The End of the Law

Balance.

I hate that word!

I mean, I undersand it.   I've even used it.  I get the whole point of it.  And I understand that extremes can run the risk of missing the bigger issue that "balance" can bring.  But I still hate that word.  It seems to me that balance is a word used by people who are too afraid to actually risk being called extreme.  Fear is the fuel to "balance".

This is no greater seen than in the grace and law discussion among Christians.  Grace preachers are constantly being accused of being loose with the Gospel and giving people a license to sin, while law people (legalists) are imprisoning people in bondage to duties and works.  The answer, many people say, is balance.  Obviously we have to rely on grace, no one with an ounce of Scriptural knowledge could deny this, but too make sure we don't go overboard we must balance it with law (works, duties, performance, behavior, etc.).

This argument is not new and probably isn'g going away anytime soon, but let me say right up front and without equivocation:

Grace and law do not mix! 

 Not ever, not in any capacity.  Grace alone is the nature of the Gospel.  Period!  Now some will accuse me of being one of those extreme grace preachers and I would repsond by saying, "absolutely!"  Grace is a drink that must be drunk straight, without any chaser.  A mixture of grace and law is law, not balance.

If I have a bottle of 99% natural spring water, taken from the source without contamination, and then add 1% poop particles to it, are you going to drink it?  Of course not.  Why?  Because you now have a bottle of 100% poop particles.  The same is true with grace and law.  When even 1 ounce of law is added to grace, it completely nullifies grace and strips it of its power.

The Father's plan was not to send us law, but to send us grace, and He did so in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ.

"Well, what about the law?" so many people ask, almost offended.  The answer, the law is now null and void and holds no sway over you.  Many then respond with, "But Jesus said that He did not come to destroy (make null and void, of no consequence to us) the law, but to fulfill it".  And they are absolutely right!

Let's look at an example:  Let's say I just bought a new car.  Now I didn't have the money to actually pay for the car so a bank loaned me the money to buy the car and made an arrangement with me to pay them until that note is paid off in full.  So every month the bank sends me a reminder of what I owe them and I in turn send them payment.  During this process, as long as I hold up my end of the bargain - keep paying the monthly payments on time - we have a good relationship.  But, if I don't then the bank has consequences for my default.  Understand that the bank and I are not friends.  We don't hang out and BBQ on Saturday afternoons.  They are there for a specific purpose:  To keep me in line UNTIL our arrangement is completed.  Now, on month 60 I write a check to the bank for the final payment of our arrangement, upon which I now get the title deed to my vehicle.  Why did I get the title deed?  Because I FULFILLED the obligation of that arrangement.  Now, if on month 61 the bank sends me a note saying that my payment is due, we are going to have a problem.  Why?  Because not only do I not owe them anything anymore, we don't even have a relation any longer.  Our arrangement is over.  It ended.  We are not friends.  It would be stupid of me to continue to send them a monthly payment for what has already been paid in full! 


In the same way, Jesus did not come to destroy the law, He came to FULFILL it, which He did on the Cross.  Now, the legalities of the law are over.  We no longer have a relation to it.  It is not our friend.  And to continue to "pay" it though it has already been paid in full, is really quite stupid!

You want more proof?  Let's see what the Apostle Paul had to say:

Now BEFORE faith came, we WERE held captive under the law, imprisoned UNTIL the coming faith would be revealed.  So then, the law WAS our guardian UNTIL Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.  But now that faith has come, WE ARE NO LONGER UNDER A GUARDIAN, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.  (Galatians 3:23-26)

And also:

Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?  For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.  Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.  For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.  But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. (Romans 7:1-6)

You can clearly see from just these two passages that Paul understood and taught that we are dead to the law.  It is no longer for our benefit and we are under no obligation to it.  In fact, in the Romans 7 passage Paul is even drawing the parallel that to continue to "obey" the law once we have benefited from Christ's perfect sacrifice would be like a woman committing adultery.  Why?  Because grace and law do not mix!

My friend, be free today.  You are not under any obligation to the law.  Do not let anyone put you in condemnation or bondage by calling you to works or behavior.  Christ is your new life.  Enjoy Him.

Cheers!