GRACE AND LAW
Throughout the history of the Christian Church there has been a continuing struggle between two seemingly opposing concepts, of Grace and Law. In the earliest times this struggle was caricatured as a conflict between Christians who proclaimed a Gospel of Grace, and Jews who insisted on the importance of God’s Law. Many bitter battles were fought over this issue, and some Christians were even killed.
However, both Grace and Law come from God and both are to be found in the New Testament. We cannot adopt a simple “either/or” approach, for both have important lessons for us as we seek to live godly lives.
I was reminded of this in a recent counselling situation, when I was accused of being “legalistic”. This shocked me, as I have always been very strong on the principle of “Grace”, as I have been pointing out in our Studies in Ephesians.
However, while it is a fundamental gospel truth that we are saved, sanctified and blessed because of God’s grace, and not through our own efforts; and we who are led by the Spirit are no longer under law (Gal 5:18), the law still stands as the revelation of the standards of God’s kingdom.
This is seen clearly in the writings of Paul. On one hand he is the great preacher of Grace and freedom from bondage to the Law. Yet this same Paul can also write: “Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers … nor the greedy …will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1Cor 6:9,10)
God’s standards are eternal. Sin is still sin, and the Law still stands to remind us of what God’s standards are. The principle still holds that “A man reaps what he sows” and “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction.” (Gal 6:7,8)
It is by God’s grace that we are saved from the consequences of our sin and failure, but if we deliberately turn back to sin then we will suffer the consequences of that choice.
It has been a deception of the devil in recent times to have people believe that, because of God’s Love and Grace, the old standards of the Law are no longer relevant. Thus, for example, adultery is no longer considered a serious matter, especially if those involved are “in love.” Similarly, homosexuality is acceptable where there is true love.
For too long the church has been wishy-washy in areas where the Bible is very clear. If we are to know the blessing of God and be the salt and light that the world so desperately needs we must take God’s Law seriously, even as we live by his Grace.
We tend to overlook what Jesus had to say about the Law in the Sermon on the Mount: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.” (Matt 5:17) In fact, Jesus took the matter of keeping the Law to a whole new level. Anger is equally culpable with murder, (Matt 5:22) and adultery is a matter of the heart, not just the body (Matt 5:28). Many Christians have fallen into “spiritual adultery”, where time, attention and affection, that belong to one’s spouse, have been given to some other person or thing. We may be very self-righteous about physical adultery, but still be guilty of spiritual adultery, which, in God’s eyes, is just as serious.
END OF THE WAR
As we have been hearing in the media for some time, tomorrow marks the sixtieth anniversary of Peace in the Pacific, and thus the end of WW II. The numbers of those who remember the horrors of this conflict are dwindling rapidly, and most today must rely on the stories that have been told. I myself was only a young boy of seven at the time and my memories are few. Perhaps the most vivid is the scenes of jubilation at the wharf when we all went to welcome the ship bringing my uncle home from years in the Changi Prisoner of War Camp in Singapore. He was never able to talk much about the horrors he experienced there.
It is very difficult for any of us today to comprehend the immensity of the horror of that war. The enormity of ‘man’s inhumanity to man’ defies our understanding. There has been considerable emotion aroused about the devastation from the two atomic bombs that were dropped, but the destruction they produced was very small compared with the worldwide scene. Most of us have heard of the millions who were exterminated in Hitler’s “Final Solution” gas chambers. I only found out this week that there were 25-27 million killed in Russia, where some of the greatest battles of the whole war were fought.
Reflecting back on the horrors of 60+ years ago should cause us to thank God for the relative peace that we have enjoyed since. Even though there have been serious conflicts like the Korean, Vietnam and Gulf wars, these have been very small compared to WW II.
But, we must not let the relative comfort of our present existence lull us into a sense of complacency. The Bible warns us that, because if the inate sinfulness of human nature, there are still more wars to come before “the kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord.” (Rev 11:15). But the great news is: in the end, we win!
John Davies