Free from the Law
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:17[1]
Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell." Acts 15:24-29
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:14
For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. Romans 7:2-6
who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 2 Corinthians 3:6-13
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:18
What is the Law?
What is the Law all about? The Law is a system of commands, both positive and negative (Do this, don’t do that), to which there are rewards and punishments attached. Think about all of the laws that we have in our world. What happens if you get caught driving your car too fast? What happens if you get caught trespassing? Different crimes are punished differently based on how destructive they appear to be. As humans Law is about the only way we understand to do things. “I do my part and you do your part.” Our government, our work relationships, and our educational systems all rely on the principle of law to keep things in order. It is the natural conclusion of our human understanding of things that law must be the only way that we can deal with God.
Law in the Bible
There is, furthermore, law in the Bible. Adam and Eve started out under a system of law. In the system of Law in Eden there was only one rule: Don’t eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). They were told that if they broke that Law they would receive death – separation from God. They did break the only law in Eden and as a result they were separated from God. Then, many years later, Moses was given a new law to dictate the behavior of the people of Israel on the basis of which God would bless them or curse them (Deuteronomy 28-30 give an example of this). This was the basis on which God had his relationship with Israel but they always messed things up, and God always had the grace to restore them once they returned to Him, and He always will.
Separated from Law
The overwhelming and uniform statement in the New Testament is that we are, as people who have put our faith in Christ, no longer under law. The New Testament uses many different terms to describe this. Romans 7:2-6 uses two powerful phrases. First says we are dead to the Law. Remember the word death in scripture simply means a complete separation. Just as Adam and Eve were separated from God (death) so we, as Christians, are separated from the law. Paul wrote his harshest letter, and reserved his harshest criticisms for the people who would try to put followers of Jesus back under a law of some form (Galatians 3:3; 5:12; Philippians 3:2-3) It is clear from Scripture that the Christian life is a different kind of relationship with God entirely.
So what are my options here?
If we aren’t under law, what system do we operate under? Is God just going about dismissing sin, doing whatever we want, and God just looks the other way? Couldn’t God just decide that He didn’t care so much about the whole sin thing? No, God is righteous(41:10), Holy (Leviticus 11:44), he cannot lie (Titus 1:2) and does not change His mind (Numbers 23:19) . He cannot simply waive off the demands of His righteousness. The opposing system to law is not autonomy (anarchy, anything goes) because that cannot truly exist. The alternative that God shows us and wants us to live under is Grace.
What is Grace?
The word “grace” meant, in the Greek culture, an undeserved gift with no strings attached. This is the system that God has for us. Jesus Christ came to earth and died on a cross so that God could be propitiated and we could be redeemed and reconciled to Him. There was nothing that we could do to earn it, we can only accept it as the free gift of God (Romans 3:24; 5:15-17; 6:23; 2 Cor. 9:15). This grace is so important the Paul begins and ends each letter by bidding the recipients “Grace.”
What is this free gift?
The free gift is totally different than law. Law says: “You get what you deserve. Do good things and you will get blessings, do bad things and you will receive curses.” God’s grace says: “I am going to freely give you every spiritual blessing and give you all of the strength and power you need to live out your live every day by my Holy Spirit, and I will never take that away from you under any circumstances, no matter what you do.” There is a BIG difference.
So I can just do whatever I want?
Inevitably someone is going to say: but if there is no law people will go crazy! We can’t tell people that God’s grace goes deeper than all of our sin because then people will take advantage of God’s grace and sin all they want! Grace does not mean this. There are still commandments under grace the difference is why we keep them and how.
Why we keep the commandments of the New Testament – We keep the commandments of the New Testament based on how grateful we are for all that God has given us. All of the commands in the New Testament are logical imperatives saying, “God has done this for you, you are a new creature in Christ, it doesn’t make any sense for you to act as if you were something else.” For someone who puts their faith in Christ to behave in any other manner than a holy, loving, joyful, peaceful manner would be just like a German shepherd trying to fly up into a tree, build a nest, and lay an egg. It just makes no sense!
How we keep the commandments of the New Testament – The first thing to realize about living the Christian life is that it is simply impossible for you. No person, of their own strength, will and power is able to live the Christian life. It simply isn’t possible. Fortunately Christ has a solution to this as well. He is going to live out the Christian life in us. In John 15 Jesus gives a perfect illustration. As we are connected to him, like a branch is to a vine, His life and power flow through us and produce the kind of fruit that he wants to produce in us. This is the only way that we can overcome temptation, and live a life that is fully pleasing to God.
Discipline and Punishment
Law works under a system that demands punishment. Equal and opposite wounding or hurting for anything that is done wrong. Justice demands that every crime is punished and cannot allow even the smallest crime to slide by. However, as we have seen, we are no longer under law, so we no longer need to live in fear of God’s punishment.
Discipline, however, is something quite different. Where punishment exists to make someone suffer for wrong things they have done discipline is an act that is done in order to correct a behavior. Discipline is something administered by our loving Father God so that we can continue to grow closer and closer to Him. The Christian who is walking in Sin never receives God’s wrath, or punishment. He only receives God’s discipline to draw Him and conform Him more and more to the image of Christ.
Life Under Grace
In all reality we will always be trying to slip and slide back into law. Many people will be trying to throw law onto us, and it is up to us to rest in Christ and fight it. Whenever you get fooled into a way of thinking that sounds like: “I better do this or else God might not give me that…” or “God can’t possibly love me anymore, I did it again!” We must return to the Bible and realize that we have been forgiven of all trespasses and sins and we only need to confess and repent, return to Him and trust in Him once again! We must learn to say with Paul, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me!” (Galatians 2:20)
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