Law and Grace?

How many times must we have this discussion? What is the relationship between grace and law? It is the exact same relationship there is between fear and love. The two are separated. John said that "there is no fear in love." Love's graciousness cannot stoop to persuade by force or fear, but is understood in contrast to it. The reason "the fear of The Lord is the beginning of wisdom" is because the death and destruction found apart from Him become apparent to us.

 (Roms 8) Without love, our heart is incapable of submitting to or obeying God's law. It has a will of it's own. So whether we give up to lawlessness, or attempt to obey law and fail (and are, ironically, STILL lawless), with good reason Paul compared the covenant at Mount Sinai to the slave woman Hagar and her son. It is apparent that the slave and son were rejected, thrown out of camp, and will not inherit with the child of the promise. Slave and son cannot inherit together! Following law, instead of Christ, is "our own righteousness" and produces only "filthy rags" instead of the clean clothing Christ offers us to cover our nakedness.

God's law states unequivocally that we must not "mix" different things. It is "tutoring" us. It informs us not to eat meat and dairy together, not to make cloth of two different materials, and not to combine the rest of God's Sabbath with any "servile work". Plainly speaking, the law cannot be mixed with grace! In one's absence is the presence of the other! The two work in tandem, but not at the same time! The law was the standard applied externally, to actions, by force or fear. Love is the change on the inside, which comes from the motivation of devotion. Because of love, we are born again by the will of the Father, in His image. Only HE can make this change in us. The law gives us a "picture" of what love "looks" like and God's love, in us, tells us the reason why! Let us make the transition from being slaves, to being sons! Take the advice of our "tutor" and run to His deliverance from the bondage of the law, to being freed inheritors!


Psalm 25:14
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
14 The [a]secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him,
[b]And He will make them know His covenant.

Proverbs 16:6
By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.

(The law still has three functions today......."that all the world may become guilty before God" (Paul), to teach/tutor us about Christ (those "shadows" the book of Hebrews mentions), and as a "witness" of the righteousness that comes from faith.)