Online Question:
I want to know the difference between living by law and living by grace. What are the works that come under law? How does the grace of God through His Son Jesus supersede law? Jesus came to fulfill the law. Can you explain this?
My Reply:
Living by law (or by the letter of the law) is an act that you do by your strength and ability. It does not take faith to obey the law. You know what the law is, since it is defined, and you labour to obey the law by strict adherence and discipline. The law can be the moral law, the Mosaic law, or your own made-up laws to appease your conscience. Though following the law can have an outward appearance of righteousness, there is no change in the inner man. The law cannot make you righteous and it cannot save you. In addition, the law condemns one because it gives power to sin that resides in the nature of man.
Rom 7:21-24 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. [22] For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: [23] But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. [24] O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
On the other hand, living by grace frees us from the law of sin and death. Paul makes it clear here,
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. [5] For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. [6] But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
The above scripture tells us that grace comes to us by faith when we believe and receive the gospel and become saved. When we live from the flesh the motions of sins work in us the fruits unto death, but since our salvation by the gospel, we now have the opportunity to serve God in the newness of spirit. What does this mean? Well, the newness of spirit is the word of God that we are to spend time in, to learn, to study, to be renewed by. As the word becomes part of us, filling our mind and heart, it will start to influence us, our thoughts, behaviours, actions, speech and character. It happens when we yield to it. Paul says the following,
Rom 6:16-17 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? [17] But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
As believers, we can give ourselves to sin in the flesh or we can yield to obedience of the word living in us and changing us. As we yield to it, it produces fruits unto righteousness. When this starts to happen, you start to live by grace. As you continue to learn and yield in obedience to the grace doctrine you start to walk after the spirit. This fulfils the law! The fruits of righteousness need no law as you are living it, not by your own strength or mental ascent, but by yielding to the word of God in you. It is a lifelong walk, relying on continued immersion in the word of God and staying filled with it. The moment you move away from the word is the moment flesh takes over and grows stronger, because it is the default nature within us. We need to work at keeping ourselves filled with our doctrine which works faith and power within us to yield to it. Notice verse 17 above: "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you." Our doctrine is the foundation of grace and the source of our ability to yield to obedience unto righteousness.
So, you cannot live by grace under your own willpower and performance. The moment you move into that you are living by the law and that brings condemnation and disappointment and failure. Paul writes this to the Philippians,
Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Notice. It's NOT you! It's God who works in you to will and do according to His good pleasure. How does that happen? Get the grace doctrine into you, into your mind and into your heart. You can only yield to something if it is present and operational in you. Living this way is living by grace.
Hope this makes it clearer.
God bless.
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