Chapter Fifteen – What Does the New Testament Teach About Law and Grace?

Next Part The “Grace” of False Christianity

After all we have read thus far, we have come to understand the importance—and awesome significance—of faithfully observing God’s commandments. We have come to recognize that God’s Law is “holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Rom. 7:12), as well as spiritual (Ro 7:14), and has been in effect long before Moses. We have also proven that all Ten Commandments are taught in the New Testament, and that God expects man to live by them.

We now must ask another question: What is the New Testament teaching on “law and grace”? Is it one or the other—law versus grace—or both—law and grace?

This is a subject of great controversy, leaving many confused. This need not be. Here is the plain Bible teaching!

The meaning of grace in the New Testament has nothing to do with abolishing God’s laws. False teachers who promote “grace” over obedience are unaware that the New Testament was written for those whom God calls to assume roles of great responsibility in His kingdom. These false teachers misunderstand because God has neither opened their minds nor given them His Holy Spirit, which is necessary to comprehend His truth.

The Christian calling (Rom. 8:29-30) is based on grace—unmerited pardon of past sins and forgiveness upon genuine repentance. Christians understand that the very salvation offered to them is a gift, and that they must continue to live a lifetime of obedience (Acts 5:32, John 14:15) and overcoming.

The Law in Perspective

Most religionists believe mankind is no longer burdened by the stringent requirements of that “harsh law” that stands in their way of freedom—of “having a good time.” But we saw Paul wrote, in Romans 7:7, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. No, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, You shall not covet.” Most churchmen have traditionally condemned the law while absolving sin. However, it is not the law that is at fault, but sin. On our own, we cannot discover God’s perfect law. God has to reveal and teach it to us.

Leaders of professing Christianity insist that God’s spiritual law—the Ten Commandments—is done away. They call it the “law of Moses,” claiming that it was abolished by Christ’s sacrifice. But they do not know the difference between the Levitical sacrificial rituals, the law of Moses and the law of God.

The Ten Commandments were not called the law of Moses, but rather the law of God. The law of Moses consisted of: (1) the civil laws—the statutes and judgments that Moses relayed to the people from God, recorded in Exodus 21-23 and the remaining books of the Law—and (2) the ritualistic laws (Greek: ergon) added later, summarized in Hebrews 9:10. These ordinances regulated the Levitical sacrifices (Lev. 1-7) and related duties. Ergon means “works,” as in the “works of the law” (Gal. 2:16). This referred to the labour involving Levitical rituals abolished by Christ’s sacrifice.

Remember, the Ten Commandments were never part of the law of Moses or the Levitical sacrificial system. The civil laws and sacrifices were based on God’s Commandments, which make up the core of God’s laws. Thus, the Ten Commandments precede and transcend every lesser law based upon them—statutes, judgments, precepts and ordinances. Most professing Christians falsely brand the Ten Commandments as the “Old Covenant.” However, the Old Covenant was based on the Ten Commandments, which preceded and transcended the Old Covenant.

Consider an analogy: The idea promoted by most professing Christians—that the Ten Commandments have been abolished—is as ridiculous as claiming that the physical laws of gravity and inertia are no longer enforced. Theologians cannot negate God’s Law any more than scientists can void the laws of gravity and inertia.

How did the leaders of the early Church view the laws of God? Paul wrote, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Rom. 7:12). Again, the apostle John wrote, “For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not grievous” (I John 5:3)—no matter the opinion of “no law” teachers. And Christ summed up the matter, saying, “…if you will enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matt. 19:17).

In Matthew 7:21, He also said, “Not everyone that says unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of My Father which is in heaven”!

Christ and the apostles did not dismiss God’s Law. Counterfeit Christianity took this drastic step in the first century—the world has blindly followed ever since.