Brethren,
A lot of virtual ink has flowed on this topic since
I wrote and then left town for Thankgiving dinner
at my cousin's house. I appreciate you all for
your thoughtful responses. Instead of a point
by point response, may I add the following:
1. I hope I made it clear in my original post that
I'm not opposed to obedience. When I discuss
true radical grace with folks, they often say
something like, "Yeah, grace is fine, but it must
be balanced with obedience." While that sounds
good, it misses the point. Grace can't be
"balanced" with anything. The real question is,
"What leads to obedience, the law, or grace?"
Paul's answer...grace. Thus, point 2:
2. Grace leads to obedience First, because we
are regenerated by grace with a new spirit which
is made one with His Spirit, and which loves
Christ and His ways, and hates sin; Second,
we are crucified with Christ so that the old man
is dead...or as Paul puts it in Rom. 6, we are
"dead to sin and alive to God through Christ";
Third, we are given by grace the righteousness
of God, whereby His obedience is unilaterally
chalked up as ours; and Fourth, though we
may still sin in the flesh, in the spirit we
respond to His love by following Him and
His ways.
3. The law, OT or NT, can never, I repeat never,
bring obedience in the important heart sense
of the word. That's what the writer of Hebrews
meant when he said in Chapter 8 that the Old
Covenant failed, so to speak, and the New
Covenant had to be instituted. Because man
could not keep the law, and still can't. In fact,
the scripture says in several different ways
that the law inflames sin.
4. The law, in the generic sense of clear
commands from God, has never been
abolished. It has been declared under
different covenants, has been expounded on,
and reiterated in part by Christ Himself,
and the New Testament writers.
Paul himself says, "...the law is holy,
and the commandment is holy and righteous
and good." (Ro 7:12) And every unregenerate
man is UNDER that law, and condemned for
breaking ALL of it, having broken even ONE.
5. But we, praise God, are not UNDER the
law, as born again believers under the
grace of the New Covanant!
If Ro 6:14 is not clear enough ("For sin shall
not be master over you, for you are not under
law, but under grace."), please consider the
following:
"All things are lawful for me, but not all things
are profitable. All things are lawful for me,
but I will not be mastered by anything."
(1Co 6:12)
"All things are lawful, but not all things are
profitable. All things are lawful, but not all
things edify." (1Co 10:23)
"But now we have been released from the law,
having died to that by which we were bound, so
that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not
in oldness of the letter." (Ro 7:6)
"For through the law I died to the law, that I
might live to God." (Ga 2:19)
Notice Paul doesn't say that the law has been
abolished, but that we have died to it, and
thus are no longer under it.
6. "...our adequacy is from God, who
also made us adequate as servants of
a New Covenant, not of the letter, but
of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the
Spirit gives life." (2Co 3:5b-6)
If we debate with the CT merely by
replacing the OT law with the NT law, and
one-up CT-guy by telling him, "We are
UNDER an even higher law, so there!",
we risk skillfully winning the debate battle,
but losing the war to Galatianism. Instead
let's humbly hold our head high (how's that
for an oxymoron?), and proclaim our
Savior and Lord Who said, "It is finished!"
We have been set free. It is all of grace,
all of grace, ALL of grace.
With the deepest of love and appreciation
for you all,
Terry Rayburn
Clarksville, TN
http://www.graceforlife.com
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