The grace of law

''The moral law doth forever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and that not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator who gave it. Neither doth Christ in the gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen, this obligation. '' ''They who, upon pretense of Christian liberty, do practice any sin, or cherish any lust, do thereby destroy the end of Christian liberty; which is, that being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life." —The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647), Chap. XIX, Art. V; Chap. XX, Art. Ill

We believe that the moral law as expressed in the Ten Commandments is as much of grace as is the good news of the gospel, which speaks of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We further believe that these ten moral absolutes codify God's personhood, represent the principles of His government, and set forth the rights and limitations of those choosing to have a part in Christ's redemptive kingdom.

These beliefs are not reached capriciously nor are they without scriptural foundations. We believe that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God" and that the Bible in its wholeness provides the necessary instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16). It follows, then, that interpretations of Scripture and definitions of faith are predicated not only on the immediate context of scriptural passages but also on the "wholeness" context from Genesis to Revelation. ¹

A faith built on only one portion of Scripture would be highly suspect as to whether or not it is teaching the whole counsel of God. To reduce the risk of misinterpreting God's revelation or misunderstanding the function of law within the theater of His grace, we choose to begin our interpretation at the beginning.

The age of innocence

Scripture says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). We hold to the Genesis account of Creation as being factual and see the Garden story in the same light, not as myth, saga, or some sort of poetical expression depicting a moral dilemma. We believe there was a time of innocence, a real tree, a serpent, a literal transgression, and the divinely vocalized promise of redemption through Jesus Christ (see chap. 3:15).

As soon as man sinned, God graciously responded by promising to save man at any cost to Himself, thus restoring in him the image of God, which was fractured by his disobedience (see verse 15; John 3:16; Rom. 8:29, 32). This divine objective is yet today God's good news and is also the goal of God's redemptive community (see Eph. 4:22-24).

We do not believe that man was created to fall into sin in order to reveal God's grace or that the Garden prohibition was against him. Instead we believe that because of man's sin, God's graciousness could not be contained. ² If man was created to sin, sin would have a cause, but God made man to reflect His glory by not sinning (see Gen. 1:26, 27; 1 Cor. 10:13; 2 Cor. 9:8; Rom. 1:19-25).³ This is still God's purpose for man today, and the power to obey is a gift from God received from Him by faith. If obedience were a viable option as a means of salvation, then Christ need not have died and God need not have written His law on man's heart (see Matt. 5:17-19; Heb. 10:15-17). The great object of creation is to be like God, to be in the image of His person, which means to live a life in harmony with His holy character (see Matt. 5:44-48).

Thus the Genesis story is an a priori to understanding God's purpose for man. In the beginning God created man able to obey and expected him to do so. When sin disabled him, God promised to live out obedience in him (see Gal. 2:20). ⁴

The risk factor

Biblical morality differs from secular morality not only by revelation but by its particularization of moral life. It also stands in sharp contrast to the moral generalities about sin in the Christian community. As Carl F. H. Henry points out in Christian Personal Ethics: "The Ten Words enunciated on Sinai contain the essential principles of a righteousness that truly mirrors the pure character of the holy God. Their explicit definition of man's religious and moral duty unveiled with one bold stroke the holy nature and purpose of the Living God and a morality of permanent universal obligation. They stand apart from all temporal injunctions in the scriptural revelation; they are valid for all men in all places and at all times." ⁵

But if Biblical morality includes the ten words articulated at Sinai, then what does Paul mean when he says that the Sinaitic covenant led to bondage, but the new covenant leads to freedom? Are God's universal moral principles in conflict with His law written in the heart? The moral code was not given to Israel to be against them, or for them and against us, as if there were two methods of salvation, one by grace and one by law, but the law was given that the sinfulness of sin and the need of saving grace would be made plain (see Rom. 7:12, 13).

God's prohibition arrangement with Adam in Eden and His covenant of ten words with Israel at Sinai are in perfect agreement. They both promise life to those who choose them. They differ only in the means of obedience, not in their objective. In Eden obedience was predicated on man's inherent ability to obey, while at Sinai it was predicated on what Christ would do for man and in him.⁶ Daily the Israelites were pointed to the Lamb of God, who would actualize the promise, take away sin, and empower them to obey God's Ten Commandments, articulated for their own good (see John 1:29; 15:10; Gal. 3:28, 29; 4:26-28; Heb. .9:12-14). God never intended for His people to make themselves acceptable through their own efforts to obey4 but in receiving Him by faith they are to be changed internally, enabling them to do His good pleasure (see Phil. 2:13).

By codifying the essential principles of righteousness that mirror His person, God risked being misunderstood and having the purpose of the Decalogue misapplied. However, the "divine risk" that He took at Sinai underscores the great need for a propositional articulation of God's will and makes the Law irreducibly important as an instrument pointing men and women along a continuum of right moral choices. Israel's total inability to realize that they could not improve themselves morally without the aid of God's grace has made the Sinai experience a symbol of bond age analogous to Abraham's self-help program with Hagar (see Gal. 4:24, 25).⁷ Any Abrahamic attempt to fulfill God's promise by human effort is legalism (see John 15:4, 5). But "legalism is not due to the law and commandments, but to a misuse of them. ... In an ultimate sense the contrast between Spirit and command, between love and law, is artificial." ⁸

God's verification

With one bold stroke of the pen John exposes the nerve of a conflict that has plagued some Christians for centuries: "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). ⁹

In Paul's day, the conflict between law and grace was caused by Judaizers peddling the law of Moses as a means of salvation with such zeal that young converts were backsliding from grace into law. This led Paul to write, "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth? . . . Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free" (Gal. 3:1-3; 5:1).

We believe that men and women do not have to meet certain requirements to be justified and free; they are invited to come to Christ just as they are (see Isa. 1:18; Acts 4:12; Rom. 5:8). Then once they are free, forgiven* and born again with a new nature (see John 3:3), they no longer live by promise, but by fulfillment, by the "much more" of Romans 5, which is their joy and motivation (see 2 Cor. 5:14).

However, the freedom in Christ of which Paul speaks in Galatians is not to be confused with either capriciousness, autonomy, or moral irresponsibility. Biblical freedom is predicated on the restoration of free choice, which expresses itself in obedience and moral accountability (see Matt. 25:14-30), as well as the maintenance of a growing relationship with Christ (see Eph. 4:11-15). While holiness and relationship are possible only in freedom, holiness in isolation is totally inadequate to fulfill God's plan for man, for it demands responsible relationship.

Thus the proclamation of the gospel includes not only the good news of salvation and the forgiveness of sins but also the invitation to fellowship with the Father and His Son (see 1 John 1:3, 4). As the new head of the human race, Christ restored man's relationship with God and offered him spiritual life and continuous fellowship by faith. But a permanent entrance into His kingdom is granted only on condition of obedience (see 2 Cor. 5:17, 18; Rom. 2:4-13).

After his first sin man's nature was too far gone for any amount of obedience to restore his spiritual health. Describing man's condition Isaiah says, "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores; they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment" (Isa. 1:5, 6). "Is there no balm in Gilead?" Jeremiah asks. "Is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" (Jer. 8:22). He then answers his own question when he prays, "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved" (chap. 17:14).

It was to answer this prayer springing from the heart of mankind that Christ came. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me," He said, "because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind." For "they that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick" (Luke 4:18; 5:31). It was God in Christ who went in search of sin-sick man to re-create and heal him, not vice versa (see Gen. 3:8-10; 2 Cor. 5:17).

Therefore, in addition to being a re creative act, salvation is also a restorative process by which man grows into a greater likeness of God. Within this process man must continually choose life. As a newly born person he needs to learn how to prevent moral deterioration by maintaining his spiritual health. The cause and effect of obedience or disobedience seen in the natural world is seen also in the spiritual world. Activity is the very essence of life. Attempting to live by eating without being active leads to degeneration; likewise, Christians cannot maintain spiritual life by passively receiving God's grace and not actively responding to Christ by keeping His commandments. Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). How then can good works stand contrary to what God is offering a vibrant spiritual life? How could God nail to the cross and abolish the ten moral principles on which the behavior of His entire universe is built?

The law cannot save, but it can condemn; it cannot give life, but it can take it away. Obedience cannot produce spiritual life, but disobedience can lose it. This means that good works cannot save us, but neither can we be saved without them. Man's free responsibility is not to attain salvation, but to maintain it as a steward of God's gracious act in Jesus Christ. As the apostle says, "This is what loving God is keeping his commandments; and his commandments are not difficult" (1 John 5:3, Jerusalem). ¹⁰

Stewards of grace

Paul did his utmost to help his "brethren . . . according to the flesh" see that lawkeeping is not righteousness (see Rom. 9:3, 31, 32). However, his efforts to help them see their need of God's grace were interpreted as if he were against obedience. Though Paul stood against lawkeeping as a means of salvation, he does explicitly affirm and uphold both the law of the Decalogue and the commandments of the Lord (see Eph. 6:2; 1 Cor. 14:37), rendering innocuous any attempt to picture the great apostle as antinomian.¹¹

A similar misunderstanding occurred in the days of Luther when the Anabaptists and particularly J. Agricola held that their antinomian views logically followed from Luther's doctrine of justification and that the believer was in no way obligated to fulfill the moral law. ¹² Luther vehemently objected to this, and subsequently a proscription of antinomianism was written into the Formula of Concord, where it was firmly asserted that the liberty of Christians with respect to the demands of the law must not be misconstrued to mean freedom from obligation.¹³

Thus over the centuries the motions of the theological pendulum caused by an overcompensating emphasis on either law or grace have disrupted the proper relationship of both to God's redemptive process and have even destroyed their effectiveness. Scripture cautions against just such imbalances. Therefore James speaks out against neglectful behavior caused by the abuse of grace (see James 2:14-26), and Paul shows how irresponsible behavior is caused by the abuse of law in which people find no strength to obey and consequently abandon morality as something unattainable (see Rom. 2:17- 29).

Without question man is saved by grace and not by works (see Eph. 2:8, 9), but it is also true that "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil" (Eccl. 12:14). "Every work" includes that of Christians. If works were of no account to them, then why are they held account able? Those who accept Christ as Lord are not exempt from judgment before being permanently incorporated into God's kingdom (Matt. 7:21-23; 25:34, 45).

Unfortunately, the certainty of a judgment has frequently led to a legalistic preoccupation with sin and an overanxious introversion. To avoid such, a "troubled mind," the antinomian attempt to achieve a deeper assurance than outward evidence can give often leads to an inner security that can not be objectively verified. ¹⁴ When the rich young ruler asked Christ, "What must I do to have eternal life?" he was searching for objective assurance, and Christ, accepting his question as legiti mate, responded, "Keep the commandments," and "Follow me" (see Matt. 19:16-22). Obviously He was not telling the young man to earn his salvation, thus endorsing legalism; nor was He suggesting that obedience was inconsequential, thereby supporting antinomianism. Love in the heart for Christ and obedience in the life is a divine composite whereby believers can verify their saving relation ship with Christ and their growth in fellowship with the Father (see John 17:3; 1 John 1:3). Objective self-evaluation is part of the legitimate assuring process of the Christian life, and when guided by the Holy Spirit, it is not contrary to the gospel (see Isa. 8:20; 1 John 4:1-3; 5:1-3).

Thus the final judgment is more than an unexplainable eschatological triumph of the glory of Christ. The end point (telos) of God's time line includes a final moral evaluation of all men, including Christians (see Matt. 24:30, 31; 25:31-33). We accept this account of end-time judgment found in Scripture just as realistically as we do the Genesis account of Creation. To say, then, as some do, that judgment took place at the cross and already has been completed is to make the great day of atonement a past phenomenon by wrenching it out of its end-time environment and ignoring the entire judgment motif of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, especially the eschatological preparation expected of the saints (see Matt. 25:1-13; Rev. 19:7, 8). ¹⁵

If moral living (lawkeeping by the free choice of that which is good according to God's articulated will in Scripture) is not necessary for the permanent bestowal of eternal life, then why a final evaluation of Christians (see 2 Cor. 5:10)? Why the end-time emphasis on "the hour of his judgment is come" (Rev. 14:5-7) if the judgment is past? If the moral law is a codification of Christ's character, which is unchangeable, then the law is also unchangeable (see Heb. 13:8; Ps. 89:34; Rom. 7:12; Matt. 5:17, 18). As the Scripture says, "I am the Lord, I change not" (Mal. 3:6). It is the unwavering sameness of God's holy character and sovereignty that gives cohesion, sub stance, and security to His creatures and to the universe (see Col. 1:16, 17). What was morally wrong yesterday is morally wrong today, and will be morally wrong tomorrow.

We do not believe that man's moral decisions and actions are inconsequential to his ultimate entrance into God's literal kingdom (see Rev. 22:12-15) or that freedom and responsibility are mutually exclusive, nor that the actions of the flesh have nothing to do with the spirit (see 1 Cor. 9:25-27; Phil. 3:8-10). Man must be saved body, soul, and spirit, and his whole person must be under the Lordship of Christ (see 1 Thsss. 5:23; Matt. 20:1-14; Rev. 22:12-15). Jesus must be his Saviour and his King.

As believers in Christ and in God's special revelation, we accept the Bible "in its wholeness" as providing the best hermeneutical context by which the function of law can be understood. In Eden, at Sinai, and at Calvary the law has always pointed to life as it is in Christ, whether that life be creatively given, redemptively offered, or permanently bestowed (see John 1:1-4; Gal. 3:24; 1 Cor. 15:51-54). "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law" (Rom. 3:31).