“The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
John 1:17
Just as in the early church, as well as today, there have been debates as to grace verses works. You are probably familiar with the scripture from Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” As well as Galatians 2:16 “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. “
Yet in James 2:17-18 says: “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”
It can sometimes seem like these messages contradict each other. One may say, “We must be faithful”. Yet another says: “It’s not our faithfulness that saved us but God’s faithfulness, so don’t have trust in your faithfulness, have trust in His faithfulness, for it’s by grace you are saved.” Yet, I submit to you that they are both right. You may ask, “How can you tell someone that it’s God’s faithfulness that saved us, not our own, yet then say we need to be faithful? How can you say we are redeemed from the curse of the law and we are no longer under the works of the law we are under Grace, but then encourage us to keep the Ten Commandments?
Good questions! It’s all about motivation. Indeed we are saved by Grace. It is not by anything that we did outside from receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior that got us into this new kingdom blessing we now live in. Thank you Jesus! We are saved by grace through our faith in Christ! We are no longer under the law, but are walking in the liberty of Christ Jesus. However, does that give us a license to sin? NO! It does not. The commandment we are to live under now as believers in this time of the dispensation of grace is: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Mathew 22:37-40 When we fulfill these commandments, we fulfill all the commandments. Why? Because if you love someone as yourself you will not steal from them. You will not commit adultery. You will honor your parents. If you love God with all your heart then it’s your hearts desire to keep His commandments because His commandments are good and bring life. It’s an attitude of the heart.
The law was there to reveal the sinful nature for what it is and to point us to our need for a Savior. It did not provide the solution to that sinful nature. Getting born again provides the solution because we get a new nature. No longer do we need to submit to a law written on stone, for the law is now written in our hearts. We actually want to fulfill it and Grace gives us the ability to fulfill it. We no longer need to keep the Ten Commandments in order to earn or be justified before God (the works of the law). We are justified because Jesus kept the law perfectly, so we are justified by faith through Grace. We are now the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
We now keep the Ten Commandments because it is in our new nature to want to do what is right and we know there are benefits to obeying God. This is the works of faith. He gave us His commandments out of love for us because He knows what is best for us. They are there to protect us. Since the commandments are now written on our hearts, we do not want to have any other idols before God. We want to serve Him only because the love of God has been shed abroad in our heart. That love nature on the inside wants to fulfill the law of love. Yet, we recognize we might miss it at times and that our flesh and soul can go contrary to our spiritual desires. That is where the grace comes in! For love covers a multitude of sins. As we renew our mind with the word of God, we allow what is on the inside of us to become bigger. That is why we must endeavor to walk in the spirit so we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. We need to keep growing in the word of God, washing our minds with the word so that our minds and emotions line up with the new creature that we are in Christ.
While we are continuing to be perfected in Christ, grace covers the areas where we miss it. We sometimes make mistakes. If we keep this attitude and idea that we are blessed because we are so great at keeping the law, because we are so faithful, then we now are relying on our own righteousness for our justification and have just fallen from grace and have been trying to be justified by the works of the law. No! Indeed, we are in right standing not because of what we did, but because of what Jesus did. Yet, now that we are in right standing, washed clean from the mud, do not get back in that mud pile and roll around. Keep your mind washed with the word of God and you will stay clean! Keep the Ten Commandments because you know it’s the right thing to do, that you are an ambassador for Christ and need to set a good example. Do not keep them to try to be justified before God (the works of the law). Instead, keep them because you are justified (the works of Faith)! Keep them because we are now the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and so we do what a righteous man would do.
Jesus said, “And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.” Luke 5:37-39
This constant wanting to live by the law in order to be justified by the law is called the works of the law and is fed by pride. People like the idea of earning our way, because this is how the system works in the natural. Yet, that is totally opposite of grace and the works of faith. We never earned our way to salvation; it was by faith in Christ. Why would we go back, after being saved, to try to earn our way again by legalistic means? No. Just as we should not look at grace as a license to sin, we should not look at keeping the law as a way to earn our grace and our blessings. The gift of God is free. You can’t purchase it. It’s no longer a gift if you worked for it. Choose to do what is right because you know it’s the right thing to do. At all times, be motivated by love! First knowing that God loves you and wants to bless you.
Then, you walk in Love because of your love for Him. When you fulfill the law of love then you are truly walking in Grace and Truth and you end up fulfilling the law.
Finally there is a difference between the works of the law and the works of faith. The works of the law are legalistic and non-redemptive. They are religion. The works of faith are putting substance to your faith (this is what James was referring to in the above scripture). For instance, if you are single and you believe you received your wife or husband, then the works of faith go into effect and you begin preparing for their arrival. You are confident it is coming to pass so you begin to get things in order in your life to prepare for your husband or wife. This is the works of faith spoken of in James. Works of the law would be this: You pray and ask God for your husband or wife. However, you don’t truly believe in your heart that it is already done. Therefore you begin to do “Works” to get God to bring the promise to pass. If you just pray long enough, or do certain things then God will move on your behalf. This is religion. There is no faith in it. You are trying to get God to do something by “working” for it. This is the works of the law. The works of Faith are this: “You believe you receive, and are so confident that you have it that you actually begin doing the work to prepare for it. This is the works of Faith.
The works of the law and grace are contrary to each other. However the works of Faith and Grace are not contrary to each other, instead they are integral to each other: “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all…” Romans 4:16
True grace is this: you don’t keep the law to be loved by God and justified by Him, you keep the law of Love because you realize how much He loves you and you want to show your love back to Him and to others!
True Grace walks in love and faith and then puts action to that faith by fulfilling the law of love.
Galatians 2:16-21
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. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Galatians 4:21-31
“Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.”
Luke 5:36-39
“And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.”
Further reading: Galatians 3, Acts 15, Romans 5 & 6, Acts 13:37-39
