Law & grace, an uneven match? (4)

Thank you all for reading along and thinking with me on this subject. It is so important to have a clear understanding of God's unending grace as it relates to His Law. It will help you to live in freedom within the boundaries of His rules. Freedom is not 'living without rules', that is anarchy (and if you want to read more on that subject, please check out the maintaining our freedom series I did on this blog last year).

[Picking up where we ended in the previous blog post...] Jesus did not come to abolish (wipe out) the Law, but to give full meaning to the Law, to fulfill the Law. He gives many examples to make clear how we should go from merely obeying, or keeping the law (living by the letter) to fulfilling the law (living by the Spirit). Our heart of stone (legalism) needs to be broken in order to receive a heart of flesh (lead by the Spirit). The Law will no longer be used to tell other people what to do or not to do, but as a foundation on how to treat others (as we want to be treated).

Personally I always thought that only Jesus Christ was able to fulfill the Law, since He was the only man without sin. But this is exactly where grace comes into the picture. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Now, that is pure grace. Our sin in exchange for His righteousness. The same righteousness Jesus had when He walked the earth and taught His followers, is now ours. We have no excuse not to do what He did.

In light of that revelation it becomes easier to understand why Jesus said, Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father (John 14:12). I always struggled with this scripture, simply because I do not see it happening among believers and also because I thought works do not go well with grace... But now I understand why He adds (vs. 15) 'If you love Me, keep My commandments'... Summed up, that is: Treating others the way we want to be treated. According to Jesus, that commandment (the golden rule) is the heart of the Law and the Prophets. In other words, He is saying that living, or fulfilling the Law should be a daily thing for all believers. We can ONLY do so if we live, realizing and knowing for sure that His grace is sufficient for us.

My question for you is, do you have a heart of stone (maybe well intended legalism) or have you asked the Lord for a heart of flesh (that is being guided by the Holy Spirit)?

In the next post we will look at the apostle Paul's comments on fulfilling the law through grace...

Thank you for reading along, and please share these posts with someone who might need to hear this.