Grace and the Law

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Greetings to you in the mighty name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. As life goes on amidst the prevailing pandemic, my thoughts rolled on to ester years… About 52 years back I witnessed a long storm in my native place when the rains continued to lash at us and we remained indoors for about a week’s time. In the year 1977, the river Cauvery swelled and submerged almost a two-kilometre radius of a thickly populated town including three colleges destroying all our books and records and taking several human lives. I also remember an acute drought in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu more than five decades back when many people migrated to Thanjavur district, in search of food and water. However, many veterans agree that they have not witnessed a situation like this in their lifetime as we are facing today globally. However, God has been kind to us all along. He clothed us, fed us, protected us, and guided us and even today, He is truthful. The million-dollar question is: Are we faithful?

Mark Twain, the great American writer once quoted that evolution has happened in the reverse order i.e. from man to monkey- in that order. Contrary to what Darwin said, to prove his point, he states several thought-provoking things including, for example: No animal hunts for fun!

Word of God says God created man in His own image. God gave man unfettered freedom and authority over the earth. The only restriction was the fruit of the tree of knowledge. The fall of man and his eventual redemption through the cross by God Himself is well known to all of us.

Our God is a covenant-keeping God. Our Lord made covenants with His chosen people:  Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and as we know the New Covenant for ALL through Jesus Christ. As we know, any covenant involves two parties and each has its obligations to fulfill. Our God is Sovereign God and He chose Abraham for his faith exhibited by his implicit obedience (Genesis 15:6), which was counted for righteousness. God gave his commandments as part of His covenant with Moses through the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy popularly called “Tora” which means “The Teaching” and commonly known as “The Law”. The “Sinani Covenant” described in general the way of life for His chosen people (seed of Abraham). This also described the various sacrifices to be made for each time one defies the law.

Now, the law was required because it defined sin. Without the law, there is no sin. But even before the mosaic covenant, right from Adam, they sinned including Abraham. “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered (Romans 4:7) “God has given the basic wisdom in every man to differentiate between good and evil. He has also given the right of choice to him. The law is wholesome and one has to abide by it in all. Even if one abides in everything but transgresses one, he is a sinner (James 1:10). To connect with what we have seen in the second para, it is well known that man’s heart is deceitful. The childish tendency of defying any kind of discipline is embedded in man. (Genesis 6:3,5). It continued through history, even for His chosen people, even as God raised continually the patriarchs, judges and prophets with not much anvil. Finally, God sent His only begotten Son to redeem us.

Our Lord Jesus brought the new covenant through His Gospel of truth. While the law was given through Moses, grace, and truth came through Jesus Christ (John1:17). While the law is virtually a fortress to comply in full, like climbing a steep mountain, grace is the enabler to jump over it! “Grace” comes from “charis” meaning favour or gift and in one sense “forgiveness”. Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4). But, Jesus died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3). Jesus gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purity unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Titus 2:14).  Read this with: “He shall see His Seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand” and further with John Chapter 17 of “Generation of Christ”. Our dear Jesus, by His extreme sacrifice on the cross, has redeemed us all forever and anyone who confesses his sin and returns his heart to Jesus will be saved. No more sin offering. This is the essence of the Gospel of Christ. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (Romans 5:20)

One last thought is whether “the law” and “grace” are contradictory to each other? I think the answer is No. His “grace” embraces us and helps us to abide by “the law” and never circumvents it. Like “Lion of Judah” is also the “Lamb”. Our Lord who is Righteous Judge is also our Loving Father.

But remember: Salvation comes only through Christ Jesus.

“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).