Are Christians Under Law Or Grace?Understanding Our Salvation
The grievous wolves
The bible says in the third chapter of the book of Revelation that the last church in the days leading up to the Rapture would be the Laodicean church - lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, and seemingly unable to comprehend or believe the basic doctrines of the faith any longer. Sadly, this is our day.
But this was not unknown in the first century. Even back in the heady "golden days" of the church when the bible was still being given by the Holy Ghost and written down by Godly men of faith appointed to that task, there were those that sought to tear down what the apostles were building.
Paul prophesied of the "grievous wolves" that were to come:
"For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears." Acts 20:29
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| The battle between Law and Grace So how does this all apply to our discussion today of law versus grace? Paul taught that salvation in Jesus Christ freed us from the law, and gave us liberty. "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1 One of the ways you know that God wrote the bible and not man is that man is never truly for freedom. Man is always for getting you yoked into some system so that the ones doing the yoking can rule over the ones being yoked. But salvation in Jesus Christ sets the captives free, and because of that tends to wreak havoc on man-made systems. By the time of the birth of Jesus judaism had become such a system. What had started by God given Moses Ten Commandments on tables of stone had devolved into hundreds and hundreds of commandment, of men, designed to enslave the followers thereof. When Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he was a loyal and devout follower of the law. In fact, he excelled at it like few of his peers. Here is Paul talking about those days: "I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day." Acts 22:3 But then Paul meets Jesus and gets saved: "And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." Acts 26:15-18 So radical was the change in Paul's life after being set free through salvation in Jesus Christ that when Paul talks about "the law". he refers to it as "the Jew's religion": "For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers." Galatians 1:13,14 | ||||||||||
| The law is a yoke of bondage Did you ever stop to wonder at what really happened with Paul's conversion? How is it that he is able to leave a lifetime of following the Law, and all it's various ordinances, and able to trust fully and completely in salvation by grace through faith? All through Paul's writings he metions time and time again the freedom and liberty the believer has in Christ compared to the binding nature of the law. Here are just a few examples of how he compares and contrasts the two: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Galatians 2:16 "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." Galatians 2:21 "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1 | ||||||||||
Beware of all those who would seek to drag you back before the cross of Calvary and try to re-yoke you to the very law the bible says you were redeemed from. Watch especially for:
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ARTICLE: "Under Law Or Grace?" -NTEB
