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Master Life
Lesson Seven

Divine Lovers: Grace And The Law

What Is Grace?

Grace is God's acting in mercy. It is God loving and acting on our behalf without us doing anything. In fact, far from us doing anything, we were in deliberate rebellion against God. We were shaking our fists in God's face and daring Him to do something about it. It is the grace of God that He did not wipe us off the planet.

In a general sense, the grace of God is upon all men [called Common Grace]. Without God acting in grace toward us, we would cease to live. It is only by the grace of God that anyone draws their next breath.

Of course, when we talk about grace, we normally refer to saving grace [also called Special Grace], which makes us alive in Christ. It is the saving grace through Jesus that allows us to do His will and saves us from the sentence of death and ultimately Hell.

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"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ [by grace you have been saved], and raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His 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 of works lest anyone should boast." [Eph. 1:4-9, NKJV]

"For He says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.' So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy." [Rom. 9:15-16, NKJV]

Scripture is plain. Grace is a divine act of God from the beginning to the end. There is no reason for it, found in mankind, at all. Grace comes because of Who God is, not because of who I am or what I have done [or haven't done].

Grace saves us, keeps us, and brings us the gifts of God [as we saw earlier]. It maintains us in our relationship with the Father. The grace of God through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ keeps the justice of God from destroying us.

The grace of God puts us into a loving, growing relationship with Him. Being out of the saving [or Special] grace of God puts us in line with the devil, and we will suffer his fate. The non-Christian is cut off from God; the Christian is cut off from the devil. Who do you want to be in a relationship with? It will be one or the other - there is no neutral ground.

A simple way to remember the basic meaning of grace is the acronym: God's Riches At Christ's Expense.

Is Grace The Opposite Of Law?

If I am not a law-keeper, then I am a law-breaker. That's simple logic. There is no neutral ground. I either keep the law or I break it. The opposite of law; therefore, is lawlessness.

"Everyone who commits sin breaks God's law, for that is what sin is - a breaking of God's law." [1 John 3:4, Phillips]

"Remember that a man who keeps the whole law but for a single exception is nonetheless a law-breaker. The one who said, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery' also said, 'Thou shalt do no murder'. If you were to keep clear of adultery but were to murder a man, you would have become a breaker of the whole law." [James 2:10-11, Phillips]

Grace and the law are not opposites. They are not locked in an eternal fight with their fingers wrapped around each other's throats. They are God-ordained lovers or partners. They work together in harmony. One without the other is crippled and leads to the devil's deception. We need them working together in perfect balance.

Grace is the method of justification. It is the basis of my salvation and my relationship with God. When all we see is grace, and we do away with the law, we end up in sloppy living, etc. We feel that what we do really doesn't matter, because "grace will cover it." So we tend to do whatever feels good or whatever we want [just like the humanists]. After all, grace covers it all. This is a Satanic trap. It is a part truth.

Law is for our sanctification. It causes us to grow up in Christ. It orders our lives to be pleasing to God. It teaches us what God expects from us, our families, our churches, and our nations. But if it goes over into the area of grace, then it becomes legalism, which leads to hardness of heart, etc. When we try to earn or maintain our salvation, we become incredibly frustrated because we always fail. We either become hard or we become discouraged and drop out. This, too, is a deception of Satan. It is only half the story.

Grace and the law must work together in a beautiful marriage. Each must stay within its proper boundaries and limits. Neither one should be put away in favour of the other. To divorce one from the other is to destroy them both. They cannot live apart. They are the divine lovers.

Isn't Law Old Testament And Grace New Testament?

This is a common misconception [and we will deal with it again when we get to the teachings of Jesus and the apostles]. To say the law is Old Testament and Grace is New Testament is to say that God has changed or there are two gods. There have been heretical groups that have taught the two-gods theory. The God of the Old Testament was supposed to be mean, angry, and sometimes cruel, while the God of the New Testament was very lovey-dovey and overlooked sin. Needless to say, Christians have always denied this [although some Christians today believe something dangerously close to it].

There was a time in the history of the world when grace was not needed, and man stood before God solely based on his own works. That was under the Edenic Covenant [also called the Covenant of Works or the Dominion Covenant; see the Covenants course]. There in the Garden of Eden, man stood perfect before God. Grace was not needed, for man had done nothing wrong.

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." [Gen. 2:16-17, NKJV]

Did Adam die when he ate the fruit? Yes and no. He died covenantally in that he was separated from God. Adam also deserved to die physically, and the process of physical death began. He had earned instant entrance into Hell, taking all of mankind with him. Why didn't that happen the moment Adam sinned? The only possible answer is because of the grace of God, looking forward to Christ's work on Calvary. Yes, grace in the Old Testament!

What about David?

"Then David's anger was greatly aroused against the men, and he said to Nathan, 'As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die!...' Then Nathan said to David, 'You are the man!...Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife...' Then David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the Lord.' And Nathan said to David, 'The Lord also has put away your sin; and you shall not die...'" [2 Sam. 15:5-13, NKJV]

Why wasn't David killed according to the law? After all, murder and adultery were both capital offences. Again, the only possible answer is the grace of God. Don't think David escaped without punishment [he didn't], but he didn't suffer the complete, righteous requirement of the law.

Again and again in the Old Testament, we see the grace of God. In fact, since the Fall, EVERY dealing of God with mankind has been based on grace. There is no other way it could be. If not for the grace of God, we would all be instantly destroyed as Adam should have been. So the entire Bible shows both the law of God and the grace of God [we will deal with the law in the New Testament in a later lesson]. They cannot be divided into the Old and New Testaments.

What about John 1:17? "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

I have read this verse many times, and I have not seen it say [not even once] that the law is Old Testament and grace is New Testament. Neither does it say the law is done away with or is invalid. Instead, it emphasizes what we have already said: law and grace are different. They were revealed by different people, each with a different purpose.

Let me be quick to add that if not for Jesus and the cross, we would have only the law, which would lead us to death [according to the law]. Jesus brought God's grace to us. He alone made it possible for us to be on the right side of the law.

"The law therefore came through Moses - from God through Moses - because it is the law for the kingdom of God. Where converted into a way of salvation, the law is prevented. Where the law represents the government and obedience of faith, there the law fulfills its God-given purpose." [R.J. Rushdoony]

How would we then explain scriptures like Romans 8:14: "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace" and Galatians 5:18: "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law?"

We return to the Forbidden Zone. If I am living a law-abiding life, do I have to worry about the law [in God's negative law system]? No. The law is basically indifferent to me. The law doesn't really care what I do unless I start heading for the Forbidden Zone. Then it jumps up a yells, "Thou shalt not!" As long as we are living outside the Forbidden Zone circle, the law is not a big concern to us.

"But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicaters, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust." [1 Tim. 1:8-11, NKJV]

Jesus, in His grace and love, has placed us [as Christians] on the law-keeping side of the law. So if I am not breaking the law, then I am not under the law. The law is for those who want to live evil lives. The law contains and disciplines them for the protection of the innocent.

"But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in times past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." [Gal. 5:18-25, NKJV]

If the Spirit is leading me, I am not under the law, for I am not breaking the law. The Spirit of God will never lead me into the Forbidden Zone. He will steer me away from it. If I choose to place myself under the law by breaking the law, that is an entirely different matter. No longer being under the law does not mean the law no longer exists, but that I no longer live in the Forbidden Zone under it.

Anywhere we find the law condemned in Scripture, if we will study the context, we will discover that it is the misuse of the law which is condemned, not the law itself. Paul violently attacked the law when used as a way of salvation. Jesus attacked the law when used as a mediator between God and man [He also attacked the traditions and 'home-made' laws of the Pharisees, but not the law of God]. When used properly, the law is always supported and given a place of honour. When the law is used improperly, it is attacked because it leads to death. The law can lead us to God and Spiritual maturity, or it can lead us away from God and into death, depending on how it is used.

In Lesson 8, we see how the Law works with Love.

Master Life Assignments

Note: These assignments are written from the assumption that the student has completed the Feed Yourself Course. Some of the assignments may not make sense if you have not taken that course.

1. Do a word study on the phrase "law and prophets" as used in the New Testament.

2. Memorize Eph. 1:4-9.

Return to Lessons.

For more information about Glenn Davis, see our About Glenn page or visit Glenn Davis Books.

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Master LifeLesson Seven