MR. LAW AND MR. GRACE, PART I.

February 28, 2008


………For sin shall not have dominion over you; for you are not under the law, but under grace, Rom. 6:14.
(It is highly recommended to carefully read Rom. chapter 7.)

What would be the implication of that statement in our everyday circumstances?
Rom. 7:1-6 attempts to make that clear to us in the context of marriage.

A woman who is married to a man is bound by holy law of matrimony to that man.
If she happens to leave him and marries another, she will be called an adulteress.
But if the husband dies, she will be free to marry another man.

Like a woman bound by holy matrimony to a man, so we were by birth all bound to the Law, a system of commandments, rules and regulations that we were to keep and live by in order to win God’s favor and eternal life. Let’s call this entity Mr. Law.
He demanded nothing short of perfect obedience from his “wife”, on penalty of death. He was very well aware of the “wife’s” constant failure to meet even the simplest of his demands, but nothing changed, he was without mercy.
In the above mentioned situation, that if Mr. Law, were to die, then the “wife” would be free from his demands.
There is little chance of that happening ever.
Rom.7:12 says that the law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good.
Mr. Law is healthy and well, he will remain, his demands will not diminish.

To continue the metaphor of marriage, what would happen if the woman’s life was terminated?
If that were to happen that would also free her from her bondage to Mr. Law.
Her death would be the execution of the penalty for her failure to meet Mr. Law’s demands. At the same time death would free her from Mr. Law’s demands.
No laws are ever enforced on those who are dead.
That is exactly what happened, God provided that by putting her to death the woman would be freed from being bound to Mr. Law.

Rom.6:3,4 …..all of us who were baptized (immersed) into Christ Jesus were baptized (immersed) into His death. We were therefore buried with Him through baptism (immersion) into death….
Jesus not only died for our misdeeds, sins, He also died to be the vehicle, our Representative in order that God might carry out the ultimate penalty, the putting to death of the sinner as demanded by Mr. Law.
He became sin for us, that we might be righteous before God, II Cor.5:21.
When Jesus died, we (being in him), died also. Gal.2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live…..
Rom.7:4 My brothers and sisters, when you died, you also died to the demands of Mr. Law. YOU ARE FREE.
The law was enforced on you, you paid the penalty in full in your representative Jesus.
Mr. Law no longer has any claim on you.
But this is not the end of the story.

Rom. 6:5 If we have been united with Him (Jesus) like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with Him in his resurrection.
When Jesus left the burial tomb, then we, being in Him, left the tomb also. We have been given a new life, it is the life of Jesus, eternal life.
We are no longer bound to Mr. Law, we now are united with Jesus.
Eph.5:30 says that we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. For the purpose of this narrative, may we call Jesus Mr. Grace?
Mr Grace is quite the opposite of Mr. Law.
Mr. Grace makes no demands on the woman, some of His attributes are well described in
I Cor. ch.13. He loves, has patience, He holds no grudges or records.
All Mr. Grace (Jesus) asks that His new wife (the woman, you and me), would rest in His completed work of salvation on her behalf.
That she would look to Him for all her needs, including anything that needs to be done in her to make her more and more like her new husband.
That is what is meant by bearing fruit unto God, Rom.7:4.
Fruit unto God is to allow Him to do in her His work of sanctifying her according to His good pleasure. That in this way she would display the new life found in her Savior Christ Jesus.
“Have your own way Lord, You are the Potter, I am the clay…….”Jesus said in John 14:10 My words to you are not my own. Rather it is the Father, living in me, who is doing the work.
Likewise, believing in Jesus and the subsequent renewing of our sin polluted mind is the work of the Holy Spirit and not the result of the believer’s efforts.

And what would Mr. Grace require of the woman, His bride?
As stated earlier, nothing except that she believes His words and trusts Him, that she in submission surrender herself, even abandon herself to His love and care.
By definition, grace is no longer grace if there are conditions attached. In that case it would be grace plus something and grace would no longer be grace.
Salvation is not just a single event of being saved unto eternal life. It is progressive as well as we by grace are being transformed into His image as we yield to the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work.
As the song says: “From glory to glory He’s changing me/ His likeness and image to perfect in me/ From earthly things to the heavenly/ The love of God show to the world.

Now that the woman is united to Mr. Grace, we would expect that from now on everything would be well and beautiful.
The next step in the process of her sanctification, of making her fit for the Master’s use, is one of conflict and sorrow.

That will be the subject of the next issue of Reflections.

St. Thomas,
20/8/’07.