Grace versus law

[Proclaimer]

1. There are 2 ways in which we know God’s standard. The Law and Conscience. Conscience is made up of 2 Latin words. con=with  science=knowledge. In other words every human has the Law written in their hearts. We do not learn this, we are born with this knowledge. The written Law explains what is already in our hearts, unless we have seared our conscience through excessive sin. On the other-hand, the Gospel is the power of Salvation unto all who believe.
2. In addition to the law, the Holy Spirit convicts all men of sin, righteousness and judgement.
3. The written Law was specifically given to Israel/Jewish people. The Law is God’s standard for righteousness and God used his people as a witness of himself. They were set apart from the Gentiles.
4. No man can keep the whole Law, (letter of the law).
5. Men should try and keep the spirit of the law. i.e., Love God with all our heart, soul and mind. And love our fellow man as we love ourselves. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Romans
   13:8-10
6. Jesus said that the Pharasees held Moses seat, but he said to do as they say, not as they do. In other words they followed the letter of the law, but neglected the spirit of the law. Jesus said that our righteousness has to exceed that of the Pharisees if we want to enter the Kingdom of God. What they were missing was the spirit of the Law which encompasses justice, mercy and love.
7. Jesus fulfilled the letter of the Law for us. The law required death for sin and Jesus took our sin and consequently our death too. We are expected to live by the spirit of the law. i.e., to love God and Man. That is our only obligation or debt. So the Spirit of the Law is about grace and mercy.
8. Grace is greater than the Law. It supersedes it like aerodynamics overcomes the effect of gravity.
9. The Law still stands until this world passes away, because the Law is made for the sinner, not the righteous. Similarly, gravity still exists even though a plane can fly using the law of aerodynamics. Aerodynamics supersedes gravity, it doesn’t nullify it.
10. Unlike the Law, Satan doesn’t understand Grace. Satan is  legalistic and points out to God all our transgressions.
11. If Satan and those of him knew about Grace, they wouldn’t have crucified The Lord Jesus Christ.
12. Angels are not the recipients of grace. They can only understand grace by observing God’s work in our lives. God’s wisdom is playing out in the lives of the redeemed, and Angels long to inquire into such things.
13. The law condemns man, but the Devil is being defeated (in the battle for the souls of man) by grace and not the Law. Grace is part of a wisdom that was hidden. It is older than creation itself. Therefore Angels didn’t know of it, but observe it through us.
14. John the Baptist was the greatest man born of a woman, yet those in the Kingdom are greater than him. John was under the Law, we are under Grace. We live in a superior covenant. The Old covenant was but a shadow of the new covenant. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
15. Certain Pharisees who had become believers insisted that believers became circumcised in order to obey the Law of Moses to gain salvation. The Apostles had a meeting and concluded by judgement and what they thought was good in the Spirit and offered the following good ADVICE:  “We should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.”
16. Certain believers eat meat and others do not. Some consider one day holy and others consider all days holy. But all do it to please God and this is good in the eyes of God. We shouldn’t look down on believers that are different to us and have different convictions.
17. Gentiles are children of Abraham by faith. God’s natural sons, the Jews were/are under the written Law. However we should not let Grace be an excuse for sin. The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.
18. We should not use grace as an excuse to sin. If we do, then sin becomes our master and if so, we are then under the Law and it’s consequences come back into effect, until we repent and grace supersedes the Law. The Law makes sin our master, but Christ frees us from that curse.
19. We shouldn’t set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
20. If we are trying to be justified by law, then we alienate ourselves from Christ and grace. In other words if we try to live by the Letter of the Law, we are not recognising the death of Christ that redeemed us from the curse of the law. We are required to live by the Spirit of the Law which is love. Love is our only true debt.

[Andrew AD]

Some including myself have or do have such a hard time understanding this topic and I’ve heard and read some of the debates.This article makes it seem simple and has given me a better understanding with some new insights.I’ve read it three times now and am sure I’ll refer to it again.Thanks so much.

[Admin]

+1. Good to know that this has blessed you. 🙂

[Wise Crow]

Does this speak in away to mean if one does keep the Sabbath, as a choice having felt led to honor God as Christ did his Father.. It is good, yet if it is as a “law” one is observing to honor God, believing we must obey, it is bad?

[Admin]

I think you ask a good question here.

I agree with your difference.

Being obligated to do something is not as good as doing something because of love.

We know that giving under obligation has no reward, but giving with a cheerful heart brings reward. (See 2 Corinthians 9.)

It is not hard to apply this same reason to the Sabbath Day or anything else.

1 Corinthians 13:3
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

[Jaime Rios]

As much as we have read and understood already in the bible. The Bible for man common has only been really read starting in the 1070’s. The only people that read the bible Or had a copy of the bible were preachers and pastors. That would mean mankind has started reading for about 40 years. This is about one generation. Could it be that at first mankind did not really want to understand not just the bible , But Gods word. Apparently the Gospels were written to the Jews. Most of us are Gentiles. The Gentiles teachings, doctrine starts with the book of Romans!
Peter had a had time understanding this new teaching, Grace.2 Peter 3:14-18 (AMP)
14 So, beloved, since you are expecting these things, be eager to be found by Him [at His coming] without spot or blemish and at peace [in serene confidence, free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts].
15 And consider that the long-suffering of our Lord [His slowness in avenging wrongs and judging the world] is salvation (that which is conducive to the soul’s safety), even as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the spiritual insight given him,
16 Speaking of this as he does in all of his letters. There are some things in those [epistles of Paul] that are difficult to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist and misconstrue to their own utter destruction, just as [they distort and misinterpret] the rest of the Scriptures.
17 Let me warn you therefore, beloved, that knowing these things beforehand, you should be on your guard, lest you be carried away by the error of lawless and wicked [persons and] fall from your own [present] firm condition [your own steadfastness of mind].
18 But grow in grace (undeserved favor, spiritual strength) and recognition and knowledge and understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (the Messiah). To Him [be] glory (honor, majesty, and splendor) both now and to the day of eternity. Amen (so be it)!

[Anonymous]

hi

to me there is really no difference between the law and the grace,

the law was given to Israel has a new beginning in a new place under the land given to them by their God ,from then on ,they would be judged by the law that God had given but all previous sins where done and dealt with ,

the grace of God ;is similar ;as soon you come in contact with it you are under its rules in which ever land you are ,it is now spiritually applied ,as it says ;GOD IS SPIRIT AND THE TRUE WORSHIPERS HAVE TO WORSHIP HIM IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH ,and again God will forgive our previous sins and only start to count from us entering in the new covenant of his grace,but this one his the real one and permanent one through his son Jesus,sealed with blood ,In Israel and Moses time it was a shadow of the real one ,

it does not matter how God squeeze the juice out of this world ,what is important is being part of the juice and not part of the pulp,that is thrown away ,

understand their is no juice unless their is a fruit ,separating the juice from the pulp is like separating the good from the bad ,and it may take time to get all the juice out of the pulp ,

[Admin]

Thanks terraricca. As an aside and in no way to oppose what you say, but a friends of mine told me the other week that the reason fruit has lots of sugar is to tempt you into eating it so you will eat the healthy part which is the skin and the pulp. Hence why fruit juice wasn’t that good because it was all natural sugar and less teh best parts of the fruit. However, I realise what you are saying and it is about God extracting wine from the grapes.
🙂

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=24

[Shayne]

I see the sabbath as a car to take me to the destination . The CAR is NOT the destination  BUT a tool to assist you to the destination . The destination is in christ. The teaching tool is the sabbath  ( Saturday)  it is not the destination.

The sabbath is without fault ( it was created by the almighty ) We all need rest,  but the rest is in christ.

Therefore, I suggest you continue to rest and know that the Lord does see you honouring a certain day . BUT, I say this , that IF you ultimately fail to enter into his rest  ( as per Hebrews 4:1,, )  then your observance of a ceretain day means NOTHING to the Lord . For if you behave like the pharisees and be diligent to the letter of the law , but fail to follow the spiritual intent of the law,  you have already failed.  As in the spiritual law of the NT concerning adultery,  you only need to look upon a woman ( or man ) with lust and desire  to fully commit offence.

[NickHassan]

Hi Shayne,

Yes the Law still is in effect over those born under the Law.

But the one we follow is Lord of the Sabbath.

 

[Proclaimer]

Good stuff Shayne. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath indeed.

[Author]

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