Law and Grace...The Journey Begins

Today's devotion will be the first of several on the subject of grace and God's Law. This morning we will begin looking at Christ's words concerning the Law in Matthew 5:17-20. Unfortunately, a lot of Christians live life confused about the relationship between Law and grace. We are saved by God's grace through our faith in Jesus so the "Million Dollar Question" is: What place does the Law have in the life of the believer? In this particular passage Jesus states the Law and the Prophets (The Old Testament) will never pass away or diminish in importance so Law must have some place in our life today. However, if we become confused over the actual place Law has in our life, we will become very miserable followers of Christ!

So what is Law? The Law is that part of the Word of God which gives a written record of what God has determined to be right or perfect behavior. To put it in simple terms, the Law is the "do's and don't's" found in Scripture. In the Old Testament, obedience to the Law was the way a person had right relationship with God. If you obeyed the Law you were accepted by God and one of His people but if you did not obey you were cut off from the people of God and condemned. Disobedience to God's Law could be atoned for through the sacrificial system found in the Old Testament (see Leviticus). So, if you were disobedient you could repent and sacrifice an animal to atone for your sin; upon doing this you would be forgiven of your disobedience, restored to right relationship with God and given another chance to be obedient to God's Law. This circle of futility continued until Jesus entered the world and put an end to Law's grip on mankind by giving us grace through His Cross...but more on that later!

It was evident from the start mankind could never maintain relationship with God through obedience to the Law. We are corrupt because of the sin nature we inherit from Adam and this nature makes us born sinners. Man simply cannot keep from sin and attain the perfection necessary for lasting relationship with God.

If God knew we could never be obedient to the Law and have relationship with Him through it why give us the Law in the first place? The purpose of the Law is to teach us that we cannot become acceptable to God through any action or work of our own doing. Galatians 3:24 tells us, "The Law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith." God gave us the Law so we might realize our helplessness in the face of its requirements and receive salvation by God's grace through faith in Jesus alone!

We will pick up right here tomorrow and continue the discussing the place of the Law of God in the life of the believer. There has to be some place for it right??? It is still wrong to lie, steal and kill...right? Of course! But how we obey God and the motivation behind our behavior are much different than for those living under the Law in the Old Testament.

Stay tuned...

James