WHAT DO YOU MEAN? I AM NOT UNDER LAW, I AM UNDER GRACE!

Chapter 3 - Understanding the Place of Law

The Laws of the Universe

In an age of lawlessness (Matt 24:12), the very mention of the word "law" often produces a reaction in some people. It is a reaction against any form of authority, of Divine or human government. It is evidence of great short-sightedness as to the meaning of and the place of law. Can we imagine a universe without governing laws.

1. God Himself is governed by law - the laws of His own being; the law of holiness and the law of love. These moral attributes govern His essential attributes. God is holy, God is love.

2. God Himself is the Lawmaker and the Lawgiver (Isa 33:22, Jas 4:12). When He created the universes of worlds, when He flung the star-worlds, the planets into space, He established laws which would govern and control chaotic universe. Without law, we would be chaos; there would be worlds in collision.

God is a God of order; order means law. It is a blessing to know that it is a uni-verse, not a multi-verse. The world of planets all move in the orbit of God's will, His plan, His law, His order (Ps 19:1-6,24:1,2)

The Law of Created Beings

1. When God created the archangels and the angelic hosts, though they will created as freewill beings, not robots or zombies, these freewill angelic beings were governed by God's law, the law of loving obedience. As long as the angelic hosts submitted their free wills to the will of God, that good, perfect and acceptable will of God, there was harmony in heaven. Law means order and order means harmony.  Lawlessness is chaos. Disorder, disharmony and chaos entered heaven the moment Lucifer sinned. He became the original lawless one, the original Antichrist. The angel who followed in rebellion became part of his counterfeit kingdom (Isa 14:12-14, 2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6)

It is senseless to even think of a universe or created beings not being under law, or governed by Divine rule.

2. The same is true when God created this planet, Earth and when He planted Adam and Eve on it for His purposes. God created man, as the angels, with a free will. They were to serve and worship the Lord God by the law of loving obedience. As long as they submitted their free wills to God's good perfect and acceptable will, there was order, peace and harmony in the earthly Garden of Eden, the paradise of God.

But Lucifer, the serpent and satan, came and did in Eden with Adam and his bride what he had done in heaven amongst the angels. The Fall took place Adam and Eve violated the one "you shall not", the one law, the one rule of life and conduct, the one commandment God had given them. The rest is seen in the tragic history of the human race (Gen 2:16,17: 3:16)

Law means order, peace and harmony in the universe, in the angelic heavens, in the earth of mankind, in the family of today.

Lawlessness means disorder, disharmony and chaos in the universe of worlds; or in created beings, whether they be angelic or humankind. The Bible and history confirm the truth of these things. There must be law - God's law to have peace, order and harmony.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN? I AM NOT UNDER LAW, I AM UNDER GRACE!

Chapter 2 - The Problem of Grace and Law Extremes

R.E. McMaster Jr, some years ago (1980's) in the Chalcedon Report, has this to say about law/grace extremes.

"Where Christians becomes exclusively "grace" oriented, the overwhelming tendency is to become lawless. "Grace-only" believers in their subjectivity and emotionalism can and do justify almost anything. Their desires become "right in their own eyes" since they have no firm standards. They have no "law" to guide their own eyes" since they have no firm standards. They have no "law" to guide them... Such believers forget and/or ignore that Paul said in 1 Tim 1:18, "that the law is good if one uses it lawfully..." The end result is that the "grace" extremist becomes autonomous, a law unto himself. He may become self-righteous. He is no longer under hose authority. He has manifested Satan's first sin as recorded in Isa 14L12-14, the sin of pride and lawlessness, leading to autonomy. This is humanism.

Concerning the other extreme, McMaster continues : "The 'law' extremist ends up in the same place. He just arrives there by a different path. The "law" believer rightly condemns the "grace believer's" perspective as akin to magic... But more often than not, the "law" extremist accomplishes his works "in the flesh". The result is that this legalist attempts to become righteous by his own efforts... In such realms, the "letter of the law" is upheld, to the exclusion of the "spirit of the law." Striving to keep the law by his own efforts, such a believer becomes his own law, and thus is under the authority of no one".

Grace without Law - Antionomianism. "Antinomianism" is made up of two other Greek words - "anti" meaning "against" and "nomos" which means "the law." Those who are against law - in the last days, "lawlessness will abound and the love of may will wax (grow cold)" Max 24:12. One of the designations for the Antichrist is the "man of sin, the lawless one" (2 Thess 2:1-12).

1. What Paul Said - Rom 3:4-8, 5:20,21, 6:1,2,14,15

2. What Jude Said - Jude 4

3, What Peter Said - 2 Peter 2:1-3

Summary
All believers, and more so leaders, need to avoid being a grace extremist ending up in antinomianism, or a law extremist ending up in legalism. It is necessary to seek the Lord to help us all to have a balanced theology.

Grace and truth belong to each other. "Grace reigns through righteousness" unto eternal life.

"The law is good, if a man use it lawfully.."(1 Tim 1:18)
"The law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified through faith (Gal 3:24)

But no one can be saved by works of the Law, or by legalistic ceremonies of the Law. All can be saved only by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Antionmianism on the one hand, an legalism, on the other hand, must be avoided at all costs. Either extreme can destroy the people of God.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN? I AM NOT UNDER LAW, I AM UNDER GRACE!

Chapter 1 - Law and Grace

Moses
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The Law was given
By or through Moses
The mediator of the Old Convenant
The Law was given to a person

Jesus
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Grace and truth came
By or through Jesus Christ
The mediator of the New Convenant
Grace and truth was personified

The words inspired by the Holy Spirit are full of significance. Law is contrasted with grace. But grace does not come alone. It was grace AND truth which came personified in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was not grace alone. It was not truth alone. It was grace and truth in perfect balance in the person of Jesus.

If there is grace only, there is the danger it could lead one into license or licentiousness. If there is truth only, there is the danger of letterism or legalism, which is the other extreme. And this is what Jude was burdened to write about in his Epistle :-

"Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain have crept in unnoticed (unawares), who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn (twist) the grace of God into lewdness (lasiviousness) and deny the only ord God and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 3,4)