IS THE LAW AND GRACE WORK TOGETHER ?

 

Grace is “favor, kindness and mercy.” But to be “under grace” means to be extended mercy and forgiveness as a result of sincere repentance and resolve to obey God and not to disobey God’s law. Galatians 5:18: “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” You are under the penalty of the law if you violate it as a way of life.

But a person led by God’s Spirit will strive to follow that law. When he occasionally sins, he repents and is forgiven (I John 1:8-10). By virtue of obedience and grace, he is not under the penalty of the law.

When an individual seeks to obey God and come under the “umbrella” of grace, the blood of Christ justifies, or forgives, all past transgressions. Repentance shows God the direction a Christian chooses to take from that time forward.

Grace is God’s willingness to forgive past sins, as summarized in Ephesians 1:7: “… in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”

EPHESIANS 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

ROMANS 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the Law but under grace.

ROMANS 7:6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

GALATIANS 2:21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the Law, then Christ died for no purpose.

• Grace—justification and forgiveness.
• Grace—God’s giving of mercy and favor.
• The faith of Christ in us.
• God’s Spirit, through which we receive the willpower and motivation to forge ahead.

God extends grace and help to His people, but He expects us to grow in good works, walking on them as a way of life. The law of God is the standard or benchmark that directs the paths of true Christians. Keeping them develops character. Doing these things shows God that the grace He has extended to us has not been in vain.

When a person disobeys God's commandments, that person is allowed sin to have dominion over them. When that person realizes they are sinning by breaking God's law,  and repent of that, they begin to OBEY the commandments. At this point, through His Grace and Mercy, God forgives that person of their PAST TRANSGRESSIONS.

Grace and works are related to one’s attitude. An attitude of grace is one of total helplessness and dependence upon God. An attitude of works, on the contrary, is one of self-confidence and self-help and sees no need to depend absolutely on God to attain righteousness.

That explains the Scriptural declaration: “God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble” (Jam 4:6; 1Pe 5:5). Thus one can be living under Law in this dispensation of grace, if one seeks to serve God with an attitude of works instead of grace.

Therefore, in concluding this series of messages on Law and Grace, we can happily and boldly declare, according to the Scriptural theme of the series, "We are not under the Law but under grace."  This declaration, thank God, is not a mere figment of human doctrinal fancy, but, as we explicitly showed in this series of messages, it is the Gospel proclaimed in the Scriptures and in some Scripture passages stated word for word.