The Law (Moses), Because Of His Mercy, Brings Us To The Cross (To Christ), To Receive His Grace: They Are Not Opposed - They Are Complementary In Meeting His Ends...

Article posted with permission from the author, Bradlee Dean

Jesus stated that He came not to abolish the Law or the prophets, but to fulfill them. He fulfilled the Law perfectly through His sinless life, teachings, and sacrificial death, establishing the new covenant of grace. Read Matthew 5:17.

The Law merely detects (Romans 3:20); it is the schoolmaster that drives us to the cross (Galatians 3:24), whereby, the Holy Ghost, with the Law in hand, is used to convict us of our sins, which works one unto Godly repentance – transgressing His Law (John 16:8).  This is where we find that the Law can do no more.

“Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” – Acts 20:21

The Bible says that when we meet Christ at the cross of repentance, we are then crucified with Him (Galatians 2:20), and that we are also buried with Him through baptism into His death (Romans 6:4).

Just as Christ was raised out from the dead, through the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life (Romans 6:17-18). Yet, knowing this first that we are “dead in sins and trespasses,” we are then quickened by grace.

Ephesians 2:1 explains to us, “And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.”

Verse five adds, “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;),”
and in verses 8-10, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Remember, the Law requires absolute perfection. This perfection was fulfilled by Christ and Him alone (Acts 17:31).

When people attempt to follow the Law in hopes of justifying themselves by earning their salvation, they, without fail, reduce its strict requirements to make them seem achievable by looking to themselves (the disposition of their old, fallen, sinful, and carnal nature) for salvation, which ends in guiding themselves to their own destruction.

We will not do this. Why? It’s because the old man is now dead (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Reformer Martin Luther stated, “When I look at myself, I don’t see how I can be saved. But when I look at Christ, I don’t know how I can be lost.”

Friends, remember, the flesh cannot will to good nor empower itself to live in the Spirit.  As Augustine said, “To will is of nature, to will aright is of Grace.”

Again, “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;).”

Where does the grace (the unmerited favor and the power to live in the Spirit) of God then lead us once we are born again?

Being “born again” is a Christian term for a spiritual rebirth. It means having your sins forgiven and receiving a new spiritual life by repenting and trusting in the blood of Jesus as your Savior from sin (Matthew 1:21). Read John 3:3.

Placing faith, which is the fruit of regeneration (Romans 1:17), in Christ “establishes the Law” by acknowledging the absolute perfection and holiness of the Law (Romans 7:12).

Faith then establishes the Law by pointing to Jesus, who perfectly satisfied the Law’s righteous requirements during His life and paid the penalty for humanity’s failure to keep it by His death on the cross. Believers receive the perfect imputed righteousness from Christ’s finished work as a gift of grace through faith, which honors and establishes the Law’s demands (Romans 3:31).

Instead of leaving the Law behind, faith operates in the power of the Holy Spirit, which writes God’s moral requirements onto the hearts of believers (2 Corinthians 3:3). This produces, by the Holy Spirit, a transformation from the inside out, empowering individuals to fulfill the true intent of the Law, which is love for God and others (Romans 13:10). Also Read Romans 5:5.

In conclusion: The Law of God and His grace are not fundamentally opposed; rather, they serve complementary purposes.

The Law shows us God’s standard of holiness and exposes our inability to meet it, while grace provides forgiveness for our sins and the power to live a righteous life in Christ.  In short, the Law guides a believer’s walk, with our eye on Christ (Hebrews 12:2), while grace provides the means to do it. Amen!

Article posted with permission from Sons of Liberty Media