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Not under Law but under Grace
Part One
by G. A. N. James
The Holy Scriptures make the plain and definitive statement that we are not under the Law but under Grace. Yet the subject of Law and Grace has generated and continues to generate one of the greatest doctrinal controversies in the Christian religion. This controversy, interestingly, is as old as the New Testament Church, the birth of which marked the end of the Mosaic Law regime which had defined the nation of Israel as God’s only people and heralded the introduction of the Church to be God’s people from every tribe and nation under a new covenant of grace in Christ Jesus. And so, whereas the controversy concerning Law and Grace has continued to this day in the Christian religion, we thank God that there are guidelines in the New Testament Scriptures how to deal with it.
Doctrinal controversies, however, do not affect the truth of the word of God. Whatever human opinions may be, the truth of God will always stand. Jesus said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away” (Luk 21:33).
A lot of controversies about the word of God arise out of an unwillingness to set aside human opinions, philosophy, traditions of man, and principles and institutions of this ungodly world, and accept the plain truth of the word of God. This is obviously the case regarding the age-old controversy on the subject of Law and Grace. In fact, it was out of concern about the prevalence of that same controversy on the subject of Law and Grace that Paul warned the church at Colosse in Col 2:8: “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”
That we are not under the law but under grace is plainly declared in the Bible. In Rom 6:14-15, the Scriptures state: “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!” We see here at the onset that the words “not under Law” are plainly stated in the Bible. Paul states in Rom 6:14, “for you are not under law but under grace,” and in Rom 6:15, “we are not under law but under grace.”
Therefore, any controversy with such a straightforward statement in the Scriptures stems from blindness to Scriptural truth or unwillingness to submit to Scriptural truth. However, the wonderful thing about this truth is that to entering into it is in essence entering into Life and the power of the Kingdom of God being extended to us by the grace of God. It is only by grace can we enter into Life in the Kingdom of God. Therefore, the adversary, the devil, will relentlessly oppose and distort the truth of grace in the minds of man.
In this series of messages, we will examine closely what the Bible teaches on the subject of Law and Grace. We will examine what the Bible teaches us about the Law; what it is to be under the Law; and what it is to be not under the Law but under Grace. Finally, we will examine what the Bible teaches about the Sabbath, which is basically the main contention in the doctrinal controversy about Law and Grace in our time, just as circumcision was for the early New Testament Church. Exploring this amazing truth of Law and Grace will require several messages and so we will present it in the form of a series of messages.
So, we will first examine in the series of message what the Bible teaches about the Law. It is interesting that the Scriptures do not only make the declaration that believers in Christ are not under Law, but presents a clear explanation why this is so. To follow the Scriptures' explanation why believers in Christ are not under Law, we will look at five aspects of the Law:
Then we will examine the righteousness of God given under grace. We will explore the Scriptural truth that the righteousness of God under grace is apart from the Law. Hence, in the dispensation of the grace of God with the introduction of the New Covenant, we can be made God’s righteousness in Christ through faith without the deeds of the Law.
What Is the Law?
In the New Testament, references are made to a body of Scriptures called the Law and the Prophets. The Law and the Prophets constituted the conventional Scriptures of the Jews and at the time of Christ several references were made to it in the New Testament. What do the Law and the Prophets represent?
Among the Jews, the expression, “the Law” or “the Book of the Law,” evidently referred to the five books of Moses. Therefore, the Law or the Book of the Law did not refer strictly or only to the venerated Ten Commandments, but to the whole regime of Mosaic rituals, rules, and regulations found in the five books of Moses. These five books of Moses are known today as the Pentateuch and include the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Prophets or the book of the Prophets refers to the remainder of what is today the Old Testament. Therefore, the phrase "the Law and the Prophets" constituted a body of Scriptures which would represent more or else what we call today the Old Testament.
Here are several New Testament Scripture passages which indicate that the Law and the Prophets were the conventional Scriptures of the Jews:
Mat 5:17-19: Our Lord Jesus Christ declares: “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Mat 11:13: Jesus again points out, “For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John.”
Mat 22:35-40: One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘you shall love the lord your god with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'you shall love your neighbour as yourself.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Act 13:14-15: But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the Law and the Prophets the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, "Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.”
Although, according to Jesus, the Law and the Prophets testified about Christ and the Church and the Grace of God, the Jewish religion did not comprehend these truths because of blindness (Luke 24:25-27). Paul too specifically alluded to this unfortunate condition of blindness among the adherents of Judaism to the true meaning of the Scriptures in the Law and the Prophets, as we will read later in 2Co 3:14-17. Therefore, those who adhered to Judaism at the beginning of the New Testament era were blinded to the dispensation of the grace of God in Christ Jesus to mankind (John 5:38-40).
The Law is also referred to in the Scriptures as the Law of Moses:
Jos 8:30-32: Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the Law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded an iron tool; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings. He wrote there on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which he had written, in the presence of the sons of Israel.
Jos 23:6: Here Joshua exhorts the people of Israel, “Be very firm, then, to keep and do all that is written in the book of the Law of Moses, so that you may not turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left.”
1Ki 2:3: David admonishes Solomon, “Keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn.”
Dan 9:11: Here Daniel intercedes for the people of Israel, “Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.”
Luk 2:22: And when the days for their purification according to the Law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord.
An important point to note in these preceding Scripture passages is that the Law of Moses represented both the commandments and the rituals codified in the Law. We will refer to the significance of that point later in our study. It is incorrect to think, as some do, that the Law only consists of the Ten Commandments. God told Moses at Mt Sinai, when the Law was being prescribed for the people of Israel: “But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I give them to possess” (Deu 5:31).
The Law is also referred in the Scriptures as the Old Covenant:
2Co 3:14-17: But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
A Scripture passage which explains clearly why the Law is considered an old covenant is:
Heb 8:6-13: 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 neighbor, 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.
This New Testament declaration of the Old Covenant being replaced by a New Covenant is word for word based on an Old Testament prophecy which was given by Jeremiah.
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 neighbor 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.”
These Scripture passages which we have referred to give us a proper Scriptural concept of the Law. We will conclude here this first part of the series of messages we are presenting on the subject “Not Under Law but under Grace” and we will summarize what we have covered so far.
We have looked at what is the Law and how it is referred to in the Scriptures. To summarize, the Law in Scriptures refers to the five books of Moses, the Law of Moses, and the Old Covenant. We may conclude then that the Law is a convention or covenant of religious rules, regulations, and rituals established between God and the nation of Israel.
What it is then to be under the Law? To be under the Law is to be bound by all the precepts and practices stated in the whole book of the Law.
In our next message in this series of messages entitled Not under Law but under Grace we will examine the limitation and objective of the Law, if the Lord permits.
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