Law and Grace

Introduction

There are many Christians who are saved by grace but try to keep saved by obeying the law of or keeping the commandments.
This was the error of the Galatian church which Paul seeks to correct in his Epistle to the Galatians.

Galatians 3:3 "Are you foolish? having begun in the Spirit (saved by grace), are ye now made perfect in the flesh? (keeping of the law)?"

Paul answers this provocative questions in Galatians 3:11 "The just shall live by faith": We are saved by faith; We live by faith.

But does this allow us to become law unto ourselves and break the law of God and sin wilfully? Paul answers this question in Romans 6: 1, 2 "God forbid..."

It is sometimes heard to keep a balance between the teaching of Paul and James. James says 2: 14, "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man may say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith saved him?"

James2:20 "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?"

Paul answers this Philippians 2:12, 13 "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you in both to will and to do of His good pleasure. "by faith we yield to the indwelling Christ and uses out bodies to good works. The Savior work through us.

Our work is to yield. He is the one who performs the works of righteousness.

After conversion we do good works because we are saved already, not in order to be saved. A dog barks because he is a dog, not order to become a dog.

Conclusion

Is Christianity a mixed system of law and grace? No, it must be all of faith.
Romans 4: 4, 5 "Now to him that worketh is reward not reckoned of grace, but debt. But to him that worketh not, believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."

Is the believer under law after conversion? No. Romans 6:14 "For ye are not under the law, but under grace." Scripture could not be plainer.

How ought to a true believer to walk before his fellowmen? As Jesus walked. 1 John 2:6 "He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked."

1 Peter 2:21, following in His steps.

Those who are in Christ while not saved or kept by the law, nevertheless love the will of God and do from the heart those things which pleased him, not for salvation nor by constraint, but for love's sake, as they walk in the Spirit. (Goodman)

Galatians 5:18 "But if ye led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law,"
Romans 8:4, 5.

To be saved by faith and then to return to works is to fall from grace,
Galatians 5:4.

Source: One hundred Bible Lessons
By: Alban Douglas