945. A Covenant of Law and a Covenant of Grace: Recognizing the Differences

The Apostle Paul said: "But now we have been delivered from the law." We often apply a phrase such as this to us who are believers in Christ today who typically are not from a Jewish background. We'll offer a perspective on who Paul was specifically addressing from Romans 7 and how removing the dividing wall of separation (the law of commandments) brought Jews and Gentiles together in Christ.

When huddled with His disciples, Jesus said: "Do not think that I came to destroy (abolish) the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." While it was not the mission of Jesus to arrive on earth to declare the law as abolished, He did complete what He came to do—which was first to fulfill it—and this resulted in the law from the Old Covenant being abolished in His flesh and fully annulled and set aside (or cancelled).

When scanning the scriptures in the Bible or hanging out in a mixed-covenant church culture, understanding who was being spoken to, what was being said and when it was said will help us to avoid blending law and grace ... while growing in the knowledge of the truth about the gospel that offers a better hope than an obsolete covenant of works (which we were never alive to).



   
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944. You Are Not Under Law but Under Grace (No "Balance" Required)

The Christian religion has notoriously attempted to mix the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ with a hodgepodge of works-based rules and requirements that will vary with great extreme from one denominational brand to the next. Leapfrogging through various Bible verses which are often taken out of the context of the New Covenant can leave people in a place of uncertainty when it is based upon our doing instead of the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Our conversation will examine the inconsistencies in mixing various aspects of old covenant law with the assurance we have in Christ by faith. Paul made a simple and yet profound statement that is easily overlooked: "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:14).



   
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940. The Judgment: Gentiles Remain Free From Moses (Except for the Fine Print)

The scene takes place about a decade or so after it came to light that Gentiles could be saved. In Acts 15, a contentious debate occurred between apostles and other Jewish elders and leaders in the early church at Jerusalem. Should non-Jewish believers in Christ be forced to abide by the Mosaic law ... as these believing Jews thought they were still supposed to follow? Gentiles never had the law. James provided a compromise of sorts. He sided with the team of Peter and Paul - that Gentiles should not be burdened with the law in the same way as Jews - but it often gets skipped over that he made exceptions to the "rule." James listed four things from the law that he felt Gentiles should do going forward.

We'll begin to take a look at these lawful line items, and what it would mean for the Gentiles of that time within their culture as they would be trying to live in harmony with nearby Jewish believers who still embraced Moses. These four things were not merely 4 commandments out of 613 from the law, but were more like categories which would involve much more than what it initially looked like on paper, and would unnecessarily result in a much bigger burden than what would have been initially understood.



   
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911. Does Grace Empower People to Keep the Mosaic Law?

A common teaching in the land of the legal is that the grace which brings salvation also enables believers to keep the commandments contained in the law. They will be careful to polish this so it sounds shiny and will make sense to the religious, works-based mindset. For example, they may say we're saved by grace and not by works ... but will then imply we're expected to embrace the Old Covenant law in our behavior.

So is this true? Are we meant to live by a ministry of condemnation which is contrary to us ... a ministry which strengthens sin and causes it to increase? It doesn't make sense that Jesus came to redeem Jews from the law—who then died to the law—and then have God resurrect the same law which couldn't give life and wasn't based on faith. When it comes to good works in our lives, God empowered us with something better ... not just Scriptures, not law-based commandments, but the power of His Spirit abiding in us.



   
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860. The Law Abolished (and Gentiles Were Never Under It)

Our fourth program in the series brings us to a conversation which challenges the idea that the law of commandments from Mount Sinai is still meant to be ministered to people after the cross as a tool to bring them to Christ. There is an effective way to look back on this obsolete law package from the Old Covenant … and the writer of the book of Hebrews shows an example of explaining how it was once the way that Jews attempted to attain righteousness by works—and that it couldn’t be done.

It’s not hard for we grace folks to fall into a similar trap that the legalists have been stuck in—picking and choosing selective bits and pieces of that old law while ignoring other parts that seem more obsolete or abolished. The law only spoke to Jewish people before the cross. It never spoke to Gentiles. So let’s consider a radical idea: stop trying to use the law of sin and death to persuade people and just start sharing the good news of Jesus. He did what the law never could—He fulfilled it in us.

 


   
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834. Things Seldom Heard in Church: Faith Has Nothing to Do With a Law of Works

Sometimes when people discuss faith, if you listen carefully, you’ll begin to hear them vocalize something that is more based upon their works, lifestyle choices, and what they perceive to be an improvement in moral character. If we’re not careful, it can become about us and what we do or don’t do, instead of placing a complete trust and faith in what God has done for us through His Son. Depending upon our abilities to attain right-standing with God—instead of choosing to believe in God’s ability—is not based upon faith.

When the Jewish people were pursuing righteousness through a law of works, it was not a righteousness of faith, but it was based on their inconsistent works, which did not bring peace with God. For those who were described as having lived by faith or done great things because of faith, it had nothing to do with the law or their own works. Do we need those old rules and commandments to lead, teach and guide us as believers in Christ? No, we have Someone who lives in us who will fill that role much better.

   
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829. Things Seldom Heard in Church: We Live By the Spirit - Not Written Commands

The law from the Old Covenant was holy, righteous and good. In fact, it was so good, nobody could ever achieve the required standard. Because of being taught a phony mixture of law and grace, the majority of church attendees have assumed the written commandments—at least a small portion of them—are meant to lead and guide us into a state of righteousness and approval from God. When they hear us talk about living under grace … and not being under the ministry of the stone tablets, they automatically jump to the false conclusion that we’re telling people it’s okay to sin as much as they want.

Instead of trying to live by the written letter (which kills), the more effective approach will be for believers to come to a greater knowledge of the truth about their identity in Christ and who God already declares them to be as a righteous, holy and perfected person, having inherited the very nature of God through belief and spiritual birth. As one who is described as a partaker of the divine nature, believers can begin to live from this place, thereby allowing the Spirit of God to more effectively bear His fruit through us, apart from the law of works. He is the one who will lead, guide and teach us as we allow Him to do so. The goal is not to work at becoming someone we think we are not, but to live and rest from who God has already declared us to be.

   
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762. Stone Tablet Commandments Can’t Bring Life or Righteousness

David thought life could be found in the law which was introduced to the nation of Israel through Moses. Before he came to faith in Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul said he thought the same thing and then came to find out “the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.” So how is it the church culture has gotten this so backwards?

Why have religious institutions lured Gentiles into a ministry referred to as one that brings bondage while being unable to bring life or righteousness? The Ten Commandments were part of a law containing 603 other commands, rules and statutes. This is the very bundled requirement that Jesus came to deliver the Jewish people from … not to bring Gentiles into.



   
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722. True or False: God’s Grace Encourages Sinful Behavior

We recently received a correspondence that included a comment: “You can’t keep all of the Law, so don’t even try to keep any of it? Ok. How’s that adultery working out for ya??”

This was submitted from Program #711: The Dangers of Mixing Law and Grace (Part 1).

We take a few minutes to address this mindset which is rooted in a commonly misunderstood theory from the world of lifeless religion. Paul declared we are not under law, but under grace. Just because this is our reality in the New Covenant doesn’t mean God unleashed the dogs so they could run out into traffic. Grace does for us what the law could not … teaching us to deny ungodliness apart from fleshy, self-righteous effort.



   
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713. The Dangers of Mixing Law and Grace (Part 3)

Legalists who believe God’s grace needs to be balanced with a law of works will instinctively jump to the misguided conclusion that we grace renegades are encouraging people to break commandments from the Old Covenant and that sinning doesn’t matter. They are stuck in a religious trap which assumes law decreases sin and that grace inspires people to sin. It’s the precise opposite of what Scripture has revealed through the gospel. There is a reason why sin has no dominion over us in Christ, and the law has nothing to do with it.

“For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions” (1 Timothy 1:6-7).



   
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