114 Grace and Law, What’s the Difference?

Definition of The Law

Theologically speaking, the word Law can be defined in three ways:

1. The Ten Commandments.
2. The Ten Commandments and the 613 mitzvot or commands (613 includes the ten commandments).
3. The first five books of the Old Testament, otherwise known as the Torah in Hebrew.

In any case, the three mentioned examples of the Law were given by God to the people of Israel through Moses. All of these are referred to as “The Law” or the “Law of Moses.” The Lord made a covenant with Moses, who represented the people of Israel. 

Mosaic Law

The significant point about the Law is that it was part of the Covenant with Israel. The Lord made promises to the people of Israel if they would observe His conditions outlined by the Law or the Torah. Keep the Law and prosper, break the Law and suffer the consequences. This covenant was a conditional one in that you had to keep the Law, and then you would be blessed. The key is that you had to keep the Law through your own human efforts or works. If the Old Testament or Covenant shows us anything, it was that no one could keep the Law perfectly through human effort. That is why the Lord instituted a sacrificial system for the Israelites to cleanse them from sin, but they had to do it over and over again!

Definition of Grace

Grace means to receive a gift that is unearned and undeserved (unmerited). The New Testament or Covenant is a covenant of Grace. Just as Moses received the Law from the Father for the people of Israel, Jesus received Grace from the Father for the people who would believe in Him. As the Lord and Moses were the Covenant Heads of the Law for Israel, the Lord and Jesus were the Covenant Heads for the people who would believe in Jesus Christ.

Justice, Mercy, and Grace

Justice, mercy, and Grace are sometimes confused with each other. Let me take a moment to define each of these terms.

1. Justice – is when you get the punishment you deserve.
2. Mercy – is when you don’t get the punishment you deserve.
3. Grace – is when someone else takes the punishment you deserve.

For example, let’s say that you commit a crime and are brought to trial. 

1. Justice would say that judge finds you guilty, and you go to jail. 
2. Mercy says that the judge gives you a warning, and you are released. 
3. Grace says that someone else comes up and speaks to the judge, “I will take his punishment,” and he goes to jail. The judge then declares justice has been done, and you are set free!

This is what Jesus has done for you. He has extended Grace to you, not based on what you have done, but what He has done for you. Jesus took all of your sins by going to the Cross for you. You deserved justice or even mercy, but instead, the Lord has granted you Grace because you have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Because of God’s Grace, God, who is judge, declares you innocent. He has justified you, and you are now righteous in the Lord’s eyes. Righteousness is what we seek, not our own righteousness but the righteousness of Christ imputed on us. 

Conditional Law and Unconditional Grace.

To fully understand the difference between Law and Grace, we need to define sin. Sin is what makes one unrighteous in the Lord’s eyes. The very first sin was in the Garden of Eden when God walked with Adam and Eve before they were tempted and committed  original sin.

When we think of sin, we often think in terms of the Ten Commandments. Break one of the commandments, and you commit sin! Well. That is true, but we need to recognize that breaking the Ten Commandments is actually a symptom of a sinful nature. When one breaks the commandment, what one is doing, by their action, is not believing what God said! This will become clearer if we go back to the beginning in Genesis, and look at the sinless nature of Adam and Eve before the Fall and then their state after the Fall.

Living in a State of Innocence.

Before the Fall, Adam and Eve “walked” with God in a sinless state. This time before the Fall was a state of innocence. They had no idea what sin was. They never thought that God would withhold anything from them. They had everything they wanted, food, shelter, purpose, and a personal relationship with the Father. Everything was theirs, and every need was met by the Lord. They had only one prohibition; they were not to eat of the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”. Notice, and this is important, that it was not known as the tree of good and evil, but the tree of the “knowledge” of good and evil. The key here is knowledge. Up to this point, they only knew what was good. 

Genesis 2:16, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Note, the words “you shall surely die” at the end of verse 17, it meant physical death for sure, but it also meant separation from God! Adam and Eve were immortal before the Fall and were destined to be in a relationship with God forever.

A close examination of Genesis 3:1-7 will help us to see what sin really is. Yes, sin is disobedience of the Father, but deeper, it is a doubt or disbelief about what God has said. Let’s look at the scriptures:

Genesis 3:1, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” See the doubt the serpent inserts into the conversation, “Has God indeed said?” By the way, we should never engage in conversation with the Devil!

In verse 2, “And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Eve then states a truth, God did say, “you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or else you shall surely die.” However, notice how Satan contradicts the Word of the Lord in verse 4, Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The Devil said, “you will not surely die!” John 8:44 states that Satan is the Father of lies. The Devil will use lies and half-truths to tempt one to disbelieve what God has said. However, in this case, part of his statement is true Satan does say, “your eyes will be opened, and you will know the difference between good and evil.” Satan often mixes lies, truths, and half-truths, but it is all an attempt to deceive.

Now, look at verse 6, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Satan knows how to appeal to the senses or the flesh, notice that Eve is tempted to eat of the forbidden fruit because:

1. It appealed to her taste or hunger. (Lust of the flesh)
2. It was attractive or pretty to the eyes. (Lust of the eyes)
3. It would make her wise or like God. (Pride of life)

1 John 2:16, “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”

Finally, we see the tragic end to the foolishness of Adam and Eve. Verse 7, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” Their “eyes” were open, and they were no longer innocent, but now we’re aware of evil; they now had their conscience awakened and could discern good and evil. Because of this Original Sin, all of humanity has a conscience and can clearly see good and evil in their actions and in the world.

When we think of sin, we think of the act of sin like adultery, lying, coveting, stealing, and murder, but these are the symptoms of something far greater, and that is not believing in what God has said. Adam and Eve sinned because they did not believe God. They did not believe that there would be a consequence for eating the forbidden fruit.

Living in a State of Conscience.

Because we have a conscience, we can discern good and evil. God has given us free-will, and therefore we can choose to do good or evil. No one can make us do evil, not even the Devil. The only thing the Devil can do is to tempt us. To make that which is forbidden, for our own good, look so attractive that we convince ourselves that God did not really mean what He said. Isn’t that what happened to Adam and Eve? This state of being able to make a choice to do evil is the “sin nature” that the Apostle Paul talks about in Romans 5, which we will look into the next time. 

In conclusion: As human beings, we focus on the act of sin, which is the breaking of the Ten Commandments, but the breaking of the individual commandments reveal a deeper issue… disbelieving God and what He has said! Living under the Law means that you are a Jew and that your righteousness before God is based upon your own effort to observe all of the commandments. Living under Grace means that you have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and you believe that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, lives in you to “help” you become the man or woman that He has created you to be. Your righteousness is not a result of your own efforts but the fact that the righteousness of Jesus has been imparted to you. The effort you must depend upon is learning how to hear the “voice” of the Spirit, through the Word of God and through the Spirit of God who dwells in you. Once having heard from the Lord the next thing is to obey! You are a New Creation in Christ. You are not bound or tied to the past all things are new. 2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.