Not Under Law but Under Grace Introduction

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14)

For Christ is the end [completion; purpose] of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (Romans 10:4)

What is the relationship of the Law of Moses to the redemption that is in Christ? The answer to this question is important to the dedicated Christian.

Whenever a question arises concerning a commandment of the Old Testament, our rejoinder as believers often is, "We are not under the Law but under grace." One wonders if we really understand what we are saying.

What do we mean when we say we are not under the Law but under grace?

What do we mean when we state that Christ is the end of the Law of Moses?

We cannot mean that the Torah, the Law, has been abolished, for the new covenant is the writing of the spiritual intent of the Torah on our mind and heart. This hardly is an abolishing of the Torah in the sense of doing away with the moral laws of God!

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law [Torah ] in their inner parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31:33)

The idea that we are not under the Law but under grace is understood to mean that righteous behaviour, while it is desirable or shows that we love Jesus, is not a determining factor of our salvation.

We are saved by grace alone, it is maintained, and not by righteous behaviour. If this is true, then the context of Romans 6:14 should support this concept. Let us look at the context of Romans 6:14:

'God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?' (Romans 6:2) 'Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.' (Romans 6:6)

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. (Romans 6:12,13)

But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:22,23)

The context of Romans 6:14 could hardly be interpreted to mean that righteous behaviour, while it is desirable or shows that we love Jesus, is not a determining factor of our salvation. According to the above passages, godly behaviour is an integral part of the Divine redemption. There is widespread deception on this point.

What about the second passage—Christ is the end of the Law (Romans 10:4)? Does this mean that the Law of Moses has been abolished?

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: (Hebrews 8:10)

We see that the Torah, rather than being done away, is moved from stone and parchment to the mind and heart of the worshiper. It is not the statutes of the Law of Moses that are moved to the mind and heart of the worshiper but the eternal law of God, of which the Law of Moses is an abridged, negative form.

It is not enough to claim we are not under the Law but under grace unless we are ready to explain precisely what we mean.

It is not enough to state that Christ is the end of the Law, in the sense of abolishing the Law, unless we are able to show how our position fits Hebrews 8:10. The Greek term translated "end," in Romans 10: 4, sometimes means termination, and on other occasions gives the idea of end result, as in the following:

Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. (I Peter 1:9)

Then we would have, "Christ is the end result, or fulfilment, of the Law of Moses. All was fulfilled in Him, not necessarily abolished in the sense that God has changed His mind concerning man’s moral obligations.

The Elements of the Law