteousness of God apart from the Law is now manifested and is imparted by God to a believer in Christ by grace rather than achieved or produced by a believer’s efforts. In the seventh part of the series of messages on Law and Grace we began to examine the Sabbath under grace. We pointed out that the observance of the Sabbath, like all the ordinances and rituals of the Law, was a shadow or type of a reality the substance of which is fulfilled in Christ. For the Sabbath, this reality is Divine rest in Christ. We continued to explore this wonderful truth of the Sabbath under grace from the standpoint of the Scriptures in the eighth part of the series. We completed our Scriptural examination of the importance of the Sabbath under grace in the ninth part of series showing that God’s purpose for the Sabbath being, not the ritual observance of Sabbath days, but the entering in by faith into the reality of Divine rest, which the observance of Sabbath days in the Old Testament merely foreshadowed. We conclude this series of messages on Law and Grace by reviewing the wonderful Scriptural truth that every believer in Chirst is living under the grace of God.

Conclusion: Living under Grace

We are concluding our detailed examination of the subject of Law and Grace presented in the series of messages entitled Not under Law but under Grace by focusing now on what it is to be under grace. Being under grace is distinct from being under the Law. The Scriptures plainly distinguishes between being under Law and being under Grace. It is important for every believer in Christ to understand the distinction between being under Law and being under grace and hence to appreciate the Scriptural truth that we are not under law but under grace. The objective of the series of messages is to establish the Scriptural truth that a true believer in Christ is not under the regime of the Law of Moses but under the dispensation of the grace of God through Jesus Christ. We will end the series by examining the Scriptural assertion that we are not under the law but under grace.

When we examined the purpose of the Law, we noted that the Law unveiled mankind's inherent sinfulness. According to the Scriptures all men are born with an inherently carnal nature. We read in Rom 8:7-8: Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

The Need for Grace

The history of the children of Israel under the Law revealed that natural man is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be. Far from attaining the righteousness of God by keeping the Law, under the Law sinful man simply became more conscious of his guilt and sinfulness. By the Law came the knowledge of sin, not the ability to overcome sin. Rom 3:19-20 tells us: Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

However, the fact of man's inherent sinfulness highlights the critical need of grace by man. Grace brought the desperate help which mankind needed to get rid of his inherent sinful nature and be transformed into a new creature endowed with God's righteousness. According to Rom 5:20-21, the Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

This grace was introduced by our Saviour, Jesus Christ. John describes the introduction of grace to mankind in this way in John 1:14-17: And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'" For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth was realized through Jesus Christ.

Therefore, whereas the entire regime of the Law  was premised on man's ability to keep the Law, an ability which man lacked because of his inherent sinful nature, the dispensation or introduction of grace through Jesus Christ was premised on man's absolute need of God's mercy and help to rid him of his sinful nature and save him. Therefore the regime of the Law introduced by Moses inevitably had to give way to the dispensation of grace introduced by Jesus Christ. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ (Joh 1:17). And this, basically, is the good news of the Gospel.

Paul explains in Rom 8:3-4: For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

This Gospel of the good news of the introduction of the grace of God by Jesus Christ for the deliverance of mankind from the bondage of sin should be welcomed by every human being who wants deliverance from the curse of sin brought upon him by his sinfulness under the Law. The believer who realizes grace and truth through Jesus Christ rejoices in the truth that he is "not under Law but under grace." Rom 6:14 declares: For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under Law, but under grace.

Defining Grace

To understand and appreciate the crucial significance of grace to the salvation of sinful man, it is necessary to consider the meaning of grace. As we mentioned earlier, the Scriptures make a plain distinction between Law and grace. This distinction between Law and grace is brought out by the Scriptures in explaining the distinction between grace and works. Rom 11:6 states: And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

In defining grace, this Scripture passage makes what is called a contradistinction between grace and works. By a contradistinction is meant that the nature or character of each of these two terms, works and law, contrasts each other. In other words, if it is one it is not the other. If it is by grace it cannot be by works, and if it is by works, then it cannot be by grace by virtue of the respective definitions of grace and works.

Grace and works are related to one’s attitude. An attitude of grace is one of total helplessness and dependence upon God. An attitude of works, on the cotrary, is one of self-confidence and self-help and sees no need to depend absolutely on God to attain righteousness. That explains the Scriptural declaration: “God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble” (Jam 4:6; 1Pe 5:5). Therefore, although God has introduced a dispensation of grace to mankind through Jesus Christ, there are those who, lacking an attitude of grace, will not submit to the grace of God but will maintain an attitude of works. They, like some of the Jews were doing in Paul’s time, endeavour to serve God by their own presumptuous ability to keep the Law, rather than depending absolutely on the grace of God through faith in Christ to enable them to serve God in true righteousness (Rom 10:3-4). Thus one can be living under Law in this dispensation of grace, if one seeks to serve God with an attitude of works instead of grace.

Therefore, based on its definition of grace, the Scripture is making a vital point concerning man's salvation. It is important for us to note this point, which highlights the basis of man’s salvation.  If people are saved by their works, then salvation is achieved as a merited reward or a debt owed to them because of the works or efforts they put out by themselves to be saved. It could not be a matter of grace or favour. Conversely, if salvation is by grace then it is not an achievement of one's efforts or works. It is not a reward but a completely unmerited favour received by grace. Grace loses its meaning and becomes a different thing if at all one would try to introduce into it some aspect of works. Therefore, we may define grace from its Scriptural concept as the unmerited favour of God in bringing about helpless man's full salvation.

Hence, it is impossible to uphold the doctrine of salvation by the works of the Law and at the same time believe the Scriptural doctrine that salvation is by grace. To attempt to do that is to attempt to distort the true meaning of grace. The idea of being saved by the merit of works contradicts and excludes completely any contribution of grace in man’s salvation.

However, the clear teaching of the Scriptures is that salvation is by grace. Sinful, hopeless man, enslaved by an inherent sinful nature, can only be saved by God's grace, since he has absolutely no power in himself to do anything on his own to achieve or merit God's salvation.

Eph 2:1-9 highlights the truth of salvation by grace clearly and comprehensively:

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

The Gospel of Grace

Salvation by grace is the essence of the good news of the Gospel to fallen man, who can do nothing of himself to save his soul. Paul proudly proclaimed this gospel of grace declaring in 2Ti 1:8-11:

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher.

Again Paul declares in Tit 3:3-7 concerning the central significance of grace in our salvation:

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Saviour and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Hence, Paul carefully explains in Rom 4:4-8:

But to him working, the reward is not reckoned according to grace, but according to debt. But to him not working, but believing on Him justifying the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also says of the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, "Blessed are those whose lawlessness is forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord will in no way impute sin."

The concept of grace, as defined by the Scriptures, properly explains the basis of the salvation of sinful man. Only by grace can any one of us receive God's salvation and only by grace we are empowered to walk in the righteousness of God through Christ. Therefore, the Law has absolutely nothing to do with man's salvation from beginning to end. The grace of God initiates and sustains the full salvation of man in Christ.

Our relationship with God under grace is characterized by an entirely new arrangement, which is fundamentally different from the arrangement which defined the relationship of the nation of Israel with God under the Law. To distinguish between these two arrangements, we must be able to differentiate the New Covenant from the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant and the New Covenant, the two major covenants made by God with man, spell out the distinction between being under Law and being under grace respectively.

The arrangement which defined the relationship between God and the nation of Israel was embodied in the Old Covenant. The basic characteristic of the Old Covenant was that it was conditioned or premised on the people of Israel meeting the demands of the Law of Moses as a condition to be righteous and obtain God's blessings. Under the Old Covenant, the Law was given by Moses to the children of Israel, who promised to, and, therefore, were expected to keep every statute and precept of the Law to be accounted righteous before God (Ex 24:3-8). So the general principle of the Old Covenant was that if the people kept the Law they would be considered righteous and blessed; if they transgressed the Law they would be considered unrighteous and cursed (Ex 19:5-6; Deut 11:27). 

The history of the children of Israel under the Old Covenant is a dismal account of the constant failure of man to keep the Law (Jer 7:23-24). Thus being under Law did not make the people of Israel any less sinful than the rest of the nations who were not under the Law of Moses. In fact, God lamented that the people of Israel just did not have the heart to keep the Old Covenant (Deut 5:29; Is 48:18). This should indicate to us the weakness of the regime of the Law to make those who live under it righteous. It should also indicate the crucial need for an effective way to deliver man from his sinfulness and transform him into a righteous creature.

Therefore, while the regime of the Law was still in force under the Old Covenant, God announced through His prophets His plan to introduce a new regime -- a regime of grace -- in an entirely new covenant that would replace the old covenant and effectively enable man to become righteous before God. God’s introduction of the New Covenant based on grace to replace the Old Covenant based on the Law of Moses certainly was not meant to compromise with man’s sinfulness. Rather, as we see from the Scriptures referring to God’s promise of the New Covenant, God’s main intention was to provide an effective means by which man could be freed from the bondage of sin, obtain thorough forgiveness and cleansing of his sinful deeds, and be made into a new creature soundly grounded in God’s righteousness. Let us review some of these Scriptural predictions of the establishment of the New Covenant.

Mic 7:18-19: Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

Eze 36:21-28: “But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went. Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD," declares the Lord GOD, "when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.”

Jer 31:31-34: "Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbour and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

For those of us who are genuinely concerned about man’s deliverance from his weak sinful nature to live a life of true righteousness, and not merely the upholding of the religious tradition of the Old Covenant and the Law, the introduction of the New Covenant of grace is seen as a wonderful hope. The New Covenant based on Grace, unlike the Old Covenant based on Law, provides the solution for the chronic sinfulness of man by putting within man the power to enter into the true righteousness of God.

Heb 8:6-13 tells us: But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much He is also the Mediator of a better covenant, which was built upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been without fault, then no place would have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, He said to them, “Behold, days are coming,” says the Lord, “and I will make an end on the house of Israel and on the house of Judah; a new covenant shall be, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in My covenant, and I did not regard them,” says the Lord.  “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the Lord: “I will put My Laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall not each man teach his neighbour, and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more.” In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first one old. Now that which decays and becomes old is ready to vanish away.

Note the number of times which God declares unconditionally in the New Covenant – “I will.” Then compare that with the conditional agreement of the Old Covenant – “If you will keep my Laws, then I will bless.” The Old Covenant with its regime of Law was conditioned on man’s initial efforts to keep the Law. Man’s chronic sinfulness and inability to keep the Law meant that he could not fulfil his part of the Covenant. Hence, under such a Covenant man was doomed to failure. However, the New Covenant, thankfully, is opposite in that it is conditioned, not on man’s initiative to keep the Law, but on the grace of God imparting the righteousness of God into man, and, thus, empowering man to live a righteous life before God. Which of these two covenants is more acceptable to us, weak, sinful, mortal beings?

We are told in Rom 3:19-28: Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

We read also in Gal 3:10-12: For as many as are out of works of the Law, these are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the Book of the Law, to do them." But that no one is justified by the Law in the sight of God is clear, for, "The just shall live by faith." But the Law is not of faith; but, "The man who does these things shall live in them."

And further down in Gal 3:21-25, we read: Is the Law then against the promises of God? Let it not be said! For if a law had been given which could have given life, indeed righteousness would have been out of Law. But the Scripture shut up all under sin, so that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under Law, having been shut up to the faith about to be revealed. So that the Law has become a trainer of us until Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But faith coming, we are no longer under a trainer.

It is a fallacy to conclude, as some do, that the Gospel of grace, in declaring that we are not under the Law, compromises or ignores the righteousness of God, or the need for man to be righteous. Rather, what is the glorious truth is that the Gospel of grace presents to mankind the desperately needed cure in the Cross of Christ for deliverance from sin and hence gives to mankind a message of hope by which he can obtain through faith power to be righteous and holy in Christ. Therefore, if those who are zealous in keeping the Law are sincerely seeking the true righteousness of God, then knowing, according to the Scriptures, that the deeds of the Law can justify no man or make no one righteous, they would be wise to give up their hopeless pursuit of righteousness by the deeds of the Law and turn humbly to the grace of God.

In fact, the word of God assures us that it is by being under grace and not under Law that we will find liberation from the bondage of sin. Rom 6:14-15 tells us: For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? God forbid! Paul declares in Gal 2:21: I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness is through law, then Christ died without cause. Grace is the engine of spiritual growth and the power to live a life of true righteousness in Christ. It does not compromise with sin but instead motivates and activates the believer into godly living. We read in Tit 2:11-15:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

Why then would any man, who sincerely desires to be righteous and holy in the sight of God, want to remain under the barren and decaying regime of Law or the Old Covenant, now that every believer can find in Christ the fullness of the amazing grace of God to be free from the bondage of sin and death and enter into a newness of life and righteousness in Christ? Paul asks the same question in Gal 4:21: Tell me, those desiring to be under Law, do you not hear the Law? And he points out in Rom 3:20: By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

The plain position of the Scriptures on the subject of Law and Grace is that salvation is by grace and not of works in order that no man should boast. In fact, we have seen that, according to the Scripture’s definition, grace and works are so essentially and distinctly opposite that we cannot have a mixture or combination of both grace and works without distorting the Scriptural truth that salvation is of grace. The truth is that God saves us by grace, sustains us in His righteousness by grace, and enables us to do His will and live godly lives by grace. According to these words from the well-known hymn, Amazing Grace, “Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come, it is grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”

Yes, indeed! God is the author and finisher of our faith. He who begun a good work in you will perform it to the end -- all by His grace. Let us trust Him.

Therefore, in concluding this series of messages on Law and Grace, we can happily and boldly declare, according to the Scriptural theme of the series, "We are not under Law but under grace."  This declaration, thank God, is not a mere figment of human doctrinal fancy, but, as we explicitly showed in this series of messages, it is the Gospel proclaimed in the Scriptures and in some Scripture passages stated word for word.

We end with these verbatim Scriptural declarations:

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law (Gal 5:18). For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under Law, but under grace (Rom 6:14).

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