The understanding about the difference between Mosaic law and Christian Grace being of the utmost importance, the devil has made sure that this subject has been thoroughly mixed up and darkened behind a mist of religiosity. The bible teaches clearly that Christ has fulfilled the 法律代写. But through the backdoor it has been brought in again. Others, on the other hand, abuse grace as a pretense for their own aims. Scripture itself states: “You are saved by grace through faith and that not out of you; it is the gift of God.” Luther discovered that clearly. We cannot save ourselves through our good works. One sin is enough to precipitate you into hell, for God is absolutely holy and cannot have anything to do with sin. Therefore it is not at all a question of the good outweighing the bad. We are sinners to the bone and need the grace of Christ. We can only be saved by virtue of His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary.
Abraham was not under the law of Sinai. He was under God’s mercy, a grace within view of Grace after the Cross. David understood that there is a higher law, the one of grace, when he pronounced that “blessed is the person whose sins have been forgiven, whose transgressions have been atoned for.” He was twice guilty of death under Mosaic law, but the Spirit of God gave him a vision of God’s Love. Israel was under the law by their own choice. “All that God demands, we will do.” Mosaic law was never imposed upon the heathen. If a gentile wanted to approach God, he had to become Jewish. The temple was meant to be a light for the nations, but the Jews–certainly in the time of Jesus–wanted to keep it for themselves.
The negative side of the law was that it only exposed sin like a light uncovers vermin. Mosaic law does not save. All the sacrifices brought in ancient times were but pictures of Christ’s sacrifice. “The blood of goats and rams does not atone.” The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, calls the things of the law simply “the principles of the world”. All philosophies and man-made theologies are forms of law. And the proponents themselves could not keep them in a consequent fashion. The positive side of Mosaic law was that it gave one wisdom, knowledge and insight and up till today, to some extent, the moral laws of for instance Leviticus 18 are still binding; without the punishment of death of course on adultery, homosexual practices and other sins.
The apostle Paul writes in chapter 8 of the epistle to the Romans: “The law of the spirit of the life in Christ Jesus has saved me from the law of sin and death.” Grace, then, is its own law, the law of Christ. For “The law came through Moses, but grace and truth through Jesus Christ”. The law of Moses is the harbinger of sin and death. It provokes to sin and its judgment is death. It proclaims: “Cursed is he that does not stay in all that is written in the law.” Certainly, as far as Mosaic law is concerned, we are all accursed and doomed for eternity. Alone already because of the tenth commandment. The world thinks: “It is OK to look at the menu, as long as you eat at home.” But when you are angry with your fellow man, then you have already murdered him in your heart, as Jesus explains in the Sermon on the Mount.
As far as the idea is concerned that one must first become known to oneself through the law of Moses and then, hopefully, find grace; that goes too far. The murderer on the cross got converted simply by witnessing Christ Himself. One must go directly to Christ as soon as possible, not via a (long) way of gloom and doom. That is clearly the message to the Galatians. Actually, Paul states, if you desire to keep the law (also in addition to grace) then you preach another gospel and you bring yourself not only under the curse of the law, but also under the curse of Christ. (That does however not mean that everybody that believes this, is lost. But most certainly are, because their theology prevents them from true conversion ((which in a way they confirm themselves))… )
Christ is the same Person, both in the O.T. as in the N.T. So He was for Abraham and Enoch before that. Abraham, Jesus said, looked for His glorious Day and for the City built without hands and he found it. But the Israelites, in their pride and false self-assurance, boldly proclaimed that they would fulfill God’s holy demands. They fell from grace, as it were. Paul warns and convicts the Galatians of a similar thing. He points them the way to the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, forbearing with emotions, usefulness, goodness, faith, humbleness, temperance. Against such things there is no law, but those of Christ have crucified the flesh (that is the ‘old man, the original Adam’) together with the passions and (wrong) desires.” Elsewhere he states: “Love is the bond of all laws”. Combined this holds out for us that when we have the love of Christ in our hearts we fulfill all laws and nothing can be held against us. Of course this was primarily true of Jesus Himself, but we can learn from Him.
In the third chapter of the gospel according to John, the Lord explained to Nicodemus, the foremost teacher of the Jews, that one must be born again through water and Spirit and that that verity belongs to the things of this earth below. Also in the times of the O.T. Isaiah spoke of the changing of the heart of stone into the heart of flesh and of the scarlet clothes into clothes as white as snow. People like David and Enoch understood that. Abel understood that as well when he brought a substitutionary sacrifice out of his flock. Before the deluge people were brought to the Lord on basis of their conscience. There was no law. Job knew of the Noachian sacrifices and Mosaic law was a taskmaster that was meant to teach people that they are hopeless sinners that need the love and forgiveness of God. With these words I part ways with the reader.
