Grace and Truth

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17-NIV)

The source of the problem with today's teaching of Divine grace can be explained simply. We understand grace to be an alternative to righteous behaviour. Grace actually is an alternative to the Law of Moses.

The Law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Unbeknown to Christians, grace does not replace God's demand for righteous behaviour. Grace replaces the Law of Moses.

Today's Christian doctrine is derived primarily from the Epistles of Paul. Paul is the one who said we are saved by grace rather than works. But if we look at Paul's statements we will see instantly, whether in Romans or Galatians, that Paul was reacting against those who were trying to impose the Law of Moses on Christians, not against teachers who were maintaining that Christians must live righteously.

Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are." (Acts 15:10-11-NIV)

Can you see clearly in the above passage that Paul is contrasting the grace of our Lord Jesus with the yoke of the Law of Moses?

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, (Romans 3:20-22-NIV)

Can you see in the above passage that Paul is contrasting faith in Jesus Christ with observing the Law of Moses? Not a righteousness from God apart from our righteous behaviour but a righteousness from God apart from the Law of Moses.

"We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:15-16-NIV)

Is it clear in the above passage that Paul is contrasting justification by faith in Jesus Christ with justification by observing the Law of Moses?

It is as simple as this. We are mistaken in our interpretation of the new covenant.

It is difficult for us to understand Paul because we do not have the same background as he. Paul was raised in a strict Pharisaic environment, what we would call today an Orthodox environment. From his earliest years all Paul knew of life was the Law of Moses. This was true also of the first Christians.

Perhaps the greatest problem Paul had was that of convincing the believers to turn away from the Torah and look to Christ alone for justification and salvation. Paul himself had been convinced. But everywhere Paul went, whether among the other Apostles, the Jews, or the Gentiles, the pressure was on to maintain at least part of the Law while receiving Jesus as Messiah.

Always, always, always, every day, every day, Paul was faced with pressure to not abandon the Law of Moses but to include at least parts of the Law in the plan of salvation. We being Gentiles have little understanding of this unceasing pressure. Therefore we have trouble understanding the Epistles. An orthodox Jew would find it much easier to understand Paul than would Gentiles.

We of today do not understand the Jewishness of Christianity. Perhaps it will help us to consider that the holy city, which is the Wife of the Lamb, the glorified Christian Church, is the new Jerusalem! On the gates of the new Jerusalem are inscribed the names of the twelve families of Israel. On the foundations of the wall are written the names of the twelve Jewish Apostles of the Lamb.

We Gentiles have been included in the plan of salvation, but salvation first and foremost is the children's bread. We have been removed from our physical inheritance and grafted into the one Olive Tree. We are as Asenath, the Egyptian wife of Joseph. Through Jesus Christ we now are part of the one new Man, the one family of God.

Although we may not understand the reason for such continual exhortation, Paul kept on declaring we are not saved by works of righteousness we have done but by grace. By this Paul meant that we cannot save ourselves by diligently observing the Law of Moses (or any other moral code); but Paul did not think in terms of other moral codes, only the LAW!)

We Gentiles, not aware of the pressure on Paul, have interpreted him to mean Divine grace is an alternative to righteous behaviour. If one takes a few verses from the Epistles, and defines works as "righteous behaviour," one could teach the Christian salvation as a plan whereby God receives Gentiles on the basis of belief and brings them to Heaven regardless of any misconduct on their part.

But if one examines the entire New Testament, and defines Paul's use of the term works as "the works of the Law of Moses," then we understand the Christian salvation is a plan whereby God forgives Gentiles (and Jews as well) and transforms them morally until their behaviour is righteous, holy, and obedient to God to a degree far, far surpassing that of the most zealous adherent to the Law of Moses.

One can see at a glance the infinite abyss between these two descriptions of the Christian salvation. The first makes Jesus Christ the minister of sin, and Divine grace God's excuse for the ungodly behaviour of His people. The second makes Jesus Christ the source of the new righteous creation and Divine grace the Presence of God through Christ to transform people and bring them into untroubled rest in the Father's Person and will.

We should have known that God would never give a covenant that saved men by belief in certain doctrines while they continued in their fallen, adamic state.

Well, we didn't, and we have a morally chaotic world to show for it.

We Christians have been wrong. What else can we say?

The Law was given by Moses. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The grace of God brings about righteousness, first by forgiving our sins on the basis of the blood atonement, second by enabling us through the Holy Spirit to gain the victory over sin. The first is useless without the second, in terms of the new covenant. The grace of God does this without the Law of Moses. The only role of the Law of Moses is to keep breathing down our neck, driving us to Christ.

The grace of God is God in Christ making it possible for people to be conformed to the moral image of Jesus Christ and to enter untroubled rest in the will of the Father. Grace is not a substitute for our becoming a new righteous creation in Jesus Christ, a substitute for entering untroubled rest in the will of the Father. Grace is a substitute for, an alternative to, the Law of Moses. Divine grace brings truth not possible under the Law of Moses.

To make Divine grace a substitute for moral transformation and obedience to God is to miss the point entirely, which we have done in a tremendous way.