“Law brings a commandment that you are left to try to perform. Grace brings a commandment that He enables you to perform. With law you have a standard that you have to try and live up to, and to obtain favor you have to achieve that standard. In Grace you start off accepted, you start off with favor and in the command He enables you to do what He commanded you to do.” (Bill Johnson).
This is exactly what Philippians 2:13 says. Here it is in the ERV – “Yes, it is God who is working in you. He helps you want to do what pleases him, and he gives you the power to do it.” The NLT says it this way – “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”
Although I’m not a fan of using the word “command” when speaking of grace, it fits in the quote above from Bill Johnson. So, how different is law from grace. Well, lets look. Some of this you may have already heard, but it never gets old and it’s always a good reminder to keep us fresh.
So let me start with a powerful statement. “Holiness is not a requirement for God to have a relationship with you”. That statement right there lets me know where people truly are in their understanding of grace.
Romans 5:6-8 gives you a glimpse of God’s great grace and unfettered love for us. 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Did you see it. It’s one of the big buts in the bible. There are several. Just look at how it makes definite the character of God’s love. So when we were powerless Christ died for the ungodly. What??? He died for the who??? The UNGODLY. God demonstrated or commanded His own love for us while we were yet sinners. Now notice this. Vs 8 says “while we were still sinners”. That tells me that there’s a time when we are not still sinners. Hmmmm. Watch for a future blog about “Sinners Not”.
Old covenant or law always causes you to look at yourself. New covenant of grace always causes you to look at Christ crucified. Lets see whether we can put truth to that statement.
Ephesians 2:1-9. 1 as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
If you were paying attention, you would notice that everything in those first 3 verses is all set in the past tense. So, up until the next verse you can see what the law is pointing to. Where we used to be and what we used to be. Aaahhh!!! Here comes another one of those big buts in the bible.
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, (It was His great love and rich mercy that saved us. Not anything we could do and certainly not the law. Just look at verse 5.) 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
I don’t know about you, but I get the idea that God wanted us to recognize that it has nothing to do with what we did to get saved, but everything to do with what He did for us. In verse 5 He explicitly says “it is by grace you have been saved”. Then as if to say – in case you missed what I said in verse 5, let me repeat it so you get it. Verse 8 says “For it is by grace you have been saved…” You can read the rest, but I hope your getting this.
Here are some other scriptures. Study these for yourself. Good confirmation. 1 Corinthians 2:2; Colossians 1:27, Colossians 2:8-10. I'll stop here for now, but we are just getting started. Don't miss part 2. Grace and Peace.
